Lech Wałęsa (pronounced ['lɛx va'wɛ̃ŋsa], born September 29, 1943, Popowo, Poland) was an Polish electrician, a trade union activist, a human rights activist and a politician. The purpose of this page is to lay out our policies for handling sounds, and give people some useful information for handling sound files. ... September 29 is the 272nd day of the year (273rd in leap years). ... 1943 is a common year starting on Friday. ... A union (labor union in American English; trade union in British English; either labour union or trade union in Canadian English) is a group of workers who act collectively to address common issues. ... Human rights are rights which some hold to be inalienable and belonging to all humans. ...

He founded Solidarity (Solidarność), the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland from 1990 to 1995 (succeeded by Aleksander Kwaśniewski). Lech Walesa File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... December 22 is the 356th day of the year (357th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 23 is the 357th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (358th in leap years). ... 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... An electrician is a tradesman specializing in electrical wiring of buildings and related equipment. ... A political party is a political organization that subscribes to a certain ideology and seeks to attain political power within a government. ... Solidarity (Polish Solidarność) is a Polish trade union federation founded in September 1980, originally led by Lech Wałęsa. ... A First Lady is the female spouse of an elected male head of state such as a President, Prime Minister, Premier or Governor. ... Danuta Wałęsa, maiden name Mirosława Danuta Gołoś, is the wife of the former President of Poland Lech Wałęsa. ... September 29 is the 272nd day of the year (273rd in leap years). ... 1943 is a common year starting on Friday. ... Popowo is a village in Lubuskie province, Poland. ... Solidarity (Polish Solidarność) is a Polish trade union federation founded in September 1980, originally led by Lech Wałęsa. ... During the Cold War, the Eastern Bloc (or Soviet Bloc) comprised the following Central and Eastern European countries: Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Albania (until the early 1960s, see below), the Soviet Union, and Czechoslovakia. ... A union (labor union in American English; trade union in British English; either labour union or trade union in Canadian English) is a group of workers who act collectively to address common issues. ... Nobel Peace Prize (where Nobel is pronounced with the stress on the second syllable) is one of five Nobel Prizes requested by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. ... 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Following are the successive heads of state of Poland. ... 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... . Term of Office from December 23, 1995 until Incumbent Profession Journalist Political Party SLD First Lady Jolanta Kwaśniewska Date of Birth November 15, 1954 Place of Birth Białogard, Poland Date of Death Place of Death Aleksander Kwaśniewski (pronounce: [alεksandεr kʋaɕɲefskʲi]) is a Polish politician and the current President of...

Biography

Lech Wałęsa was born on September 29, 1943 in Popowo, Poland, to a carpenter and his wife. He attended primary and vocational school, before entering Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk (Stocznia Gdańska im. Lenina, now Stocznia Gdańska) as an electrical technician in 1967. In 1969 he married Danuta Gołoś, and the couple now have 8 children. September 29 is the 272nd day of the year (273rd in leap years). ... 1943 is a common year starting on Friday. ... The title given to this article lacks diacritics because of certain technical limitations. ... 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1969 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ...

He was a member of the illegal strike committee in Gdańsk Shipyard in 1970. After the bloody end of the strike, resulting in over 80 workers killed by the riot police, Wałęsa was arrested and convicted of "anti-social behaviour", spending one year in prison. 1970 was a common year starting on Thursday. ...

In 1976 Wałęsa lost his job in Gdańsk Shipyard for collecting signatures for a petition to build a memorial for the killed workers. Due to his being on an informal blacklist, he couldn't find another job and lived at the time thanks to his friends' personal help. 1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ...

In 1978, together with Andrzej Gwiazda and Aleksander Hall, he organized the illegal underground Free Trade Union of Pommerania (Wolne Związki Zawodowe Wybrzeża). He was arrested several times in 1979 for organizing an "anti-state" organization, but not found guilty in court and released at the beginning of 1980, after which he re-entered the Gdańsk shipyard. 1978 was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... Andrzej Gwiazda Andrzej Gwiazda (born on April 14, 1935) in Gdańsk engineer and prominent opposition leader, who participated in Polish so called March 1968 Events and December 1970 Events; one of the founders of Free Trade Unions, Member of the Presiding Committee of the Strike at Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk... 1979 is a common year starting on Monday. ... 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ...

Wałęsa on the cover of TIME magazine, December 29, 1980.

In August 14, 1980, after the beginning of an occupational strike in the Gdańsk Shipyard, Wałęsa illegally scaled the wall of the Shipyard and became the leader of this strike. The strike was spontaneously followed by similar strikes across Poland. Several days later he stopped workers who wanted to leave Gdańsk Shipyard, and persuaded them to organize the Strike Coordination Committee (Międzyzakładowy Komitet Strajkowy) to lead and support the naturally occurred general strike in Poland. This work is copyrighted. ... This work is copyrighted. ... 8:17 am, August 6, 1945, Japanese time. ... December 29 is the 363rd day of the year (364th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 2 days remaining. ... 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... August 14 is the 226th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (227th in leap years), with 139 days remaining. ... 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ...

In September of that year, the Communist government signed an agreement with the Strike Coordination Committee to allow legal organization, but not actual free trade unions. The Strike Coordination Committee legalized itself into National Coordination Committee of Solidarność Free Trade Union, and Wałęsa was chosen as a chairman of this Committee. Communism - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... Solidarity (Polish Solidarność) is a Polish trade union federation founded in September 1980, originally led by Lech Wałęsa. ...

Wałęsa kept this position until December 1981, when Prime Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski declared a state of martial law. He was interned for 11 months in south-eastern Poland near the Soviet border until November 14, 1982. 1981 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Term of Office from July 19, 1989 until December 22, 1990 Profession Officer Political Party PZPR First Lady Barbara Jaruzelska Date of Birth July 6, 1923 Place of Birth Kurów near Puławy, Poland Date of Death Place of Death Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski (pronounce: [vɔjtɕεx jaruzεlski]) (born July 6, 1923... Wojciech Jaruzelski declared martial law (December 13, 1981) The Martial law (Polish: Stan wojenny) was introduced in Poland by the Communist regime on December 13, 1981 to prevent democratic movements (such as Solidarity) from gaining popularity and attendant political power in the country. ... The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) (Russian: (СССР)  listen; tr. ... November 14 is the 318th day of the year (319th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 47 days remaining. ... 1982 is a number and represents a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar Events January January 6 - William Bonin is convicted of being the freeway killer. January 8 - AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions January 11 - Mark Thatcher, son of the British Prime...

In 1983 he applied to come back to Gdańsk Shipyard to his former position as a simple electrician. While formally treated as a "simple worker", he was practically under house arrest until 1987. 1983 also saw Wałęsa being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He was unable to receive the prize himself, fearing that the government would not let him back in, so his wife Danuta Wałęsowa received the prize in his place. Wałęsa donated the prize money to the Solidarity movement's temporary headquarters in exile (in Brussels). 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1987 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Nobel Peace Prize (where Nobel is pronounced with the stress on the second syllable) is one of five Nobel Prizes requested by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. ... Emblem of the Brussels-Capital Region Flag of The City of Brussels Brussels (Dutch: Brussel, French: Bruxelles, German: Brüssel) is the capital of Belgium and is considered by many to be the de facto capital of the European Union, as two of its three main institutions have their headquarters...

From 1987 to 1990 Wałęsa organized and led the "half-illegal" Temporary Executive Committee of Solidarity Trade Union. 1987 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Round-table negotiations

In 1988 Wałęsa organized an occupational strike in Gdańsk Shipyard, demanding only the re-legalisation of the Solidarity Trade Union. After eighty days the government agreed to enter into round-table talks in September. Wałęsa was an informal leader of the "non-governmental" side during the talks. During the talks the government signed an agreement to re-establish the Solidarity Trade Union and to organize "half-free" elections to Polish parliament. round-table negotiations File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... round-table negotiations File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... 1988 is a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Solidarity (Polish Solidarność) is a Polish trade union federation founded in September 1980, originally led by Lech Wałęsa. ...

In 1989 Wałęsa organized and led the Citizenship Committee of the Chairman of Solidarity Trade Union. Formally it was just an advisory body, but practically it was a kind of a political party, which won parliament elections in 1989 (Opposition took 48% of seats in the Sejm out of 49% that were subject of free elections and all but one seats in the newly re-established senate; the remaining 51% of seats were given automatically to Communist Party according to the Round Table agreements). 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the lower chamber of Polish parliament. ... A senate is a deliberative body, often the upper house or chamber of a legislature. ...

Wałęsa on the cover of TIME magazine, January 4, 1982.

While technically just a Chairman of Solidarity Trade Union at the time Wałęsa played a key role in Polish politics. At the end of 1989 he persuaded leaders from formally communist ally parties to form a non-communist coalition government, which was the first non-communist government in the Soviet Bloc. After that agreement, to the big surprise of the Communist Party, the parliament chose Tadeusz Mazowiecki for prime minister of Poland. Poland, while still a communist country in theory, started to change its economy to the free market system. This work is copyrighted. ... This work is copyrighted. ... 8:17 am, August 6, 1945, Japanese time. ... January 4 is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1982 is a number and represents a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar Events January January 6 - William Bonin is convicted of being the freeway killer. January 8 - AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions January 11 - Mark Thatcher, son of the British Prime... 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Tadeusz Mazowiecki (born April 18, 1927 in Płock) is a Polish author, journalist, social worker and politician, formerly one of the leaders of the Solidarity movement, and the first non-communist prime minister in Central and Eastern Europe after World War II. Tadeusz Mazowiecki Tadeusz Mazowiecki Shortly after World War...

On December 9, 1990 Wałęsa won the presidential election to become president of Poland for next 5 years. During his presidency he started so called "war at the top" which practically meant changing the government annually. His style of presidency was however strongly criticized by most of the political parties, and he lost most of the initial public support by the end of 1995. However, during his presidency Poland was completely changed, from an oppressive communist country under strict Soviet control and with a weak economy to an independent and democratic country with a fast growing free-market economy. December 9 is the 343rd day (344th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Presidential elections were held in Poland on Sunday November 25 (1st round), and Sunday December 9, 1990 (2n round). ... Following are the successive heads of state of Poland. ... 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Wałęsa lost the 1995 presidential election. After that he claimed to go to "political retirement", but he was still active, trying to establish his own political party. In 1997 Wałęsa supported and helped to organize a new party called "Solidarity Electoral Action" (Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność) which won the parliamentary elections. However, his support was of minor significance and Wałęsa held a very low position in this party. The real leader of the party and its main organizer was a new Solidarity Trade Union leader, Marian Krzaklewski. 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Solidarity Electoral Action (Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność, AWS) is a political party coalition in Poland. ...

Wałęsa again stood for the presidential election in 2000, but he received less than 1% of votes. After that Wałęsa again claimed his political retirement. From that time on he has been lecturing on the history and politics of Central Europe at various foreign universities. 2000 is a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Historical lands and provinces in Central Europe Central Europe is the region of Europe between Eastern Europe and Western Europe. ...

In May 10, 2004, the Gdańsk international airport has been officially renamed to Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport to commemorate the famous Gdańsk citizen. His signature has been incorporated into the airport's logo. There was some controversy if the name should be spelled Lech Walesa (without diacritics, but better recognizable in the world) or Lech Wałęsa (with Polish letters, but difficult to write and pronounce for foreigners). A month later, Walesa went to the U.S., representing Poland at the state funeral of Ronald Reagan, who like Walesa, played a significant role with in dissolving the Soviet bloc. May 10 is the 130th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (131st in leap years). ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The title given to this article lacks diacritics because of certain technical limitations. ... The Lech Walesa Airport is located in Gdansk, Poland, and is named after the Polish leader of the same name. ... President George W. Bush, his wife, Laura, Vice-President Richard Cheney and his wife, Lynne, and former president Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary, New York Democratic senator, watch the casket of former president Ronald Reagan carried into the Washington National Cathedral Nancy Reagan was escorted by Army Major General...

Wałęsa and Kwaśniewski shaking hands at the funeral of Pope John Paul II; Tadeusz Mazowiecki in the background

Apart from his Nobel Prize, Wałęsa received several other international prizes. He has been awarded the title of doctor honoris causa from several US and European Universities. This work is copyrighted. ... This work is copyrighted. ... . Term of Office from December 23, 1995 until Incumbent Profession Journalist Political Party SLD First Lady Jolanta Kwaśniewska Date of Birth November 15, 1954 Place of Birth Białogard, Poland Date of Death Place of Death Aleksander Kwaśniewski (pronounce: [alεksandεr kʋaɕɲefskʲi]) is a Polish politician and the current President of... His Holiness Pope John Paul II (Latin: ), born Karol Józef Wojtyła [1] (May 18, 1920 – April 2, 2005), reigned as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City for almost 27 years, from 16 October 1978 until his death. ... Tadeusz Mazowiecki (born April 18, 1927 in Płock) is a Polish author, journalist, social worker and politician, formerly one of the leaders of the Solidarity movement, and the first non-communist prime minister in Central and Eastern Europe after World War II. Tadeusz Mazowiecki Tadeusz Mazowiecki Shortly after World War... Wikiquote quotations related to: United States Wikinews has news related to this article: United States United States government Official website of the United States government - Gateway to governmental sites White House - Official site of the US President Senate. ... This article is about the continent. ... A university is an institution of higher education and of research, which grants academic degrees. ...

See also:

• Solidarity
• History of Poland
• Gdansk
• Bezpartyjny Blok Wspierania Reform (BBWR)

Solidarity (Polish Solidarność) is a Polish trade union federation founded in September 1980, originally led by Lech Wałęsa. ... History of Poland is filled with the struggle to get, keep, and regain freedom—the main value and priode of Poles. ... The title given to this article lacks diacritics because of certain technical limitations. ... The Bezpartyjny Blok Wspierania Reform (Polish for Non-Party Block for Supporting the Reforms) abbreviated BBWR was officially a non-politcal organization (in fact a political party) affiliated with Lech Wałęsa. ...

Term of Office from July 19, 1989 until December 22, 1990 Profession Officer Political Party PZPR First Lady Barbara Jaruzelska Date of Birth July 6, 1923 Place of Birth Kurów near Puławy, Poland Date of Death Place of Death Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski (pronounce: [vɔjtɕεx jaruzεlski]) (born July 6, 1923... Following are the successive heads of state of Poland. ... . Term of Office from December 23, 1995 until Incumbent Profession Journalist Political Party SLD First Lady Jolanta Kwaśniewska Date of Birth November 15, 1954 Place of Birth Białogard, Poland Date of Death Place of Death Aleksander Kwaśniewski (pronounce: [alεksandεr kʋaɕɲefskʲi]) is a Polish politician and the current President of...

External links

• CNN Cold War—Profile of Lech Walesa (http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/walesa/)
• BRITANNICA Guide to the Nobel Prizes (http://www.britannica.com/nobel/micro/629_24.html)
• Lech Walesa Biography info (http://mywebpage.netscape.com/walesa43/lech1.html)
• Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport (http://www.airport.gdansk.pl/)
• Walesa speech (http://polskaludowa.com/dzwiek/nagrania/Walesa_Gdansk80_1.mp3)
• Walesa speech (http://polskaludowa.com/dzwiek/nagrania/Walesa_Gdansk80_2.mp3)

(after signed the agreement with the Strike Coordination Committee to allow legal organization on August 1980) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikiquote is a sister project of Wikipedia, using the same MediaWiki software. ... 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ...