Lech Walesa — "I will build democracy - democratically, semi-demo cratically and even undemocra…"
I will build democracy - democratically, semi-demo cratically and even undemocratically.
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More from Lech Walesa
"My critics say that I should speak better ... that I should read the things they write for me. But I have another principle, gentlemen, and that is to get things done."
"I will not bring the army or the police on to the streets. I will not shoot at Poles, even if only because I have the Nobel Peace Prize."
"Communism was a good idea, but it was badly implemented."
"I never wanted to be a hero. I just wanted to do my duty."
"I'm not a man of compromise. I'm a man of victory."
About Lech Walesa (born 1943)
Polish electrician who founded Solidarity in 1980, won the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize, and became the first post-communist president of Poland (1990-1995). Closely associated with Václav Havel (fellow Eastern-bloc dissident-turned-president) and Pope John Paul II (the Polish pope whose 1979 visit catalyzed Solidarity). For an intellectual contrast, see Wojciech Jaruzelski, Polish general and Communist leader — Jaruzelski imposed martial law in 1981, banned Solidarity, and interned Wałęsa. He represented the Soviet-backed institutional power Solidarity's nonviolent labor movement was organized to displace — they ultimately signed the 1989 Round Table Talks together that ended Polish communism.