Lech Walesa — "I was a communist. I was a communist for a short time, in order to fight communi…"
I was a communist. I was a communist for a short time, in order to fight communism.
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More from Lech Walesa
"I am not afraid of anyone, except my wife."
"I don’t read books. I write them."
"Sometimes you have to break the rules to change the world."
"I am a simple electrician, but I have a big heart."
"I can only say that I am not a homosexual. I am a normal man."
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.