Lech Walesa — "I will never shake hands with a communist."
I will never shake hands with a communist.
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More from Lech Walesa
"I have never been a communist. I have always been a Catholic and a patriot."
"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 am a simple worker. I do not understand these complicated things."
"I believe in miracles."
"I am not an angel, but I have never sold out Poland."
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.