Walesa
Polish labor hero
Lech Walesa is a Polish labor activist and politician who led the Solidarity trade union movement in the 1980s, helping to end Communist rule in Poland.
He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 and served as Poland's president from 1990 to 1995.
His name appears in discussions of Cold War history and nonviolent resistance: Walesa became a symbol of workers' rights across Eastern Europe.
Polish trade union movement
- GdanskNorthern Polish seaport
- shipyardVessel construction site
- laborStrenuous effort; also childbirth
- unionJoining into one
strike · communism · Poland · democracy · dissent · opposition · activism · workers
Fourth-to-last twentieth-century decade
- revolutionViolent governmental overthrow
- transformationThorough change in form
- ReaganAmerican presidential surname
- liberationRelease from constraint
Gorbachev · independence · freedom · democratization · post-Soviet · détente · glasnost · perestroika
Elected leader of nation
- NobelSwedish prize surname
- laureateCelebrated achievement recipient
- statesmanRespected political leader
- iconPictorial screen symbol
figurehead · symbol · charisma · spokesperson · negotiator · orator · populist · controversial
Solidarity
Polish trade union movement
union · strike · communism · Poland · democracy · dissent · opposition · activism · workers · movement
1980s
Fourth-to-last twentieth-century decade
- revolutionViolent governmental overthrow
- transformationThorough change in form
- ReaganAmerican presidential surname
Gorbachev · liberation · independence · freedom · democratization · post-Soviet · détente · glasnost · perestroika
president
Elected leader of nation
- NobelSwedish prize surname
- laureateCelebrated achievement recipient
- statesmanRespected political leader
icon · figurehead · symbol · charisma · spokesperson · negotiator · orator · populist · controversial · legacy
- Slavic SurnamesNovak, Kowalski, Kovac, Djokovic, Lewandowski
- World LeadersChurchill, Winston Churchill, Eisenhower, Gorbachev, Thatcher
- 1989 RevolutionsVelvet Revolution, Berlin Wall fall, Singing Revolution, Iron Curtain, Eastern Bloc
- Cold War Dissentdissidents, samizdat, refuseniks, defectors, Radio Free Europe
- Cold War EndBerlin Wall fall, Soviet collapse, German reunification, Gorbachev, perestroika
- Communist PolandCommunist era, People's Republic, Solidarity, state surveillance, martial law
Walesamilitary dictator