“When
it comes to food – good is what suits my taste.
When it comes to politics - good is what gains the majority.”
– Why white needs to be called white
and what makes a person valuable.
Lech
Walesa, Founder of “Lech Walesa Foundation”,
former Polish president and Peace Nobel Price holder,
Gdansk, Poland
From
the first moment on it is apparent that Mr. Walesa is
a  professional
and that this is not the first interview that he is
giving. He uses his time efficiently, greets briefly
and asks for the first question. No introduc-tion, no
questions asked.
Similarly sober is his office – large, a lot of
room and light, a big desk and a bookshelf. A lot of
free space. The office of the Lech Wa-lesa Foundation
is based on the top floor of one of the most beautiful
buildings in the old town of Gdansk. This historical
location fits well with the historical signi-ficance
of its owner.
A trained electrician, Lech Walesa fought for the rights
of  common
workers under the com-munist rule in the 1970ies and
80ies, he founded the legendary trade union “Solidarnosc”,
helped to abolish the communist system throughout Eastern
Europe and to establish Polish democracy before becoming
its freely elected presi-dent in Dec. 1990. A large
part of his life was devoted to the fight for freedom,
peace, dignity and democracy. As one of very few politicians
in the world he stayed faithful to his vision of free
democracy and did not aim to misuse the power he had
as state president and internationally influential personality.
The
historical facts are quite well known. We would like
to give you an impression of the person by sharing some
of Mr. Walesa’s thoughts and beliefs. You will
be able to read more in our book “MyImpact”.
Lech Walesa’s selected quotations:
“At the beginning I did not have any visions;
I just wan-ted people to tell the truth and call things
what they are. I like clear situations – I like
white to be called white and not grayish.”
“Communism
had some quite good ideas but the execution was miserable.
So, I spoke up, got involved in the opposi-tion without
really planning to. In my opinion a worker bringing
up suggestions should be listened to and not threatened
and put to jail. I just wanted white to be called white
and so I got involved because of, in my opin-ion, telling
the truth.”
“I
believe everything I did was good. Something that is
good at a certain point, however, does not necessarily
have to be good at another time.”
“When
I was older police would put me to jail, so I guess
they thought I was not doing good things.”
“When
we started I had 10 people around me. Then, the Pope
visited Poland and he said “do not worry”.
And half a year later I had 10 million instead of 10
people fighting. Not that I was smarter or anything,
but the nation, once waken up, wanted a leader. That
is how the strikes and demonstrations started. Pope,
Walesa, then came Gor-batschow...”
“What
is good? When it comes to food – good is what
suits my taste. When it comes to politics - good is
what gains the majority. Not a forced majority, but
a majority convinced by argumentation. I try to argue
in a way that makes sure the majority does not make
a mistake if it fol-lows my suggestions.”
“I
gave the victory to the nation - for me democracy was
always most important. I knew people would not be ready
for it, yet. I could have kept them short, like Fidel
Castro, but I believed my mission was to propose democracy.
Once it was loud enough, the communists could not abo-lish
it, anymore, even without me.”
“With
my character at that time and place there were no other
alternatives. I hate politics but that is where des-tiny
brought me. With my character I could have done other
things and be good at them; becoming a good com-puter
specialist like Bill Gates would be much better than
going into politics, for example. Why shouldn’t
I have been even better than him? Well, destiny chose
differently…”
“A
person is worth as much as he or she means to others,
as he or she helps and serves. That is something my
character tells my. Why? Probably I sucked this with
my mother’s milk.”
“I
never wanted anything in return although I ended up
getting a lot – I was president, I won awards.
Everyone is a little complacent, also me. But only for
a while, because I do not work for prices and I give
away what I receive. But of course, it is better to
have than not to have. Everyone prefers awards to beating.”
“I
marched through life without paying attention to the
price I had to pay. I was an idealist.”
“I
do not really need any help at the moment. Democracy
is turning its own wheel and now it is up to the nation
to decide. People are not ready, yet, to deal with it.
You cannot learn democracy, you have to live it and
that takes time.”
Some
background on Lech Walesa:
Lech Walesa was born on September 29, 1943 in Popowo,
Poland and attended primary and vocational school, be-fore
entering Lenin Shipyard in as an electrical technician
in 1967. In 1969 he married Danuta Golos, and the couple
has 8 children.
He was a member of the illegal strike committee in Gdansk
Shipyard in 1970. After the bloody end of the strike,
re-sulting in over 80 workers killed by the rioting
police, Wa-lesa was arrested and convicted of "anti-social
behavior", spending one year in prison.
In 1976 Walesa lost his job in Gdansk Shipyard for collec-ting
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.
On August 14th, 1980, Walesa illegally scaled the wall
of the Shipyard and became the leader of the beginning
occupational strike. Several days later he stopped wor-kers
who wanted to leave Gdansk Shipyard, and persua-ded
them to organize the Strike Coordination Committee to
lead and support the naturally occurred general strike
in Poland.
In September of that year, the Communist government
signed an agreement with the Strike Coordination Commit-tee
to allow legal organization and Walesa was chosen as
a chairman of this Committee. Walesa kept this position
until December 1981, when Prime Minister Wojciech Jaru-zelski
declared a state of martial law. He was interned for
11 months in south-eastern Poland near the Soviet border
until November 14, 1982.
In 1983 he applied to come back to Gdansk 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 Walesa
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 Walesowa
received the prize in his place. Walesa donated the
prize money to the Solidarity movement's temporary headquarters
in exile (in Brussels).
While technically just a Chairman of Solidarity Trade
Union at the time Walesa played a key role in Polish
politics. At the end of 1989 he persuaded leaders from
formally com-munist ally parties to form a non-communist
coalition government, which was the first non-communist
govern-ment in the Soviet Bloc.
On December 9, 1990 Walesa won the presidential elec-tion
to become president of Poland for 5 years. During his
presidency he started the so called "war at the
top" which practically meant changing the government
annual-ly. 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 demo-cratic country with a fast growing
free-market economy.
Some background on Solidarnosc:
 Solidarity
(Polish Solidarnosc) is a Polish trade union feder-ation
founded in September 1980, originally led by Lech Walesa.
In the 1980s, it gathered a broad anti-communist social
movement ranging from people associated with the Roman
Catholic Church down to members of the anti-communist
left. The union was backed by a group of intellectual
dissidents (KOR), and it was based on the rules of nonviolence.
The survival of “Solidarity” was an unprecedented
event not only in Poland, a satellite of the USSR ruled
by a one-party Communist regime, but also in the whole
Eastern bloc.
It meant a break in the hard-line stance of the Party
which in another protest in 1970 had ended in bloodshed
with dozens of people killed by machine gun fire and
over 1,000 injured. In 1968, the Prague Spring was crushed
by the Soviet Army tanks in the streets of the capital
of Czechoslovakia.
The factors contributing to the initial success of “Solida-rity”
and dissident movements in general in the 1980s were
the deepening internal crisis of Soviet-style socialism
due to the degradation of morale, the worsening economic
conditions and the impending defeat in the Cold War.
The ideas of the Solidarity movement spread like wildfire
throughout Poland; more and more new unions were formed
and joined the federation. The program, although concerned
with trade union matters, was universally re-garded
as the first step towards dismantling the Party monopoly.
Some
background on “Lech Walesa Foundation”
Established in December 1995 by Lech Walesa, the Foun- dation
follows an example of similar institutions in Western
Europe and America.
The Foundation is dedicated to accomplishing the goals
which Lech Walesa considers valid and signi-ficant and
to which he has been faithful all his life. They are
in com-pliance with the following guide-lines:
•
Safeguarding of the national heritage, tradition of
independence and solidarity,
• Promoting Poland and Poles abroad,
• Consolidating democracy and implementing the
free mar-ket economy in Poland,
• Reinforcing the power decentralization process
and the development of self-government in Poland,
• Promoting moral values in politics and public
activity,
• Conducting research and studies on the most
recent history of Poland.
All
the Lech Walesa and his Institute's activities aim at
consolidating democracy and the free market economy
in Poland, as well as at permanently integrating Poland
into European structures. The Institute particularly
cherishes the respect for freedom and rights of a citizen
and for proper functioning of the state of law.
If
you would like to engage with the work of Lech Walesa
or get to know more about Solidarnosc please visit www.ilw.org.pl
Or, for more specific requests, contact joanna.stefanska@myimpact.ch
or wolfgang.hafenmayer@myimpact.ch
directly
|
