Electrician who became president as the leader of Solidarity
If somebody had told me that I would be the leader to bring down communism... I never would have believed them. That is why I am the happiest man in the whole galaxy.
A shipyard electrician in Gdańsk, he led the 1980 strike that founded the independent trade union Solidarity and forced the communist government to sign the Gdańsk Agreement. Imprisoned under martial law and awarded the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize, he served as the unofficial opposition leader at the 1989 Round Table talks that negotiated Poland's peaceful transition from one-party rule. Elected Poland's first president by popular vote in 1990, he steered the country toward a market economy and secured the withdrawal of Soviet troops, but lost reelection in 1995 and retired from politics. One labour activist's victory became the signal that cracked the Soviet bloc.
Career Timeline
- 1980Leads Gdańsk shipyard strike, co-founds Solidarity
- 1980–1981Chairman of Solidarity
- 1983Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
- 1989Opposition leader at Round Table, semi-free election victory
- 1990–1995President of Poland
- 1995Loses presidential election, retires from politics