Today Lech Wałęsa turns eighty. A shipyard electrician by trade, Wałęsa became the leader of the Solidarność movement, and led a successful pro-democratic effort, which in 1989 ended Communist rule in Poland.

7 comments

1. I didn’t vote for him, and I blame him for elevating the Kaczyński brothers, but he has much more common sense and integrity than many educated assholes in today’s politics.

2. He kind of looks Indian?

3. Ironically named Lech.

   Lech leading Polish independence and Freedom is the most poetic parallel ever.

   (For those who do not know, the legends say that Lech was the original Founder of Poland, he was Brother Of Czech and Rus.)

4. He has his flaws but he got the job done.

5. If Zelensky wants to learn anything from Walesa’s mistakes, after his term of office, he will voluntarily resign from the politics and retire. Such achievements as theirs cannot be surpassed by anything else in life, they can only ruin their legacy.

6. True anti-communism leaders were Anna Walentynowicz and PM Olszewski (he was overturned, among others, with the participation of LW for attempting to conduct a vetting of people cooperating with the Soviet services). Walesa was just a stooge in the hands of the authorities who made a soft landing of communist criminals without being held accountable in “free” Poland

7. Bolek