Resources for Teachers and Students on Lech Walesa

Prepare: Lech Walesa won the Nobel Peace Prize because of his efforts organizing the Solidarity (Solidarnosc) trade union in then-communist Poland. He went on to win the country's presidency, which he held from 1990 to 1995, during which time he was instrumental in Poland's transition into a democracy. His biography can be found on the Nobel site.

Read: Lech Walesa's Architects of Peace essay is excerpted from his 1987 autobiography, A Way of Hope. In it, he describes a vision of humanity evolving beyond a point where war is seen as a way to settle disputes.

Explore: After losing the presidential election in 1995, Walesa went on to found the Lech Walesa Institute, the mission of which is to consolidate democracy and foster a free-market economy in Poland.

Write: During his Nobel lecture, Lech Walesa stated, "My most ardent desire is that my country will recapture its historic opportunity for a peaceful evolution and that Poland will prove to the world that even the most complex situations can be solved by a dialogue and not by force." This is precisely what happened seven years later: Poland freed itself from communist domination without needing to resort to arms or violence. Was this a quirk of history, or could the Polish model be applied elsewhere? After researching the historical factors surrounding this remarkable event, write a three-to-five page historical analysis as to how and why the Polish situation was solved "by dialogue and not by force."

Extend: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, maintains a "Memories of the World" archive which contains such important documents as the original score for Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. According to the archivist, one of the most important documents of the 20th century is the "Twenty One Demands" that Walesa presented to Communist authorities during the historic strike at the Gdansk shipyard in August of 1980.

Additional Resource: Not only is the Solidarity trade union still going strong, but it maintains an English version of its website. Those wanting to examine the issues currently of interest to union members can do so on this site.

Biography of Lech Walsea