Hero in Pursuit of World Peace

October 5 is the 25th anniversary of the awarding of the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize to Solidarity leader Lech Walesa of Poland. This topic is especially appropriate because October is Polish American Heritage Month.

Lech Walesa was born on September 29, 1943 in Popowo, Poland. His education and background included vocational school, car mechanic, and corporal in the Polish army. In 1967 he was employed in the Gdansk shipyards as an electrician.

During the clash in December 1970 between the workers and the communist government, he was one of the leaders of the shipyard workers and was briefly detained. In 1976, however, as a result of his activities as a shop steward, he was fired and had to earn his living by taking temporary jobs.

In 1978, he began to organize free non-communist trade unions with other activists and took part in many actions on the sea coast. He was kept under surveillance by the state security service and frequently detained.

In August 1980, he led the Gdansk shipyard strike which gave rise to a wave of strikes over much of the country, with Walesa seen as the leader. The primary demands were for workers' rights. The authorities were forced to capitulate and to negotiate with Walesa the Gdansk Agreement of August 31, 1980, which gave the workers the right to strike and to organize their own independent union. In September 1981, he was elected Solidarity Chairman at the First National Solidarity Congress in Gdansk.

The country's brief enjoyment of relative freedom ended in December 1981 when General Jaruzelski, fearing Soviet armed intervention, imposed martial law, "suspended" Solidarity, arrested many of its leaders, and interned Walesa in a country house in a remote spot.

In November 1982, Walesa was released and reinstated at the Gdansk shipyards. Although kept under surveillance, he managed to maintain contact with Solidarity leaders in the underground. While martial law was lifted in July 1983, many of the restrictions were continued in civil code. In October 1983, the announcement of Walesa's Nobel Prize raised the spirits of the underground movement.

Assign students to choose three of the past winners of the Nobel Peace Prize and to provide a brief bio along with the work that they did to support the issues that were worthy of the Nobel Prize.

Pathfinder # 1: Topic Search > type "Nobel Peace Prize" in Search box > Peace AND Nobel prizes > Personal profiles View documents

Pathfinder # 2: Basic Search > type "history of Nobel Peace Prize" and search > click Peace and Nobel Prizes > Personal Profiles

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