Lech Wałęsa

Lech Wałęsa is a Polish trade unionist and statesman who led the Solidarity movement and was president of Poland from 1990 to 1995. An electrician at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, he was dismissed in 1976 for his union activity. In August 1980 he led the strike committee that negotiated the Gdańsk Agreement, which permitted an independent trade union, and he became chairman of Solidarity. Imprisoned under martial law in 1981–1982, he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 and in 1989 informally led the opposition side in the Round Table talks.