Walesa to speak at Boise State Distinguished Lecture Series

Lech Walesa, the Solidarity labor movement leader who was instrumental in championing democracy in Poland before going on to serve as the country’s president, will speak at Boise State University at 7 p.m. Oct. 9 in The Pavilion.

The 1983 Nobel Peace Prize laureate will speak as part of the university’s Distinguished Lecture Series.

Trained as an electrician, Walesa assumed leadership of the 10-million-member Solidarity labor movement in 1980 and negotiated with the communist government to legally recognize Solidarity and labor unions.

The next year the Polish government declared martial law, suspended the activities of labor unions and arrested thousands of leaders, including Walesa.

After his release from prison in 1982, Walesa continued to plant seeds of democracy by leading Solidarity as an underground movement and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983.

After years of labor unrest, the government eventually invited Solidarity to participate in a coalition government. Walesa became the first democratically elected president in 1990 and set Poland on the path to a free-market economy.

He now heads the Lech Walesa Institute, which champions democracy and free-market reform in Eastern Europe and throughout the world.

Arbiter Staff

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