2008 Woodie Awards
Walesa Addresses Seton Hall Crowd
Lev D. Zillbermints
Issue date: 12/12/05 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - Lech Walesa, president of Poland from 1990-1995 and 1983 Nobel Prize Laureate, spoke at Seton Hall University on Dec. 1.
A quarter-century ago, Walesa was an electrician at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland. He led a successful nation-wide strike that won the workers the right to strike and have their own unions. Twenty-five years later, he shared his experiences with the audience at SHU.
Speaking through an interpreter, Walesa (pronounced Va-lesa) told an audience of over 2000 people of his struggle for democracy in communist-dominated Poland. At the time, he decided that Polish workers needed a free union to fight for their rights. However, in 1980, free unions were outlawed in communist Poland.
Walesa credited the late Pope John Paul II with revitalizing Polish spirit and national pride.
"We were given the gift of the Pope who was a Pole," he said.
According to Walesa, the Pope renewed the faith of the Polish people.
"It was simple," he said. "we simply knelt down and prayed to a divine power. All the computer failed. All the technology failed. Faith won over."
Walesa said it was easier to turn a capitalist country into a Communist one than to reverse the process.
"It is easy to turn capitalism into communism. It's as easy as making a fish soup out of a fish tank. You don't even need the seasoning," said Walesa.
"The Communist system fit Poland like a horse saddle would fit a pig," he said.
After General Wojciech Jaruzelski came to power in 1981, Solidarity was suppressed and outlawed. Walesa was held in detention from December 1981 to November 1982. Once released, he spent three years under house arrest.
Although Seton Hall University awarded him a honorary doctorate in 1982, Walesa was unable to receive it in person.
The reasons were travel restrictions and the fear that he might not be allowed to return to Poland.
In 1983, Walesa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his Solidarity-related work. As the communists lost political ground in Poland and Eastern Europe throughout the 1980s, and economic problems arose, the opposition gained in stature. Solidarity was re-legalized and allowed to participate in the limited democratic elections in 1989. All Solidarity candidates swept the election, with the Communists needing a second round to be elected. The following year, 1990, Walesa was elected the second President of the Third Republic of Poland until 1995..
A quarter-century ago, Walesa was an electrician at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland. He led a successful nation-wide strike that won the workers the right to strike and have their own unions. Twenty-five years later, he shared his experiences with the audience at SHU.
Speaking through an interpreter, Walesa (pronounced Va-lesa) told an audience of over 2000 people of his struggle for democracy in communist-dominated Poland. At the time, he decided that Polish workers needed a free union to fight for their rights. However, in 1980, free unions were outlawed in communist Poland.
Walesa credited the late Pope John Paul II with revitalizing Polish spirit and national pride.
"We were given the gift of the Pope who was a Pole," he said.
According to Walesa, the Pope renewed the faith of the Polish people.
"It was simple," he said. "we simply knelt down and prayed to a divine power. All the computer failed. All the technology failed. Faith won over."
Walesa said it was easier to turn a capitalist country into a Communist one than to reverse the process.
"It is easy to turn capitalism into communism. It's as easy as making a fish soup out of a fish tank. You don't even need the seasoning," said Walesa.
"The Communist system fit Poland like a horse saddle would fit a pig," he said.
After General Wojciech Jaruzelski came to power in 1981, Solidarity was suppressed and outlawed. Walesa was held in detention from December 1981 to November 1982. Once released, he spent three years under house arrest.
Although Seton Hall University awarded him a honorary doctorate in 1982, Walesa was unable to receive it in person.
The reasons were travel restrictions and the fear that he might not be allowed to return to Poland.
In 1983, Walesa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his Solidarity-related work. As the communists lost political ground in Poland and Eastern Europe throughout the 1980s, and economic problems arose, the opposition gained in stature. Solidarity was re-legalized and allowed to participate in the limited democratic elections in 1989. All Solidarity candidates swept the election, with the Communists needing a second round to be elected. The following year, 1990, Walesa was elected the second President of the Third Republic of Poland until 1995..