1980 â 1989 Fight
He was one of the main instigators of the August protest in 1980. His personal stand, tenacious negotiations, and struggling for the strikerâs demands, support and trust that he enjoyed on the part of the strike participators throughout Poland, contributed to creating the sense of solidarity and community among Poles, which was institutionally expressed with the establishment of the Free Independent Trade Union Solidarity. That was the time when all the world followed the events in Poland, Gdansk and the moves of Lech Walesa, who would represent the interests of his countrymen with dignity, winning admiration and respect of the free world.
The totalitarian regime reacted to all those developments by introducing martial law on December 13, 1981. Lech Walesa was among the first individuals to be interned
All the way through the dark time of martial law and difficult period after the ban of Solidarity, when the Union was routed and few people retained any hope for victory, Lech Walesa was the one who would not surrender. He remained the living symbol, spokesman, and propagator of the idea of solidarity. Despite fabricated rumours slandering his person, despite continuous harassment by the repression services of Communist Poland, he did not give in. His struggle was appreciated both within Poland and outside the country, with Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to him in 1983.
