TAS Quote of the Day - May 20, 2021 (Lech Walesa)

It’s arguable that no single person had a greater impact on the late 20th Century than Lech Walesa. By his own admission he was an uneducated electrician who couldn’t keep a job. He spent most of his time between jobs making trouble for the authoritarian Communist government in Poland. He simply wanted fair pay and freedom, but he was the warning tremor of an earthquake that would shake the world.

Inspired by the newly-elected Polish Pope, John Paul II’s visit to Poland in 1979, Walesa set a course that would change not only Poland but Europe and the world.

In 1980, he helped organize the Gdansk shipyard strikes and the world waited to see what would happen. The Polish military dominated the country and they were backed by 200,000 Soviet troops in Poland and another million in neighboring countries.

Walesa and his Solidarity movement dared the Polish regime and the Soviet super power and they blinked. Pay raises were given. Eventually, the change did not come without a crackdown, but notice was out to all the Soviet satellites. For the rest of the decade Poland lived with the chaos of changed. By decades end and as the Berlin Wall was crumbling, the Walesa was being elected president of Poland. He served from 1990-1995.

I love this quote because it gets right to the heart of it. Peace and justice are like bread and salt to human beings and it’s time we have it.