Word: lech
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Amfitheatrof had just returned to Rome from the earthquake-shattered villages of southern Italy when he was called to help Kalb in Poland. With a Polish visa, prudently obtained back in August, he was able to fly directly to Warsaw and spend part of a day with Solidarity Leader Lech Walesa at church and at Walesa's home outside Gdansk. "The Poles are marvelously brave and calm," observes Amfitheatrof, who along with Kalb witnessed last week's emotional unveiling of the workers' monument in Gdansk. "Whatever the future holds for them has enormous implications for Eastern Europe...
Shortly before 5 o'clock, the dignitaries were introduced. Poland's President Henryk Jablonski, a silver-haired figure in a black overcoat: a smattering of applause. Franciszek Cardinal Macharski of Cracow wearing crimson biretta and robes: hearty applause. Then Union Leader Lech Walesa, the improbable hero of last summer's strikes, bundled in his customary duffel coat: tumultuous applause. After a minute of silence, the city's church bells began to peal, and ship sirens wailed from the port, a keening cry that sent shivers through the crowd. The names of those who died at Gdansk...
...dissidents, it has grown into a labor leviathan, with an estimated 10 million members (out of 17.3 million employed) in 54 chapters around the country. When a strike loomed in Warsaw, no less than Deputy Prime Minister Jagielski offered to dispatch a government helicopter to Gdansk to pick up Lech Walesa. Solidarity has even acquired a modicum of official respectability. To raise funds, it has sponsored a benefit performance at the National Opera House and auctions at the National Gallery...
...officials worried lest it get out of hand. If it did, Soviet troops stood on alert at Poland's borders. "The Poles," said a concerned analyst in Bonn, "seem to have a particular talent for courting national suicide." But the workers were not contemplating retreat. Said Union Leader Lech Walesa: "We are not cowards. We are not going back, ever...
...hard. Across the world, leaders lift their glasses and then drain--Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, toast Saddam Hussein. Let Giscard D'Estaing drink with Yassir Arafat Deng Hsiao-ping, have one on Anwar Sadat. Solidarity will flow through the streets of Warszawa When Brezhnev sips vodka with Lech Walesa. Benigno Aquino and Ferdinand Marcos, share a beer, Ideally, when His Holiness the XVI Karmapa is near...