Word: walesa
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...coincidence last week that workers launched a wave of strikes close to the eighth birthday of the outlawed Solidarity trade union. The stoppages crippled ten coal mines in Silesia and paralyzed dock facilities in the Baltic seaport of Szczecin. Although the strikes were not organized by Solidarity leaders, Lech Walesa, head of the union, warned that workers at the Lenin shipyard in Gdansk would join the disruptions early this week. The strikers' demands included legalization of Solidarity, as well as higher wages and better working conditions...
...ghost of Solidarity was even more pervasive at Gorbachev's other destination, the shipbuilding city of Szczecin, on the Baltic Sea. Along with former Solidarity Leader Lech Walesa and his supporters in the city of Gdansk, the 8,000 workers of Szczecin's Adolf Warski shipyard were instrumental in + founding the independent labor union. Speaking to 3,000 workers in the shipyard's cavernous hull-assembly building, a solemn Gorbachev avoided any direct mention of Solidarity, whose underground leadership had earlier issued a statement praising his reforms in the Soviet Union. The closest he came was to congratulate workers...
Solidarity Leader Lech Walesa, who had feared that the workers' revolt was ill timed and had joined it only reluctantly, admitted that the finale amounted to a "step back." The government of General Wojciech Jaruzelski announced plans to speed up Poland's economic restructuring program. But in the sullen aftermath of the country's crushed labor rebellion, few expected the measures to make much difference...
...standoff dragged on, the atmosphere grew more tense on all sides. The church hierarchy, charging that its mediation offer had been betrayed, bitterly denounced the use of force as a step that "does not serve the interests of society." Walesa grew more and more disillusioned. "It's as if the authorities are trying to poke their finger into the wheel of history," he declared. "Really, I am beyond fear at this point. They can kill me, but they can't overcome me." The electrician, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1983, vowed that "I will...
Initially, Walesa seemed far different from the charismatic union firebrand of eight years ago. Though he spoke of "revolution, and a bloody one" if authorities failed to make concessions, Walesa, 44, sought no leadership role, remaining a subdued, even ambivalent participant. Said he: "It is time for younger people." His reluctance stemmed in part from a conviction that reforms not drastically different from those proposed by the regime are necessary for the rescue of Poland's devastated economy. Walesa believes that such a program must be carried out with far broader popular consultation than $ Jaruzelski is willing to permit. Walesa...