My Opinion about the Former President Walesa, Lech

The President that never read a single book, but managed to write one. A few reflections on the subject of Poland's first president. Every country has the ruler it deserves.

There is a fable by Andersen about the Chinese Emperor that was naked. Until a small, naďve boy announced the fact; no one was able to see the shocking reality.

It seems that the current social position of a person makes him not only immune to critic; it makes all his shortcomings and faults simply invisible.

From the sidelines, I have watched the comet-like career of the first Polish now ex-president of the after-communist era and was always as equally astonished. A simple shipyard worker with hardly any education and no understanding of the world around him - and if that was not enough, with a very poor command of the Polish language - became suddenly, according to the media, the savior of the Polish nation, even more than that, the savior of East Europe.

Reading the newspapers you would be inclined to believe that we have experienced the unannounced arrival of a new Messiah, the fact that could be possibly confirmed by looking at the lapel of "Messiah's" jacket adorned by a giant picture of Madonna. (The man has simply no taste.)

Mr. Walesa, the same man that on several occasions, both publicly and proudly declared that he never read a single book in his life - and that he was proud of it - was by popular vote given the highest, most responsible, and possibly, the most demanding office in the new Republic. (Would you buy a used car from this man?)

This is Poland under a magnifying glass. A self-made pseudo-politician becomes a president, and no one cares that the Emperor is naked.

The Poles, possibly more than other nations, like to deceive themselves, which is painfully visible in their history ("Of course Hitler won't start the war, he is too scared of our cavalry!"). The Poles like to fool themselves.

Mr. Walesas honeymoon with Poles finished before his presidency term had come to end. I don't know who called out that Mr. Walesa was naked, but suddenly the whole nation that until that moment had been totally blind, suddenly started to see (a veritable miracle).

Suddenly everyone was asking themselves: "Did we, really, choose this man for president? Did I give him my vote?"

And concerning Mr. Walesa's heroic role, let's put the record straight - the communist regime was falling apart, with or without Mr. Walesa. The fall of the Soviet Union was the decisive factor, not Mr. Walesa's whimsical "speeches" or the strikes, which by an unpredictable twist of history became all of a sudden a historic "factor".

It is a good thing, though, that no one abroad understands Polish. The things this man says; statements and opinions that are foul, rude, aggressive, nonchalant, uneducated, illogical, and often simply nonsensical. As a (former) president you can say whatever you like and it still smells like roses.

Thank God for the translators. Somehow, in translation, the awful stuff that the President used to utter became palatable, not all that stupid, sometimes even clever (it is a good thing that at least the translators are educated).

And the foreign heads of states nodded there wise heads appreciatively, "Hey, this guy knows what he is talking about." We all want to be fooled, it seems, not only the Poles.

The Polish language is hard to master, not only for foreigners. Many Poles have problems with it. But in Mr. Walesa's case his lack of the language skills was (and still is) an unprecedented pain in the butt; the President has had the most problems with his language of any Polish person I have ever heard. It was not a problem as long as he was an electrician, but for a president it was a disaster.

Not only his world and national "therories" were "unique,' his language made them incomprehensible.

One wonders, why people even bother with education, if a simple, almost illiterate person can get elected as the head of a whole country. I wish, for one, I never went to school.

No wonder Mr. Walesa was able to promise the nation that he would turn Poland into a new Japan. He didn't, but making promises is always easy. He could, as well, have promised Poles the moon and they would have still believed that he would deliver. He still makes new promises, but, alas, the Poles have seen the light.

Today, not even one in a hundred is stupid enough to vote for the president-electrician (although, he is not giving up). Were it not for his ability to gather wealth, which he excelled at for Mr. Walesa, it seems, this was really what Solidarity was about - he would have had to go back to his old job.

Nevertheless, the man who has no support in Poland still likes to see himself as a great politician and statesman. He travels widely, often and reads speeches for people more clever than him. The problem is that no one takes him seriously anymore. The emperor is naked, but the truth is still hard to digest for the universities around the world that still continue to reward Walesa with new doctorates honoris causa. The man has got over 40, can he make a new world record?

After a reign of a president like that, no wonder if the Poles are disillusioned with the politics and only a minority takes part in the democratic process. If you get a President Walesa by voting you cannot possibly be worse off by abstaining.

There are accusations against Mr. Walesa, among others by Anna Walentynowicz that he had been an agent of the secret police, which sounds plausible, taking into account that he, as only one of the Solidarity leaders, was not kept in jail during the State of War declared by General Jaruzelski. There are many others that believe that Mr. Walesa's conscience is not exactly squeak-clean, but no one so far has been able to show any proof.

The jury is still out on the Poland's first president. You be your own judge. And don't send the kids to school!

Thanks for very good comments!

I slightly disagree though . I think we cannot look at Lech Walesa's presidency from today's point of view. In that place and time where Milicja (former Polish Police) ruled and most people were too scared to even go outside after dark, Walesa was one of a few men who HAD BALLS ENOUGH to oppose the communist government. That was his biggest strenght. There were probably many people in that time who tried to oppose in an "intellectual way" -- but those were NOT successful. Walesa knew how to motivate the crowd and the crowd trusted him. And frankly, nobody would care if he could speak the Polish language well or read any book -- when people had no food to feed their families, do you think they would care about how many universities Walesa has graduated from?

So in my opinion, Walesa was THE MAN and did what panel of intellectual experts would have never accomplished.

Today people forget what he really did -- and I think it was Walesa's fault because he tried too hard to keep power when he should have step out. So he tried to be the man in two generations: before and after communism. These two political systems follows completely different rules and Walesa wasn't able to grasp them both.

But again, what he did was really somethinge extraordinary and I - along MANY other people - RESPECT him for that. In addition, many political immigrants (in the 80-ties) forget that thanks to Welesa's Solidarity they and their families could start a new and BETTER live abroad...

Some of the most idiotic comments I have ever read. Ill-conceived, ill-informed and mostimportantly, seemingly skewed by irrational hatred. Yes he was a bad president etc etc... But to rubbish the man who 'got the ball rolling' is a huge mistake. If you saw the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Solidarity Movement you would still see that this man is considered a hero. Regimes do not fall apart by themselves. They need a catalyst; Walesa and the Solidarity Movement were that catalyst.

Clearly Walesa started, and won, the war.. But he lost the peace. He was never really suited to a Government post. That doesn't take away his accomplishments or the very real possibility that if he hadn't existed that the world might look much different today. Of course communism was failing, that merely meant that the time was right, not that it was inevitable.

To call him an agent of the secret police is arrogance and idiocy personified.

All I'm going to say is that the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle.

You can not speak for all Polish people. I were in Poland and I have not heard anyone say something negative about Lech Walesa. And we did discuss it a lot though. It was the 20th aniversary of Solidarinosc that year. Mr Lech Walesa is my hero as he achieved what he wanted and did not go with the flow. He overachieved people's expectations by turning Poland from an oppressive communist country under strict Soviet control and with a weak economy to an independent and democratic country with a fast growing free-market economy.

If Robak knows so much I asume he has read amyn books and with a far greater knowledege than Lech Walesa has, he should be able to stop any regime. according to his logic, anyone with schooling should be able to accomplish great things, even though this is not always the case.

Ronald Reagan was the catalyst; it was his arms build up that helped bankrupt the Soviet Union and without Soviet support there was no way the Polish regime could survive. It was the same in all the Soviet Satellites. Walesa was just there at the right time; uprisings to the communist regimes long predated his campaign, such as those in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia 1968.

BTW I'm not American or even pro-Reagan in general.

Well I can agree here with basicly one thing: Wa 2;ęsa was indeed a very bad comunicator (in tha way you can compare him to G.W.Bush), but you`ll have understand all of his "theories" before you put a comment on them. If you look beyoned Wa 2;esa`s terrible language skills you`ll come to an opinion that most of his theories were/are 100% correct. You also don`t have to have a higher academic degree to be a good leader, and that Wa 2;ęsa was a great leader you can see if you`d saw how he inspired people during the 80s.

I see that some people here say that:

"Ronald Reagan was the catalyst; it was his arms build up that helped bankrupt the Soviet Union and without Soviet support there was no way the Polish regime could survive. It was the same in all the Soviet Satellites. Walesa was just there at the right time; uprisings to the communist regimes long predated his campaign, such as those in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia 1968."

Sorry, but this nonsense. Reagan and the US wouldn`t have won the cold war if not Poles like Lech Wa 2;ęsa, Jacek Kuro 4; ...or most importantly Zbigniew Brzezi 4;ski (about many people forget, but who had an enormous influance on the World situation during a long period of the Cold War) who would actualy do all the job.

Walesa was the best of all three Presidents, especially far better than the current one, who has none international respect even with his Ph.D in labour law

I am an Asian and don't know much about what happened in Poland. I understand the significance of Mr. Walesa in Poland history. I am just wondering, how come such a hero-like figure failed to succeed in his campaign for the 2nd term, and how come his support dropped down to 1% so rapidly in his third attempt. In asian countries this is almost unthinkable.

What are the factors that caused Poles to decide not to give him a 2nd term ?

It's the Polish nature - when some influential politics started to pick on Walesa's lack of "high education" and no knowledge of foreign languages, Poles thought to themselves: "Hmm, I'm a regular worker too so why Walesa - NOT ME - should be glorified?". They missed the whole idea and the history of Solidarnosc - the movement that was a crucial step towards independence of Poland in 1989.

So - to answer your question - the reasons are very trivial and earthly -- Poles as the nation like to be kept tight in order as long as they THINK their "master" (meaning the president) is "better" [more intelligent, educated -- man of the world] than most them.

I suggest you to read more about these elections -- especially make a note of this name: Stan Tyminski. He was the person who's been living abroad for several years, got rich, and -- despite of the fact that NOBODY knew him well - he went to the second round to compete against Walesa, the Nobel prize winner. Also - look up the information on this person: Tomasz Lis. I think he (not Kaczynski) would have become the Polish president this year - if only he was a formal candidate [he will probably be the candidade in the next elections]. In pre-election polls he beat ALL candidates - including Kaczynski and Tusk. WHY? Well, he's studied in the US, is a TV reporter, is handsome and quite intelligent. In other words - he is "man of the world" in Polish people's eyes -- even though he would probably be an average president. But Poles as the nation would be proud - they would have a president who perfectly knows English .

You need to look at the political situation in Poland through the eyes of Polish people and culture. They are not like Asian or other "normal" nations for whom the good of the whole society and logical thinking is more important than a good for a small group of people. It's sad but true.

roland
It's an interesting explanation and I actually fully agree with your statements (I'm Polish myself and have lived abroad for several years so I can look at the political situation in Poland from a more objective perspective...).

I am Waldemar Mateczko, I was born in 1953, I have finished Marine Academy in Szczecin, Poland! I have been in favor of Solidarity movement and Mr. Lech Walesa!.
Right now, after many years of thinking about Mr Walesa and His "first man" Mieczyslaw Wachowski/red man S-beck/ I have changed my mind!!.
He named Polish President/now/ as a DORK!! He is a D O R K himself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. I do not know why pople are so stupid /polish people/ and believe in this man!. " Mr. Lech Walesa" is not worthy of anything,people say!!.
He disgrace Polish nation!! W.M.

there you have a typical stupid comment

hmmm...The people I was speaking to thought Walesa was a joke and should go back to his trade replacing light globes.
There is no doubt has achieved a lot but has reached his expiry date, he cannot claim credit for the downfall of communism alone, the other players were President Regan and John Paul 2. It has to be remembered that the whole communism system was financially bankrupt and on its last leg. It was only a question of time when it would fall naturally.
It is interested to note that Walesa is seen in a very positive light in western countries and many people cannot understand why he is so disliked in Poland.
I feel that Walesa has been corrupted by the spoils of having enjoyed the good life and seems only concerned with his own status and making money.

It would be interesting to know what was the reason between the fallout between him Anna Walentynowicz and the Fr Jankowski?

I think he did a great job. I am in the United States and personally I am so tired of watching President Putin push Poland around. Being in the spot light is part of politics and I can remember when critics said he was drunk at "Katyn memorial" , I don't really care as I may have had a shot or two myself in his position. I pray Poland's new President does not kis- Russia's b-tt. If Putin remains running what I consider communist country someone must tell him, "Poland is a free country", stop telling, threatening, insulting a country that stands tall, Poland.

Education of the past will fully surface for this nation to see and at long last what took place in Poland and shall have it's rightful place in history. This is what Walesa was doing. God Bless him.

Carol, USA

Didn't Walesa work with the international currency speculator George Soros to implement the 'shock therapy' on the Polish economy that has been typical in many former communist countries?...My mother once had lunch with Walesa's wife at a Polish
National Alliance function in Philadelphia.