I just want to wish the great & magnificent Lech Walęsa a beautiful happy birthday for the 29th September!
Lech, may you have many more to come! X
From a devoted fan! Bus Lady.
Lech, may you have many more to come! X
From a devoted fan! Bus Lady.
Lech Walesa - Happy Birthday!
The lack of replies suggests that LW isn`t too popular here.
Yups, Ive guessed its like Maggie T' we Brits mostly hate her yet you Poles seem to love her, vice versa with old tasch tastic Lech :)
goofy_the_dog
30 Sep 2012 #4
Happy Birthday TW "Bolek"
On this great day of the Awakening, may the Nation wish you what you wish the Nation ;)
To the Dear SB Agent, his best fan :)
On this great day of the Awakening, may the Nation wish you what you wish the Nation ;)
To the Dear SB Agent, his best fan :)
Maggie T' we Brits mostly hate her
Why? Because she cracked down on miners?
Yes, but she also defended Malvinas Islands.
To the Dear SB Agent, his best fan :)
Didn`t I say?
The lack of replies suggests that LW isn`t too popular here.
Tim Bucknall 7 | 98
11 Dec 2012 #6
if i'd have seen it in time, i'd have posted, i hope he looks after himself better than Vaclav Havel did!
I wish we'd kept our Solidarnosc t shirts instead of wearing them until they fell to pieces.
in nov 1989 my Mum was working for an exiled Family of Polish aristocrats, on school holidays i would come with her and run around their big house. they were lovely people who used to spoil me at xmas.
the matriarch of the household was on the phone to poland keeping up with events, i wish i was older back then and able to appreciate what was happening, but i do remember the stories of their terrible war time experiences.
for all his faults he's a great man who changed history
is he really as unpopular as Maggie T is here? (i'm not an Anti-Maggie person, but its true she's hated)
heres a cartoon of him from the Imperial War Museum North
I wish we'd kept our Solidarnosc t shirts instead of wearing them until they fell to pieces.
in nov 1989 my Mum was working for an exiled Family of Polish aristocrats, on school holidays i would come with her and run around their big house. they were lovely people who used to spoil me at xmas.
the matriarch of the household was on the phone to poland keeping up with events, i wish i was older back then and able to appreciate what was happening, but i do remember the stories of their terrible war time experiences.
for all his faults he's a great man who changed history
is he really as unpopular as Maggie T is here? (i'm not an Anti-Maggie person, but its true she's hated)
heres a cartoon of him from the Imperial War Museum North
IMG00156.jpg
for all his faults he's a great man who changed history
Yes - Poles are clueless. They bad mouth Walesa at garden grill parties but they allowed the communist general to live out his natural, and bought his book and made him a rich man.
The Polish nation is very badly ignorant as to the real facts.
yes happy birthday.
poor Pan Walesa can truly rejoice in his birthday. He survived London airport
poor Pan Walesa can truly rejoice in his birthday. He survived London airport
He survived London airport
Following airport procedures isn't much to 'survive', is it.
edit
it is, as we all sow it and pan Walesa experienced it personally.
experienced it personally.
Experienced what? He had a normal journey like any other traveller.
Why are we writing about it in this thread. It isn't his birthday for a while yet.
i agree. Most important thing is that is he alive and free to celebrate his birthday. Sure, humiliated but, alive.
Yes, Lech Wałęsa appears to be this great
hero who led the solidarność movement but he was also extremely corrupt.
If it was not for some of his underlings, the movement probably would have been stunted from the beginning.
When the labouers of the lenin shipyards in gdansk were given their working demands lech decided to end the strike.
This would have abandoned the strikers in other shipyards and factories across poland, allowing the authorities to shut them down and destroy solidarność in the cradle.
It was only by the intervention of Alina Pienkowska and Anna Walentynowicz that the strike continued and grew when they shut the gates and persuaded the workers to keep up the strike.
This is one example of lechs somewhat slippery track record. Historical idealism shows him as a shining hero, the facts show a more fallible man who might even have been a communist double agent.
hero who led the solidarność movement but he was also extremely corrupt.
If it was not for some of his underlings, the movement probably would have been stunted from the beginning.
When the labouers of the lenin shipyards in gdansk were given their working demands lech decided to end the strike.
This would have abandoned the strikers in other shipyards and factories across poland, allowing the authorities to shut them down and destroy solidarność in the cradle.
It was only by the intervention of Alina Pienkowska and Anna Walentynowicz that the strike continued and grew when they shut the gates and persuaded the workers to keep up the strike.
This is one example of lechs somewhat slippery track record. Historical idealism shows him as a shining hero, the facts show a more fallible man who might even have been a communist double agent.
delphiandomine 86 | 17823
12 Jul 2015 #14
hero who led the solidarność movement but he was also extremely corrupt.
Care to explain how Lech Wałęsa was corrupt?
If it was not for some of his underlings, the movement probably would have been stunted from the beginning.
Well, duh. He might have been the inspiration to the masses, but there were a lot of great men and women behind him.
When the labouers of the lenin shipyards in gdansk were given their working demands lech decided to end the strike.
What's new? Solidarność was first and foremost a trade union.
This would have abandoned the strikers in other shipyards and factories across poland, allowing the authorities to shut them down and destroy solidarność in the cradle.
That's because the Gdansk Shipyard workers were concerned about themselves, not others. Same story all over Poland, particularly with miners.
It was only by the intervention of Alina Pienkowska and Anna Walentynowicz that the strike continued and grew when they shut the gates and persuaded the workers to keep up the strike.
Pienkowska was a remarkable woman.
This is one example of lechs somewhat slippery track record. Historical idealism shows him as a shining hero, the facts show a more fallible man who might even have been a communist double agent.
Yawn. You might want to look at more obvious cases, such as the curious case of an ex-AK man who just so happened to be given a very large and comfortable apartment in Zoliborz.
Monika51
12 Jul 2015 #15
he was given - or rather he could register in this "apartment" just like his neighbours, who reconstructed this town house after the war. Many years later he bought this flat
delphiandomine 86 | 17823
12 Jul 2015 #16
Yes yes. Of course. He just so happened to be able to continue his studies post-war as well, despite being an AK veteran. And then he even managed to work on the American Embassy. Quite remarkable for an AK veteran, don't you think?
Monika51
12 Jul 2015 #17
he was able to continue his studies at £ódź Technical University, not in Warsaw - UB was more interested in WTU's students, like Jan Rodowicz "Anoda" for example.
I knew a lot of AK veterans from Warsaw, Lublin, Tri-city, Olsztyn, not all of them were arrested or prosecuted by communists.
I knew a lot of AK veterans from Warsaw, Lublin, Tri-city, Olsztyn, not all of them were arrested or prosecuted by communists.
delphiandomine 86 | 17823
12 Jul 2015 #18
I knew a lot of AK veterans from Warsaw, Lublin, Tri-city, Olsztyn, not all of them were arrested or prosecuted by communists.
Yes, but an AK veteran that went on to study abroad AND managed to get his children on TV is quite remarkable, don't you think?
Lech Wałęsa turned 80 today. Happy birthday!
The man made history and despite a lot of controversial decisions and statements and accusations of being an agent, he DID contribute to dismantling communism in Poland. That is why I will always respect him.
Also, additional respect for the fun side he tried to smuggle in on various occassions. Check his giant pen which he used to sign historic Gdansk agreement with communists in 1980 which gave rise to Solidarity movement. My parents said the pen was clownish but I loved it.
The man made history and despite a lot of controversial decisions and statements and accusations of being an agent, he DID contribute to dismantling communism in Poland. That is why I will always respect him.
Also, additional respect for the fun side he tried to smuggle in on various occassions. Check his giant pen which he used to sign historic Gdansk agreement with communists in 1980 which gave rise to Solidarity movement. My parents said the pen was clownish but I loved it.
0ik9kqTURBXy9kNzFmM.jpg
z20592034QLechWale.jpg
Lech Wałęsa turned 80
Happy birthday, Mr. President
There is a documentary titled Workers 80 on youtube. I watched it in the commie cinema in 1980. The film shows negotiations with communists in the Gdansk shipyard which resulted in the creation of Solidarity. Wałesa is a charismatic leader who utters these famous words at the end of the film: At last, we have our independent , self governing trade unions! Watch it at 1:28:49 - Wałęsa carried by workers on their shoulders. Amazing scenes - I was still quite young then but fully realised the importance of the events. Communism was collapsing on my eyes. Wonderful times......... :):):)
Sorry, no Eng subs
Sorry, no Eng subs