Lech Walesa

President, 1943 - present

shipyard worker in Gdansk, Lech Walesa was an anti-communist activist who played a vital role in organising shipyard strikes across Poland. He was arrested for his activism in 1976 but continued to organise protests, becoming the leader of the trade union Solidarity. The 1980 shipyard strikes prompted strikes all over the country, and Walesa was arrested and eventually released under government surveillance. Supported by Pope John Paul II, the Solidarity movement continued to make waves. In 1989, Solidarity formed a coalition government in Poland after protests forced the Polish