Question

Who led the Solidarity movement in Poland?

A.) Czeslaw Milosz
B.) Konstantin Chernenko
C.) Lech Walesa
D.) Leonid Brezhnev
E.) Mikhail Gorbachev

Answer 1

Lech Walesa led the Solidarity movement in Poland.  Option C is correct.

Lech Walesa is a Polish retired politician and labour activist. Lech Walesa co-founded and headed Solidarity, the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland from 1990 to 1995. While working at the Lenin Shipyard, hebecame a trade-union activist, for which he was persecuted by the Communist authorities, placed under surveillance, fired in 1976, and arrested several times.

Answer 2

Answer: The right answer is C.) Lech Walesa  

Explanation: At the end of the 1970 decade, Poland faced a deteriorating economic situation that culminated in extensive strikes in the summer of 1980, that involved all social groups in all regions of the country. Lech Walesa was a factory electrician, that started the strike from the Gdansk shipyard and helped to create the free trade union named Solidarność (“Solidarity”). This union rapidly spread to other workforces, forcing the government to accept Solidarity's requirements and permitting its legalization in September of 1980. This organization was the first legal free trade union to be legalized in communist Central and Eastern Europe, reaching the astonishing number of 10 million people in a matter of weeks and had the adherence of state employees including communist party members.