Lech Wałęsa

In the month following the strikes in the shipyard, delegates of numerous trade unions met in Gdansk to merge their independent organizations into an all-encompassing Polish union named Solidarity ("Solidarity"). Another branch of the union known as Rural Solidarity was also formed to represent Polish farmers ("Solidarity"). At its height, more than 10 million Poles were members of Solidarity, which was more than half of all Polish workers ("Solidarity"). In a radio message transmitted in 1981, the message of Solidarity was discussed: "Our goal is to struggle to improve the lives of all working people. We support those of you who have decided to embark on the difficult path of struggle for a free union movement" ("Solidarity 's Message). Lech Walesa worked tirelessly along with legions of other like-minded people to bring about the change. In one interview he discussed his efforts: "At that time, I was fighting from every angle there was. There was no place that I wasn 't fighting" (qtd. in Morris). He went on to say how the Soviets saw him as "politics-crazy" or "a lunatic", but that he was neither of those things. Additionally, Walesa remained peaceful in his efforts regardless of the tactics of the Soviets. When talking about the Soviet response to him he said: "They 'd say, 'What does he think he 's doing? We have 200,000 Soviet soldiers watching him. Over 1,000,000 all around Poland also watching him. We have silos full of nuclear weapons, and he wants to topple them…