ABSTRACT
Lech Walesa helped organize opposition to the Polish communist regime and was elected president of Poland after that regime's collapse. Walesa assumed leadership of it as well, and by the end of the year he had attracted nearly 10 million workers to the union. Although the government at first indicated willingness to accede to Walesa's demands for recognition of Solidarity and the right to free speech, in December 1981 Wojciech Jaruzelski, the Communist Party leader, declared martial law. After Walesa's release in 1982, he worked tirelessly to restore Solidarity's influence. In 1983 his efforts were recognized internationally when he received the Nobel Prize for Peace, the proceeds of which he donated to charity. In 1990 Walesa decided to enter the race for a newly created presidency. Although increasingly estranged from Mazowiecki, he nevertheless won in December. During his tenure, he supported policies to expand the powers of his office at the expense of the Parliament.
