Lech Walesa (born 1943), charismatic leader of Solidarity, the independent trade union movement in Poland, was awarded the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize for his valiant struggle to secure workers' rights through negotiation and peaceful means.

Lech Walesa was born on September 29, 1943, in the village of Popowo, located between Warsaw and Gdansk, the son of a private farmer and carpenter. He attended technical school in nearby Lipno and worked briefly as an electromechanic in Lochocin. After completing military service from 1963 to 1965, he moved to Gdansk where he was employed as an electrical technician at the Lenin Shipyard. While there, Walesa was in the vanguard of trade union activists who sought to redress workers' grievances. To gain objectives, he pursued negotiations and nonviolent resistance when dealing with government authorities.

In December 1970, as food shortages and drastic increases in food prices precipitated violent protest strikes in shipyards along the Baltic coast, Walesa was...