Introduction
John Kenneth Galbraith, in his view of great leaders, indicated that they all show a similar characteristic attributed to their willingness to confront the significant anxiety of their people in their time unequivocally. From this point of view, it can be argued that the level of self-sacrifice often measures the greatness of a leader in seeking to deal with significant issues or anxieties that people are facing. From a cultural point of view, a great leader often embraces the beliefs, values, and norms that would connect him or her to a specific group of people. In seeking to understand how leadership and culture relate, this report will examine an example of a leader that was willing to confront anxiety that his people were facing, Lech Wałęsa, who has served as the democratically-elected President of Poland.
Lech Walesa
Lech Wałęsa is seen as one of the notable leaders from Poland attributed to his role in fighting for the rights of the workers, as well as his leadership that was seen through his presidency. Wałęsa, who was a shipyard electrician by profession, rose to become the leader of the Solidarity Movement, which was a social movement that was freedom-oriented aimed at highlighting the issue affecting the workers. The movement also operated as a trade union that sought to fight for the rights and freedoms of workers in the country from the possibility of being exploited. Based on his role in the Solidarity Movement, Wałęsa was elected as the first democratically-elected President of Poland, serving between 1990 and 1995 (Lussier, 2010). His election as the president was seen as a culmination to a struggle that the country was facing, attributed to the communist rule.
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Wałęsa is known for his nonviolent struggle, which involved having to organize workers’ boycotts as a way of ensuring that the government would listen to the grievance of the Polish population. The election of Wałęsa as the President of Poland resulted in the fall of the Iron Curtain, which was a metaphor used to describe the type of leadership that had been embraced in Central and Eastern Europe. Before his eventual election, Wałęsa faced persecution from the communist authorities in the countries where he was placed under strict surveillance and arrested severally (Penn, 2006). The surveillance and arrests were used as a tool to intimidate his authority and leadership that he had shown through the movement. That seems to suggest that, indeed, Wałęsa played a critical role in shaping democracy in Poland while considering that he believed in the idea of having to create a front for equality for all.
Wałęsa was instrumental in highlight the might of the workers in Poland, especially in seeking to ensure that political and economic conditions remained favorable for the workers in the country. In 1980, Wałęsa was involved in negotiating the Gdańsk Agreement, which was an accord reached between the Polish workers and the government to end a workers’ strike that was attributed to political and economic difficulties the previous ten years. Additionally, Wałęsa was also involved in the 1989 Round Table Agreement, which was pivotal towards introducing semi-free parliamentary elections that were held in June 1989 (Szporer, 2014). The outcome of the elections was that Solidarity was able to clinch the leadership in the country. That allowed Poland to transition from communism to a free-market liberal democracy that was governed by the will of the Polish population in the country.
Solidarity Movement in Poland
For a long time, Wałęsa was seen as a charismatic leader that would always connect with the needs of the people that he led. That gave him the authority to organize strikes and protests among shipyard workers as a way of opposing laws or policies that did not conform to the workers’ expectations. An example can be seen from this role in organizing the illegal 1970 protests attributed to the fact that the Polish communist government had raised food prices in the country. Wałęsa used the influence that he had amerced among the workers to aid in the formation of the Solidary Movement in September 1980 that was seen as a social movement that aimed at addressing the vices in the country (Millard, 2000). However, the movement faced stiff opposition from the government, leading to its suppression in December 1981, after which Wałęsa was arrested and sent to prison for 11 months.
The communist Polish government outlawed Solidary in October 1982, which was a month before the release of Wałęsa and other leaders of the movement. After his release in November 1982, Wałęsa reapplied for a position at the Gdańsk Shipyard as an electrician, after which he won the Noble Peace Prize. Wałęsa’s struggles with Solidarity continued, as he and other leaders would engage in Solidarity-related activities regardless of the movement being outlawed. The continued engagement in these activities gave him a better understanding of the challenges that the Polish people were facing, some of which were affecting their leading conditions significantly. It was clear that the communist government has created a sense of social anxiety among the people attributed to adverse political and economic trends experienced in the country.
Wałęsa was involved in the co-founding of the Provisional Council of NSZZ Solidarity, which was a legal entity that served the needs of Solidarity, which were to fight for the rights and freedoms of the people. The formation of the legal entity meant that Wałęsa and other leaders would engage the government on matters affecting the people. The outcome of such engagements was that he would often be arrested, interrogated, and detained due to his role in the movement. Wałęsa piled pressure on the government to engage in negotiations that would be focused on ensuring that the country would achieve a sense of democracy (Choi, 2007). After immense pressure, the government agreed to the 1989 Round Table Negotiations, which was a significant step for the movement in its bid to fighting for the people. The outcome of the negotiations led to the Polish people being able to attain democracy, allowing them to vote for a leader of their choice without undue influence from the government.
Prevailing Culture
An evaluation of the case of Wałęsa indicates that the prevailing culture that allowed the crisis to continue revolved around the fact that the Polish citizenry was exposed to exploitation by the communist government. Wałęsa identified the fact that most of the people in Poland were not in any position that would allow them to speak out about the oppression that they were facing from the communist government. That served as one of factors that propelled Wałęsa into a leadership position considering that he provided the Polish people with hope for a better country. As a leader, Wałęsa can be considered as a source of millions of Polish people during that time attributed to the fact that he believed in the need for having to establish a front for a democratic country.
Another prevailing culture that can be noted in Poland during that time was the fact that a majority of the people had lost confidence in the government’s approach towards dealing with the needs of the people. In his role as a leader, Wałęsa sought to create a front through which the people in Poland would gain a sense of confidence with their government, which would be democratically elected. Wałęsa pushed for change in the governance structure as a way of establishing a front through which to build on confidence, which was important towards highlighting the extent to which he would be able to promote a shift in culture. Wałęsa’s success can be seen from the fact that he was able to advocate for change focusing on different aspects of governance including the election of the president.
Conclusion
Leadership and culture are critical aspects of consideration when seeking to determine the characteristics of a great leader, as they both highlight the extent to which a leader is ready and willing to sacrifice him or herself for his or her people. In this report, the focus is on one of the greatest leaders in Poland, Lech Wałęsa, who co-founded the Solidarity Movement that was key towards fighting for the rights and freedoms of the Polish population. Wałęsa played a crucial role in fighting for democracy in the country that saw an end to communist rule while, at the same time, ushering in the fall of the Iron Curtain.
References
Choi, S. (2007). Democratic leadership: The lessons of exemplary models for democratic governance. International Journal of Leadership Studies , 2 (3), 243-262.
Lussier, D. N. (2010). From solidarity to division: An analysis of Lech Wałęsa's transition to constituted leadership. The Leadership Quarterly , 21 (5), 703-715.
Millard, F. (2000). Presidents and democratization in Poland: The roles of Lech Wałesa and Aleksander Kwaśniewski in building a new polity. The Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics , 16 (3), 39-62.
Penn, S. (2006). Solidarity's secret: the women who defeated communism in Poland . University of Michigan Press.
Szporer, M. (2014). Lech Wałęsa and the Solidarity Era: The Myth Revived?. Journal of Cold War Studies , 16 (3), 205-212.
