Lech Walesa, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who served as the first democratically elected president of Poland, will speak Monday, April 3, at the University of Central Florida.

Walesa, Poland’s president from 1990 to 1995, will discuss “Democracy: The Never-Ending Battle” at 3 p.m. in the Pegasus Ballroom of the Student Union. The forum, which is sponsored by the UCF Global Perspectives Office, is free and open to the public.

Walesa initially became famous during the 1980 Lenin Shipyard strike in Gdansk, Poland, where he inspired workers by giving a passionate speech atop a bulldozer. The workers, who were furious over an increase in prices set by the Communist government, were demanding the right to organize free and independent trade unions.

Walesa’s speech helped mobilize a social revolution that eventually became the 10 million-member Solidarity Labor Movement. Walesa negotiated with the Polish government, convincing it to grant legal recognition to Solidarity and to give workers the right to form independent unions and strike. The negotiations led to the Gdansk Agreement, which Walesa signed on Aug. 31, 1980.

For those efforts, Walesa was named “Man of the Year” by Time magazine, The Financial Times, The London Observer, Die Welt and other publications.

During the next 18 months, however, relations between Solidarity and the government deteriorated, and the Polish government subsequently declared martial law. It also suspended the activities of all unions and arrested thousands of Solidarity members, including Walesa. In the fall of 1982, the government officially outlawed Solidarity.

Walesa was released that fall. Under his leadership, Solidarity continued to exist as an underground organization. In recognition of his efforts, the Nobel Foundation awarded Walesa the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983. Walesa now heads the Lech Walesa Institute, which aims to advance the ideals of democracy and free-market reform throughout Eastern Europe and the world.

In addition to the Global Perspectives Office, sponsors for this forum include UCF’s LEAD Scholars Program, Lou Frey Institute of Politics and Government, Office of International Studies, Florida Eastern European Linkage Institute, Political Science Department, History Department, Office of Undergraduate Studies and The Burnett Honors College.

Other sponsors are the Polish National Alliance #3216, the Polish Educational and Cultural Foundation, the Global Connections Foundation and the Orlando Sentinel.