"They cannot believe that an electrician was capable of achieving that, that he could actually see it all through. But I did," said former President Lech Wałęsa in an interview for TVN24’s "Kropka nad i" commenting on the events which unfolded 37 years ago. He underscored that the allegations made by his political opponents were "all lies".
Thursday, August 31st marked the 37th anniversary of the signing of the August Agreements between the Polish Communist government and the Inter-Factory Strike Committee headed by electrician Lech Wałęsa. It ended the two-week strike action at the Gdańsk Shipyard and brought about the "Solidarity" ("Solidarność") movement. It was the dawn of the 1989 transformation process, culminating in the fall of Communism and the end of the post-Yalta system.
As ever, former President Lech Wałęsa appeared at 8.45 a.m. in front of the Monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers. The assembled crowd cheered in support of the former "Solidarity" leader.
"I fought a clean and fair fight"
When the "Kropka nad i" host asked Wałęsa to comment on the remark made by the former opposition campaigner Krzysztof Wyszkowski, who said that the former President had no business appearing on Plac Solidarności, Wałęsa called him a "defeatist, a mythomaniac and a sick man".
"They cannot believe that an electrician was capable of doing it," Wałęsa said, adding that his opponents were convinced that "someone must have helped him." He also claimed that he chose (no longer to surround himself with – editor’s note) "some dupes, such as Gwiazda or Wyszkowski."
"If you think about it this way, you’ll see that they are actually extoling me, saying that it was impossible for me to do it. But I did," the former President said.
Wałęsa was also asked to comment on the remark made by Andrzej Gwiazda, who alleged that back in 1968, Wałęsa stood alongside the Communist paramilitary police against protesting students.
"In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. As a religious man I can say that nothing like that ever happened. They come up with such tall tales, such flights of fancy. I fought a clean and fair fight. What did Gwiazda accomplish? He was a star only as long as he was with me, as long as I instructed him and directed him," the former President said.
Wałęsa: Rather than work, the Kaczyński brothers looked for dirt to dig up
The former President admitted that he could not believe that the Kaczyński brothers were behind the backlash against him. "I did not believe that. I thought: 'we are fighting because we are, they have their own reasons and that is alright'. With the benefit of hindsight I see clearly that both of the Kaczyński brothers were only looking for some dirt to dig up, right from the start. They thought they could blackmail me. The Security Service failed but the Kaczynski brothers would bring Wałęsa down," said the first President of the Solidarity Trade Union.
According to Wałęsa, Lech and Jarosław Kaczyński "rather than work at his office, were trying to dig up dirt on people."
"They collected the dirt dug up by the Security Service. And the Service knew their business. They were professionals, not botchers like our people. (The Kaczyński brothers – editor’s note) selected some Security Service documents and disseminated them in several places, gave them to some people. (Jarosław Kaczynski – editor’s note) arranged to have certain people at the Institute of National Remembrance, hired Gwiazda and Wyszkowski to browse through the documents and find those which would at least somewhat match Wałęsa," the former President said.
Wałęsa: "I will sit at the monument, collect signatures and take the 'Solidarity' movement logo away from them."
"There are more 'Solidarity' people in KOD than Duda (Piotr Duda, the current Solidarity leader – editor’s note) has in his trade union," Wałęsa reckoned, adding that the contemporary "Solidarity" trade union is made up of "500 thousand" people, while KOD is much more numerous. Wałęsa believes that that majority has the right to represent the values of the historic movement.
"If they keep telling those fish stories, I will sit at the monument, put out a table and start collecting signatures. I will collect twice as many signatures as members (of the Solidarity Trade Union – editor’s note) and I will take the Solidarity logo away from them. They are insulting us and our victory. They are not 'Solidarity'," Wałęsa emphasized.
"I don’t want monuments"
Wałęsa said that he did not want to be commemorated in monuments. "When I cross over to the new world, I want to avoid hell. I want no awards – nothing, no monuments," the former President said. The first "Solidarity" leader said that he had sought freedom because the generation of his parents longed for a free Poland. "Because they had been betrayed by the West, they were left to the Soviets to do with as they pleased. I listened to them talk; I heard what they wished for. I am happy that I led the movement from beginning to end. I helped to make Poland free and I gave everything up for freedom and democracy," he said.
"The error was that I was programmed to reach for freedom and reclaim it for the nation. I was not programmed for what to do after it was all over," he wrapped up.
Źródło: tvn24.pl/tłumaczenie Intertext.com.pl