On this day 35 years ago, Poland's Lech Wałęsa addressed US Congress

Thirty-five years ago, on November 15, 1989, Poland's Lech Wałęsa delivered a historic address to the US Congress.

Lech Wałęsa addresses the joint houses of Congress in Washington on November 15, 1989.

Photo: PAP/Reprodukcja

The founder of the Solidarity movement, who at that time held no official function, was interrupted by applause 25 times and received four standing ovations.

The first ovation came after his opening words: "We the People," a direct reference to the preamble to the American constitution.

Wałęsa followed with: "I do not need to remind anyone here where these words come from. And I do not need to explain that I – an electrician from Gdańsk – am also entitled to invoke them."

Wałęsa dostał owację już po dwóch słowach. 35 lat od historycznej mowy w Kongresie USA#PAPinformacjehttps://t.co/C0NYwmWo0T

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According to Agnieszka Budzyńska-Daca of the University of Warsaw's Polish Studies Department, Wałęsa's speech was a tremendous success, owing to both Wałęsa's charismatic style and the delivery of broadcaster Jacek Kalabiński, who read the English translation.

The address was authored by Polish writer and journalist Kazimierz Dziewanowski, who later became Poland’s ambassador to the United States.

Kazimierz Dziewanowski, pictured in 1994. Photo: PAP/Maciej Belina Brzozowski

Kalabiński, a former Polish Radio commentator—fired from his job after the communist regime declared martial law in December 1981—also contributed to shaping the final version of the speech.

US President Ronald Reagan (left), Lech Wałęsa (right), and journalist Jacek Kalabiński (centre) during a meeting in the Polish Baltic city of Gdańsk in September 1990. PAP/Grzegorz Rogiński

Reflecting on the eventual victory of the Solidarity movement and the fall of communism across Eastern Europe, Wałęsa said: "After many long years of struggle, it bore fruit and the results are there for all to see today. It set the direction and developed a way of action that has affected the lives of millions of people speaking different languages."

He continued: "And the struggle was conducted without resorting to violence of any kind, a point that cannot be stressed too much. We were being locked up in prisons, deprived of our jobs, beaten, and sometimes killed. And we did not so much as strike a single person.

"We did not destroy anything. We did not smash a single window pane. But we were stubborn. Very stubborn. Ready to suffer, to make sacrifices. We knew what we wanted, and our power prevailed in the end."

People gather outside Poland's Gdańsk shipyard in August 1980 to show support for striking workers. Photo: European Solidarity Centre [CC BY-SA 3.0 pl (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/pl/deed.en)] via Wikimedia Commons

Wałęsa also recalled how, soon after the end of World War II, "all the solemn pledges about free elections in Poland that were made in Yalta were broken."

He described this as "the second great national catastrophe following the catastrophe of 1939."

In closing his speech, Wałęsa said: "I wish all of you to know and to keep in mind that the ideals which underline this glorious American Republic, and which are still alive here, are also alive and well in faraway Poland.

"And although for many long years efforts were made to cut Poland off from these ideals, she held her ground and is now reaching for the freedom to which she is justly entitled.

"Together with Poland, other nations of Eastern Europe are following this path. The wall that separated people from freedom has collapsed."

Wałęsa's address to Congress was the focal point of his six-day visit to the United States, made at the invitation of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), which had supported Solidarity during Poland's martial law period.

President George H.W. Bush meets with Poland's Lech Wałęsa in 1989. Photo: National Archives and Records Administration [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons

From 1990 to 1995, Wałęsa served as Poland's first democratically elected president in more than six decades.

(mk/gs)