1943 -, Polish labor and political leader, president of POLAND 1990-95 . In 1980 he assumed leadership of the independent trade union SOLIDARITY. A moderate, he gained numerous concessions from the authorities before his arrest and internment in the military crackdown of 1981. Released in Nov. 1982, he was awarded the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize. A leader in Poland's peaceful change from Communist rule to pluralistic democracy in 1989, Walesa became increasingly critical of the Solidarity-led government of Premier Tadeusz Mazowiecki. In 1990 Walesa was elected president of Poland, defeating Mazowiecki, and resigned his Solidarity post. He failed to win reelection in 1995, losing to Aleksander Kwasniewski, the Democratic Left Alliance former Communist candidate.
