Walesa quits Solidarity

last updated 8 January 2015

Gdansk, Poland

Former Polish President Lech Walesa has quit Solidarity, the anti-communist movement he founded in 1980. Walesa this week said he strongly opposed the plans of current President Lech Kaczynski and his twin brother, Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, to open all secret police files from the communist era. He also said he no longer wished to attend Solidarity functions at which he would have to appear with the twins. Solidarity officials confirmed that Walesa had stopped paying dues to the organization after its 25th anniversary celebration, last year. “This is no longer my union,” he said at the time. “This is a different era, different people, different problems.” Walesa won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 for his nonviolent opposition to communist rule.