“He who puts his hand out to stop the wheel of history will have his fingers crushed” -Lech Wałęsa (www.brainyquote.com).
He was born the son of a simple carpenter, but much like another famous carpenter’s son, his impact upon the world was far greater than the circumstances of his birth and childhood. Though he never intended to become such an important figure on the grand stage of world history, and though he is still living, Mr. Wałęsa has already entered the pantheon of the world’s greatest leaders. Lech Wałęsa became very active in supporting his fellow workers during strikes, protests, and the establishments of the illegal unions. His activism grew, even though he was arrested, banished from employment, constantly watched, and harassed. Finally, in 1980, Lech Wałęsa made the most important climb of a fence in history to become the leader of the strike that would lead to the founding of the Solidarność (Solidarity) free trade union, leading to his presidency of Poland, and the fall of the Soviet Union.
Lech Wałęsa was born in Popowo, Poland on September 29, 1943. His father, Bolesław was a highly respected carpenter and esteemed member of his community. After refusing to work for the Nazis he was sent to work at the Mlynice concentration-labor camp. Though he returned from the concentration camp after the war, he died of exhaustion two months later, at the age of 34. Lech’s mother, Feliksa Kamieńska, came from an old Polish family and raised her children with the same strong traditions of patriotism and piety. After Bolesław’s death, his brother cared for Lech’s family.
After finishing school in Chalin and Lipno, he started working as an electrician at a Machine Construction Center. He was conscripted into the military, and s...
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...a Institute. Wałęsa has been granted many honrary degrees: the Medal of Freedom (USA), the Award of Free World (Norway), and the European Award of Human Rights (www.nobelprize.org).
Lech Wałęsa made the most important climb of a fence in history to become the leader of the strike that would lead to the founding of the Solidarność (Solidarity) free trade union, leading to his presidency of Poland, and the fall of the Soviet Union. Throughout his struggle for the simple and inalienable rights of citizens and worker’s to have their voice heard by their government, Poland is able to throw off the yolk of Soviet oppression, and enter an era of unprecedented freedom and economic growth. Although his struggle was confined to the boundaries of Poland, its effects reached every corner of the world, and serves to this day, as a vivid guide for oppressed people everywhere.
The Yarur textile factory played an important role in Chilean politics, and was the central role for the uprisings and downfalls in Chilean history. Its first key component was that it represented an economic empire based of paper and cloth that used these resources to gain political power through the aspect of having wealth. The second element of the Yarur factory that gave its importance in Chilean politics was that it represented a monopoly of Chile’s political capital. In Weavers of Revolution, Peter Winn depicts the relationship from a “revolution from above” and “revolution from below” and how the workers of the Yarur textile factory faced an on-going struggle between the working class and the government. Winn focuses his analysis of the Chilean road to socialism around the Yarur textile factory because it is through the modernization and changes of political, economic, and industrial policies that ultimately led to the workers movement to bring about a revolution.
The effect the Holocaust had on Wiesenthal played a major role on the person he made himself to be. Born on December 31, 1908, Simon Wiesenthal lived in Buczacz, Germany which is now known as the Lvov Oblast section of the Ukraine. The Nazi-Hunter came from a small Jewish family who suffered horrifically during the Holocaust (The Simon Wiesenthal Center). Wiesenthal spent a great amount of time trying to survive in the harsh conditions while in internment camps and after escaping the last camp he attended. Wiesenthal spent weeks traveling through the wilderness until he was eventually captured by the Allies, still wondering the entire time if his wife was even alive (The Simon Wiesenthal Center). Of the 3000 prisoners in the camp Wiesenthal escaped from, only 1200 survived and Wiesenthal was one of them (Holocaust Research Project). Once Simon was safe, he began working for the War Crimes Section of the United States Army and was later reunited with his wife (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). The two were under the impression that their spouse was dead. After their reunification, they had their first child in 1946 (Holocaust Research Project). Wiesenthal opened a Jewish...
Elie Wiesel lost his childhood when Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany. Soon his village was transformed into one of hundreds of other ghettos. These worked as temporary prisons before the Jews were moved to their final destination; the death camps. The most well known
David Brody argues that the rise of contractual or collective bargaining relationships during the post WWII era formalized the relationship between employers and unions, but simultaneously began to put a break on shop floor activism. Explain Brody’s argument and, where relevant, incorporate Weber’s theory of bureaucracy.
It is a miracle that Lobel and her brother survived on their own in this world that any adult would find unbearable. Indeed, and appropriately, there are no pretty pictures here, and adults choosing to share this story with younger readers should make themselves readily available for explanations and comforting words. (The camps are full of excrement and death, all faithfully recorded in direct, unsparing language.) But this is a story that must be told, from the shocking beginning when a young girl watches the Nazis march into Krakow, to the final words of Lobel's epilogue: "My life has been good. I want more." (Ages 10 to 16) --Brangien Davis
Resistance took a violent appearance in the camp Treblinka when the inmates rose against their oppressors and set fire to Treblinka; however, only abou...
...feelings prevailed over those of unification. The division inside the socialistic party put only one question in front of Europe - how will the bettering of the workers' lives come upon the continent, through gradual small reforms or through big and rapid revolution?
Karol Jozef Wojtyla was born in Wadowice, Poland on May 18, 1920, shortly after Marshal Jozef Pilsudski defeated the Soviet Red Army to gain Polish independence. Like most young boys, Karol enjoyed an active childhood, playing soccer and swimming often, although he was most known for his remarkable intelligence and respect at a very young age. When he was eight years old, his mother, Emilia, died of an infection of the heart, and shortly afterward, his only brother, a physician, contracted scarlet fever from a patient and passed away. When learning of the deaths of his mother and brother, witnesses recalled young Karol’s response to the news to be a simple remark: “Such was God’s will.” By the time he was 21, Hitler had already occupied his homeland, ending Poland’s only period of independence between 1772 and 1989. Shortly after the Nazi invasion, Karol’s father, Karol Senior, also passed away after a prolonged illness, leaving 20 year old Karol without family. (Vatican Online)
Beginning in the late 1700’s and growing rapidly even today, labor unions form the backbone for the American workforce and continue to fight for the common interests of workers around the country. As we look at the history of these unions, we see powerful individuals such as Terrence Powderly, Samuel Gompers, and Eugene Debs rise up as leaders in a newfound movement that protected the rights of the common worker and ensured better wages, more reasonable hours, and safer working conditions for those people (History). The rise of these labor unions also warranted new legislation that would protect against child labor in factories and give health benefits to workers who were either retired or injured, but everyone was not on board with the idea of foundations working to protect the interests of the common worker. Conflict with their industries lead to many strikes across the country in the coal, steel, and railroad industries, and several of these would ultimately end up leading to bloodshed. However, the existence of labor unions in the United States and their influence on their respective industries still resonates today, and many of our modern ideals that we have today carry over from what these labor unions fought for during through the Industrial Revolution.
Zabecki, David T. "Poland: World War II." World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.
“On March 11, the Petrograd army’s troops were called out to try and stop the uprising protesters.”3 Some of the situations, soldiers started to pen fire, killing many demonstrators, but however it did not stop the strikers from leaving ...
Trotsky’s career as Commissar of War illustrated his capabilities to lead, command and organize a body of individuals, it is undeniable he had the makings to be an exemplar leader. His militarization of grain requisitioning, use of blocking units in battle tactics, establishment of field tribunals to counter the massive desertion problem that had powers to enact the death sentence, his dismissal of the Kronstadt sailor manifesto as “petty bourgeois demands”(Trotsky) and their later massacre by sixty thousand of his own troops as well as his defense of Petrograd in 1918 all illustrate his ability to be a ruthless and successful leader in Russian, and someone fit to succeed Lenin. However, Trotsky lost the power struggle because Stalin was the only member who had influence in all three sectors of governance; Poliburo, Orgburo and Secretariat as General Secretary, a decision put forward by Lenin...
The labor union movement over the years has shaped the way individuals work and live for both the nicest and unpleasant. Some would think the unions influence has created a power struggle between management and union leaders. In today’s time, some citizens insist the existence of unions are a must to aid in employee freedom, while others view the labor unions as just another problem in the line of progress. The purpose of labor unions was for employed workers to come together and collectively agree on fundamental workplace objectives. The rise of the union came about after the Civil War- responding to the industrial economy. Surprisingly at the least unions became popular within the 1930-50’s and began to slowly decrease, starting in the 1960’s on to today. Although, the popularity of labor unions has decreased, its importance remains to be evident with politics, journalism, auto, and the public education industries. The objective of this paper is to shine light upon labor unions, taking a closer look at the disputed issues of union ethics, concerns of union diversity, and the opposing viewpoints of labor unions.
The Soviet economy was highly centralized with a “command economy” (p.1). fsmitha.com), which had been broken down due to its complexity and centrally controlled with corruption involved in it. A strong government needs a strong economy to maintain its power and influence, but in this case the economic planning of the Soviet Union was just not working, which had an influence in other communist nations in Eastern Europe as they declined to collapse. The economic stagnation led to the frustration of the workers because of low payments, bad working conditions, inefficiency, corruption and any lack of incentive to do good work. There were lots of frustrations among the workers in the working field who began to express their feelings and emotions towards the Soviet government.
"There is a serious struggle in Greece for three years. We have the largest number of national strikes in Europe. There are strikes at individual plants, factories, private and public sectors. " - General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece Aleka Papariga, January 30, 2012