An Interview with Lech Walesa

He was exhausted. The pressures on him and the union were becoming unbearable; martial law, not yet imposed, was only days away. He had been awakened at 4 a.m. by a Solidarity delegation from the city of Radom, which warned him it was going to call a general strike that would affect an important armaments factory. Walesa was furious to find such a strike was being considered, and the men had argued for hours. At breakfast, he made peace with the delegation, which agreed to put off the strike. "lam absolutely finished and run...