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What happened in Poland in 1989?

A Many solidarity candidates were voted out of office.
B Workers finally were given the right to form unions.
C The Polish government banned all workers’ unions.
D Lech Walesa became the first freely elected president.



Answer :

Lech Walesa became the first freely elected president.

Answer:

The correct answer is D. In 1989, Lech Walesa became the first freely elected president in Poland.

Explanation:

Walesa was a shipyard worker and a unionist throughout the 1970s, who fought for a trade union movement, unbound to the ruling Communist Party.  

In 1980 he became one of the founders and leaders of the first independent trade union organization within the Eastern bloc, Solidarity. This happened after he was dismissed from the shipyard for his union activity and then elected leader of a strike committee that grew large even outside Gdansk. The strike committee was then transformed into Solidarity, which was at the forefront of the popular opposition and which for a year was successful in its negotiations with the Polish government.

The cooperation between Solidarity and the government was abruptly interrupted in December 1981. At that time, an emergency permit was issued, while Solidarity was banned and most of the leaders of the movement were arrested. Walesa was placed under house arrest for just under a year. In 1983, Walesa received the Nobel Peace Prize, but he let his wife go and fetch the prize for fear of not being allowed entry into Poland again.  

Walesa led Solidarity until 1990. Then, the previous year, the movement had been involved in introducing democracy in Poland, after several decades of dictatorship under the Polish United Workers' Party.

Lech Walesa was then President of Poland from December 22, 1990 to December 22, 1995.

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