He founded Solidarity in 1980, an organization, independent of the Communist Party, which forced substantial political and economic concessions from the Polish government 1980-81 until being outlawed. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace 1983. By 1994 Walesa's public approval rating had slumped dramatically. As an electrician at the Lenin shipyard in Gdansk, Walesa became a trade-union organizer and led a series of strikes that drew wide public support. In Dec 1981 Solidarity was outlawed and Walesa arrested, after the imposition of martial law by the Polish leader Gen Jaruzelski. Walesa, a devout Catholic, was released 1982. After leading a further series of strikes during 1988, he negotiated an agreement with the Jaruzelski government in April 1989 under the terms of which Solidarity once more became legal and a new, semi-pluralist "socialist democracy" was established. The coalition government elected Sept 1989 was dominated by Solidarity. Rifts appeared, but Walesa went on to be elected president Dec 1990. In 1991 Walesa left Solidarity and in 1993 publicly disassociated himself from the party. Criticized for being arrogant and out of touch, in Oct 1994 he was censured by parliament for violating the constitution. He was narrowly defeated in the 1995 presidential elections by his communist challenger, Alexander Kwasniewski.
