TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/caps/83/83cappeo.3

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                                                                                October 17, 1983

NOBEL PRIZES

A Triumph of Moral Force


Walesa discomfits the Communists by winning a Nobel Prize


His ulcer had been acting up and no wonder. Poland's government
had initiated another smear campaign against him. This time
the authorities said, he was under investigation for currency
violations. Days before the state-run television network had
played a tape recording in which he could purportedly be heard
discussing a $1 million foreign bank account and bemoaning the
fact that he had been passed up for a Nobel Prize last year.
To relieve the pressure, Lech Walesa, leader of the now banned
Solidarity movement, went off with a group of friends one day
last week to hunt for wild mushrooms in the woods about 50 miles
from his home. But he did not find the seclusion he sought
Walsea was pursued by U.S. and West German television crews that
wanted his reaction to a bit of news that he, at first, could
not believe; he had just won one of the world's most prestigious
honors, the Nobel Peace Prize.

The importance of the award went far beyond the $192,000 in cash
or the gold medal emblazoned with an image of the award's
founder, 19th century Inventor Alfred Nobel, that the winner
will receive in Oslo on Dec. Walesa's selection boosted the
sagging moral of a movement that has been crippled since General
Wojciech Jaruzelski imposed martial law in December 1981. For
Poland's government, it was a stinging reminder that the world
had not forgotten ideals behind Solidarity's struggle.

In the West the selection was widely hailed. President Reagan
called the choice a "triumph of moral force over brute force."
Pope John Paul II commended the Nobel committee for honoring
the "intent to revolve the difficult problems of the world of
the worker, and of Polish society, through the peaceful means
of sincere dialogue and the reciprocal cooperation of all."

The 78 other nominees this year included some strong
competition:  the Pope, former U.S. Middle East Negotiator
Philip Habib, Nazi Hunter Simon Wiesenthal and several
international organizations, like the United Nations Children's
Fund. In citing its reasons for picking Walesa, the Nobel
committee declared that his activities had "been characterized
by a determination to solve his country's problems through
negotiation and cooperation without resorting to violence." It
added:  Leach Walesa's contribution is both an inspiration and
an example."  The committee knew its decision would create a
stir Said Chairman Egil Aarvik:  "I don't expect any thanks or
gratitude from the Polish authorities. But I can imagine that
the attitude of the Polish people will be very different."

He was right. By the time Walesa returned to his home in the
Baltic seaport of Gdansk, 1,000 supporters had already gathered
outside his apartment. "Lech, Lech," they chanted as they
hoisted their hero into the air. Walesa dedicated the award to
the 10 million members of the outlawed Solidarity movement. He
immediately promised to turn the prize money over to a fund that
the Roman Catholic Church has been trying to establish for the
country's farmers.

The Polish government reacted with predictable defensiveness.
By the time Warsaw radio issued its first news bulletin on the
subject, six hours after the award had been announced in Oslo,
residents of Gdansk could see extra-heavy detachments of
blue--and-gray uniformed policemen on the street. Clearly
embarrassed by the choice, the government charged that the West
was attempting to provoke unrest in Poland. In a pointed
attempt to denigrate the award, news bulletins claimed that past
winners, including Henry Kissinger and Manachem Begin, had used
the prize for political ends and not to promote peace. Said
Poland's deputy government spokesman Andrzej Konopacki:  "This
is a political affair that depreciates the value of the Nobel
Prize for the future."

The press in the Soviet Union, China, East Germany and Rumania
simply ignored the news. Czechoslovakia's Communist Party
newspaper, Rude Pravo, mentioned the award but called it a
"provocative gesture" and suggested that Walesa could add the
Nobel Prize's "pieces of silver" to the million dollars he was
already hoarding in Western banks.

The prize came at a time when Walesa's influence seemed to be
diminishing. Since his release after eleven months of
internment, the government has attempted to discredit or ignore
him. When Walesa met with the Pope outside Cracow last June,
John Paul reportedly explained to him that his militant stand
was an obstacle to improving Poland's domestic situation. Since
then, Walesa has kept a low profile, shunning most
demonstrations and refraining from openly challenging the
regime. Similarly, Solidarity's call in August for a boycott
of Warsaw's public transportation went largely unheeded.

Walesa became the second Communist-bloc citizen to receive the
Nobel Peace Prize. In 1975, the Soviet government did not allow
Dissident Physicist Andrei Sakharov to travel to Oslo to receive
the prize in person. Would the polish government allow Walesa
to go?  After initially saying that he would send his wife
Danuta and thus avoid a direct confrontation with the
authorities. Walesa said that the one thing holding him back
was that he would feel uncomfortable "drinking champagne and
celebrating" when hundreds of his countrymen are jobless or in
jail for their political beliefs. His real fear, however, may
be that the Polish authorities will allow him to travel to Oslo,
but then not permit him to return to Poland.

--By Fred Bratman. Reported by Roland Flamini/Bonn