Lech Walesa

Poland in 1980 and Wisconsin in 2011: History Rhymes

Mentioning the campaign against unions by a Republican governor in 2011 in the same breath as the anti-labor repression by Communist authorities in Poland in 1980 is sure to raise eyebrows. Yet as Mark Twain supposedly said, if history doesn't repeat itself, it sometimes rhymes. And there are some striking similarities between that Communist-era episode and the ongoing standoff between Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and the state's public employees. They were not lost on the current president of the Solidarity trade union in Poland, who sent a letter of support for public workers on behalf of ...

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