By Adolphe Bernotas, retired Associated Press reporter

Met my labor hero on Wednesday, May 11 – Lech Walesa, the Solidarnosc union electrician who sparked the revolution that led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.  Ronald Reagan took credit for toppling the USSR, but it was Walesa’s 10 million-member union’s protests in communist Poland that led to the fall of the evil empire.

The Nobel Peace laureate and first post-communist president of Poland was in New Hampshire to raise money for the 3 million Ukrainian women and children who have sought refuge in his country.

Marguerite and I made a contribution and I had the opportunity to try my little bit of halting Polish with this statesman. I mentioned to him that as a Lithuanian I am his historical cousin; he agreed with a beaming smile. (Google Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth).

Ended the brief exchange and photo op with “chwala Solidarnosci!” (glory to Solidarity). Walesa’s response was a handshake and thank you, “dziekuje.”

I’m the one with the Red Sox hat; Walesa’s sweatshirt says “Konstytucja,” Polish for Constitution.

Adolphe Bernotas

President Media Sector

CWA Retired Members’ Council