Andrzej Gwiazda

Andrzej Gwiazda (born 14 April 1935 in Pińczów) is an engineer and prominent opposition leader, who participated in Polish March 1968 Events and December 1970 Events; one of the founders of Free Trade Unions, Member of the Presiding Committee of the Strike at Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk in August 1980, Vice President of the Founding Committee of Solidarity, then Vice President of Solidarity in 1980 and 1981; in December 1981 interned and next imprisoned with six other Solidarność leaders (see Martial Law in Poland).

Gwiazda's father was a sailor of the Riverine Flotilla of the Polish Navy, stationed in Pińsk (now Belarus), where the family moved in 1939, a few months before the outbreak of World War II.

However, he did not sign the Gdańsk Agreement, claiming that the workers, upon advice of their legal experts, agreed for too many concessions to the government.

Unlike Lech Wałęsa, Gwiazda did not participate in creation of the Solidarity Citizens' Committee, nor in the negotiations of Polish Round Table Talks.

He remains a firm skeptic about Wałęsa, saying that "from the beginning of the strike at the Gdańsk Shipyard, he was acting to the detriment of Solidarity".