Phonecall to Mr. Kuron

If there was one person who led the peaceful change in Poland from communism to democracy it was Jacek Kuron. Lech Walesa was a guy who knew when to jump the wall to lead a strike but it was the movement led by Kuron in the 1970s that made the country-wide strikes of 1980 possible. Especially the telephone on the old desk in Kuron's home, which served as an information hub. It was thanks to this telephone that the rest of the country could learn about the strikes in Gdansk and start their own strikes in solidarity. This was the beginning of the end. But not the bloody end, as we all know. Jacek Kuron was always very clear that the movement he led was to be non-violent. One of his favoured sayings was: "The communists see us as enemies to be destroyed. We have to persuade them that we are the opposition to engage in dialogue with." This is exactly what eventually happened, first in Poland and soon after in other countries of the Soviet block. Therefore Jacek Kuron should be considered one of the world's great non-violent leaders, like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. This book is a real story from the life of Polish followers of Jacek Kuron.