Live, Uncensored Walesa Debates on Polish Television

WARSAW —  Solidarity founder Lech Walesa made his first uncensored television appearance in eight years today in a live debate with the leader of the official trade unions, Alfred Miodowicz.

Polish television said the debate was expected to be the most-watched event in the nation’s history, with about 17 million viewers tuning in out of a population of 38 million.

It was the first uncensored appearance of Walesa on television since the signing of the historic Gdansk accords with the government on Aug. 31, 1980, which legalized Solidarity and which was also broadcast live to the nation. Solidarity was outlawed in 1982.

Dressed in a gray suit and wearing a Solidarity badge and an image of the Black Madonna on his lapel, Walesa looked relaxed as he and Miodowicz sat side by side on a set that was bare except for a clock on a pedestal.