(CNN) -- One was the archetypal military strongman, intent on maintaining the social order and saving his country from "catastrophe." The other was a charismatic shipyard electrician and trade union leader who was just as determined to lead his countrymen to freedom. Wojciech Jaruzelski and Lech Walesa attend the first multi-party session of the Polish parliament in 1989. Yet nowadays Wojciech Jaruzelski, the last leader of communist Poland, and Lech Walesa both claim, in their different ways, to have played their part in setting Poland on the path to democracy. The rise of Solidarity, the union and social movement which Walesa founded among the dockers of Gdansk in 1980, was crucial to the ultimate collapse of communism in Poland and across the Soviet bloc.
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Former Polish leaders Jaruzelski, Walesa speak to CNN
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Jaruzelski was military leader who declared martial law in 1981
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Walesa was leader of Solidarity, first president of post-communist Poland
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Both men claim to have played key roles in Poland's transition to democracy
Lech Walesa
Lech Walesa
Walesa
Walesa
Walesa
@placeholder describes the union as a screw turning in the opposite direction to the communist regime, ultimately "destroying the engine."
Solidarity
Solidarity
Walesa admits the threat of Soviet intervention in the early 1980s was real, but says @placeholder had already won the argument against communism by the time Jaruzelski imposed martial law.
Wojciech Jaruzelski
Wojciech Jaruzelski
Jaruzelski
Jaruzelski
Walesa admits the threat of Soviet intervention in the early 1980s was real, but says Solidarity had already won the argument against communism by the time @placeholder imposed martial law.
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"Because in Poland there were over 200,000 @placeholder troops, they had nuclear arms, and they shot better than us.
Wojciech Jaruzelski
Wojciech Jaruzelski
Jaruzelski
Jaruzelski
Even his arrest and imprisonment only deepened Walesa's belief that @placeholder's government could be toppled: "My friends advised me to run away but I made a different decision.
Polish
Poland
Poland
Poland
Polish
Poland
Poland
Walesa, unsurprisingly, offers a more direct assessment: "@placeholder knocked out the teeth of the Soviet bear.
Soviet
Walesa, unsurprisingly, offers a more direct assessment: "Poland knocked out the teeth of the @placeholder bear.