Both Walesa and Havel were very influential figures in opposing Soviet control. Both had similarities and differences ranging from their background to their international fame to their role in 1989 revolutions.
Havel was born in Prague and was brought up in a well-known, wealthy, entrepreneurial and intellectual family. His parents were both from a higher class and owned large properties such as a film studio. On the other hand, Walesa was brought up as a working class citizen. He was born in Popowo in Poland while his father, Boleslaw, was imprisoned in a concentration camp during the Second World War. His father was a carpenter and later returned home after the war but later died, succumbing to the suffering and illness from the war. Their backgrounds contrasts greatly which sets them apart particularly in their methods in opposing soviet control as Havel was an intellectual and Walesa was a working class man.
Havel was an intellectual. Havel had entered into a four-year apprenticeship as a chemical laboratory assistant and completed secondary education. Because of his upper class background the he was refused the right to a further formal education by the Communist powers after completing compulsory school attendance in 1951. As a result, he instead chose to study at the Faculty of Economics of the Czech Technical University in Prague. On the other hand, Walesa graduated from primary and vocational school as a qualified electrician. He also worked as a car mechanic for two years before going to serve in the military for a stint. Afterwards he began work at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk as an electrician. His jobs can be seen as quite manual, hard labour compared to Havel. They’re similar in a way that both completed primary and secondary education but what both have gone on to do afterwards contrasts greatly due to their different interests at