Solidarity ( Polish trade union ) - Wikipedia Solidarity ( Polish trade union ) Solidarity Full name Independent Self - governing Trade Union `` Solidarity '' Native name Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy `` Solidarność '' Founded 17 September 1980 ; 37 years ago ( 1980 - 09 - 17 ) Members Almost 10 million at the end of the first year ; over 400,000 in 2011 ( 680,000 in 2010 ) Affiliation ITUC, ETUC, TUAC Key people Anna Walentynowicz, Lech Wałęsa Office location Gdańsk, Poland Country Poland Website Solidarnosc.org.pl ( in English ) Part of a series on Christian democracy Organizations List of Christian democratic parties Centrist Democrat International Christian Democrat Organization of America European People 's Party European Christian Political Movement Konrad Adenauer Foundation Conservative Christian Fellowship Centre for European Studies Ideas Catholic social teaching Christian corporatism Christian ethics Communitarianism Cultural mandate Dignity of labor Distributism Just war theory Neo-Calvinism Neo-Scholasticism Popolarismo Progressive conservatism Social conservatism Social Gospel Social market economy Solidarity Sphere sovereignty Stewardship Subsidiarity Documents Rerum novarum Kuyper 's Stone Lectures on Calvinism Graves de communi re Quadragesimo anno Laborem exercens Sollicitudo rei socialis Centesimus annus Laudato si ' People Konrad Adenauer Giulio Andreotti Alcide De Gasperi Eduardo Frei Montalva Keith Joseph Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler Helmut Kohl Abraham Kuyper Pope Leo XIII Jacques Maritain Pope Pius XI Robert Schuman Luigi Sturzo Christian democracy portal Politics portal Eastern Bloc Soviet Socialist Republics Armenia Azerbaijan Byelorussia Estonia Georgia Kazakhstan Kirghizia Latvia Lithuania Moldavia Russian SFSR Tajikistan Turkmenia Ukraine Uzbekistan Allied states Hungarian People 's Republic Polish People 's Republic Czechoslovak Socialist Republic Socialist Republic of Romania German Democratic Republic People 's Republic of Bulgaria Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ( to 1948 ) People 's Socialist Republic of Albania ( to 1961 ) Republic of Cuba People 's Revolutionary Government of Grenada People 's Republic of Benin People 's Republic of the Congo People 's Republic of Angola People 's Republic of Mozambique People 's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Somali Democratic Republic ( to 1977 ) People 's Democratic Republic of Yemen Democratic Republic of Afghanistan Mongolian People 's Republic People 's Republic of China ( to 1961 ) Democratic People 's Republic of Korea Socialist Republic of Vietnam Lao People 's Democratic Republic People 's Republic of Kampuchea Related organizations Cominform COMECON Warsaw Pact World Federation of Trade Unions ( WFTU ) World Federation of Democratic Youth ( WFDY ) Dissent and opposition Forest Brothers in Lithuania in Latvia in Estonia Operation `` Jungle '' Ukrainian Insurgent Army Goryani movement ( Bulgaria ) Romanian anti-communism Polish Cursed Soldiers 1953 uprisings in Plzeň in East Germany 1956 protests in Georgia in Poznań Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Novocherkassk massacre ( Russia ) 1968 events Prague Spring Invasion of Czechoslovakia Red Square demonstration Charter 77 ( Czechoslovakia ) Solidarity ( Poland ) Jeltoqsan ( Kazakhstan ) Braşov Rebellion ( Romania ) January Events ( Lithuania ) The Barricades ( Latvia ) April 9 tragedy ( Georgia ) Black January ( Azerbaijan ) Cold War events Marshall Plan 1948 Czechoslovak coup Tito -- Stalin split Berlin Blockade 1961 Berlin Wall crisis Cuban Missile Crisis 1980 Moscow Olympics Decline Singing Revolution Polish Round Table Agreement Revolutions of 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall January 1991 in Lithuania in Latvia Breakup of Yugoslavia Yugoslav Wars End of the Soviet Union Fall of communism in Albania Solidarity ( Polish : Solidarność, pronounced ( sɔliˈdarnɔɕt͡ɕ ) ( listen ) ; full name : Independent Self - governing Labour Union `` Solidarity '' -- Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy `` Solidarność '' ( ɲezaˈlɛʐnɨ samɔˈʐɔndnɨ ˈzvjɔ̃zɛk zavɔˈdɔvɨ sɔliˈdarnɔɕt͡ɕ ) ) is a Polish labour union that was founded on 17 September 1980 at the Lenin Shipyard under the leadership of Lech Wałęsa. It was the first trade union in a Warsaw Pact country that was not controlled by a communist party. Its membership reached 9.5 million members before its September 1981 Congress ( when it reached 10 million ), which constituted one third of the total working - age population of Poland. In the 1980s, Solidarity was a broad anti-bureaucratic social movement, using the methods of civil resistance to advance the causes of workers ' rights and social change. The government attempted to destroy the union by imposing martial law in Poland, which lasted from December 1981 to July 1983 and was followed by several years of political repression from 8 October 1982, but in the end it was forced to negotiate with Solidarity. In the union 's clandestine years, Pope John Paul II and the United States provided significant financial support, estimated to be as much as 50 million US dollars. The round table talks between the government and the Solidarity - led opposition led to semi-free elections in 1989. By the end of August, a Solidarity - led coalition government was formed. In December 1990, Wałęsa was elected President of Poland. Since then Solidarity has become a more traditional, liberal trade union. Its membership had dropped to 680,000 by 2010 and 400,000 by 2011. Contents 1 History 2 CIA covert support 3 Catholic social teaching 4 Influence abroad 5 Secular philosophical underpinnings 6 Organization 6.1 Regional structure 6.2 Network of key factories 7 Chairmen 8 See also 9 References 10 Further reading 11 External links History Main article : History of Solidarity In the 1970s Poland 's government raised food prices while wages stagnated. This and other stresses led to the June 1976 protests and subsequent government crackdown on dissent. The KOR, the ROPCIO, and other groups began to form underground networks to monitor and oppose the government 's behavior. Labour unions formed an important part of this network. In 1979, the Polish economy shrank for the first time since World War II by 2 percent. The foreign debt reached around $18 billion by 1980. For participation in the illegal trade union, Anna Walentynowicz was fired from work at the Gdańsk Shipyard on 7 August 1980, 5 months before she was due to retire. This management decision enraged the workers of the Shipyard, who staged a strike action on 14 August defending Anna Walentynowicz and demanding her return. Anna Waletynowicz and Alina Pienkowska transformed a strike over bread and butter issues into a solidarity strike in sympathy with strikes on other establishments. Solidarity emerged on 31 August 1980 in Gdańsk at the Lenin Shipyards when the communist government of Poland signed the agreement allowing for its existence. On 17 September 1980, over twenty Inter-factory Founding Committees of free trade unions merged at the congress into one national organization NSZZ Solidarity. It officially registered on 10 November 1980. Wałęsa and others formed a broad anti-Soviet social movement ranging from people associated with the Catholic Church to members of the anti-Soviet left. Solidarity advocated non-violence in its members ' activities. In September 1981 Solidarity 's first national congress elected Wałęsa as a president and adopted a republican program, the `` Self - governing Republic ''. The government attempted to destroy the union with the martial law of 1981 and several years of repression, but in the end it had to start negotiating with the union. In Poland, the Roundtable Talks between the government and Solidarity - led opposition led to semi-free elections in 1989. By the end of August a Solidarity - led coalition government was formed and in December Tadeusz Mazowiecki was elected Prime Minister. Since 1989 Solidarity has become a more traditional trade union, and had relatively little impact on the political scene of Poland in the early 1990s. A political arm founded in 1996 as Solidarity Electoral Action ( AWS ) won the parliamentary election in 1997, but lost the following 2001 election. Currently, as a political party Solidarity has little influence on modern Polish politics. CIA covert support See also : Poland -- United States relations Unlike the Carter Administration, the Reagan policies supported the Solidarity movement in Poland, and -- based on CIA intelligence -- waged a public relations campaign to deter what the Carter administration felt was `` an imminent move by large Soviet military forces into Poland. '' Michael Reisman from Yale Law School named operations in Poland as one of the covert actions of CIA during Cold War. Colonel Ryszard Kukliński, a senior officer on the Polish General Staff was secretly sending reports to the CIA. The CIA transferred around $2 million yearly in cash to Solidarity, for a total of $10 million over five years. There were no direct links between the CIA and Solidarnosc, and all money was channeled through third parties. CIA officers were barred from meeting Solidarity leaders, and the CIA 's contacts with Solidarnosc activists were weaker than those of the AFL - CIO, which raised $300,000 from its members, which were used to provide material and cash directly to Solidarity, with no control of Solidarity 's use of it. The U.S. Congress authorized the National Endowment for Democracy to promote democracy, and the NED allocated $10 million to Solidarity. When the Polish government launched martial law in December 1981, however, Solidarity was not alerted. Potential explanations for this vary ; some believe that the CIA was caught off guard, while others suggest that American policy - makers viewed an internal crackdown as preferable to an `` inevitable Soviet intervention. '' CIA support for Solidarity included money, equipment and training, which was coordinated by Special Operations. Henry Hyde, U.S. House intelligence committee member, stated that the USA provided `` supplies and technical assistance in terms of clandestine newspapers, broadcasting, propaganda, money, organizational help and advice ''. Initial funds for covert actions by CIA were $2 million, but soon after authorization were increased and by 1985 CIA successfully infiltrated Poland. Catholic social Teaching 30 - years of Solidarity mural in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski ( priest Jerzy Popiełuszko in foreground ) In Sollicitudo rei socialis, a major document of Catholic Social Teaching, Pope John Paul II identifies the concept of solidarity with the poor and marginalized as a constitutive element of the Gospel and human participation in the common good. The Roman Catholic Church, under the leadership of Pope John Paul II, was a very powerful supporter of the union and was greatly responsible for its success. Wałęsa, who himself publicly displayed Catholic piety, confirmed the Pope 's influence, saying : `` The Holy Father, through his meetings, demonstrated how numerous we were. He told us not to be afraid. '' In addition, the priest Jerzy Popiełuszko, who regularly gave sermons to the striking workers, was eventually killed by the Communist regime for his association with Solidarity. Polish workers themselves were closely associated with the Church, which can be seen in the photographs taken during strikes in the 1980s. On the walls of several factories, portraits of the Virgin Mary or John Paul II were visible. In 2017, Solidarity backed a proposal to instate blue laws that would prohibit Sunday shopping, a move supported by Polish bishops. A 2018 new Polish law banning almost all trade on Sundays has taken effect, with large supermarkets and most other retailers closed for the first time since liberal shopping laws were introduced in the 1990s. The Law and Justice party, whose lawmakers passed the legislation with the support of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Influence abroad The logo of Solidarność painted on an overturned Soviet era T - 55 in Prague in 1990 Students in Scotland collect signatures for a petition in support of Solidarity in 1981 Solidarity, ETUC Demonstration -- Budapest 2011 The survival of Solidarity was an unprecedented event not only in Poland, a satellite state of the USSR ruled ( in practice ) by a one - party Communist regime, but the whole of the Eastern bloc. It meant a break in the hard - line stance of the communist Polish United Workers ' Party, which had bloodily ended a 1970 protest with machine gun fire ( killing over thirty and injuring over 1,000 ), and the broader Soviet communist regime in the Eastern Bloc, which had quelled both the 1956 Hungarian Uprising and the 1968 Prague Spring with Soviet - led invasions. Solidarity 's influence led to the intensification and spread of anti-communist ideals and movements throughout the countries of the Eastern Bloc, weakening their communist governments. As a result of the Round Table Agreement between the Polish government and the Solidarity - led opposition, elections were held in Poland on 4 June 1989, in which the opposition were allowed to field candidates against the Communist Party -- the first free elections in any Soviet bloc country. A new upper chamber ( the Senate ) was created in the Polish parliament and all of its 100 seats were contestable in the election, as well as one third of the seats in the more important lower chamber ( the Sejm ). Solidarity won 99 of the 100 Senate seats and all 161 contestable seats in the Sejm -- a victory that also triggered a chain reaction across the Soviet Union 's satellite states, leading to almost entirely peaceful anti-communist revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe known as the Revolutions of 1989 ( Jesień Ludów or Wiosna Obywatelów ), which ended in the overthrow of each Moscow - imposed regime, and ultimately to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Given the union 's support from many western governments, relations with trade unions in capitalist countries could be complicated. For example, during the UK miners ' strike of 1984 - 85, Wałęsa said that `` The miners should fight, but with common sense -- not with destruction '' and said of Margaret Thatcher `` With such a wise and brave woman, Britain will find a solution to the strike. '' However, David Jastrzębski, the president of Upper Silesia Solidarity, voiced his support of the striking miners : `` Neither the British government 's mounted police charges nor its truncheon blows, any more than the Polish junta 's tanks or rifle fire, can break our common will to struggle for a better future for the working class. '' This was despite the fact that Arthur Scargill, president of the British National Union of Mineworkers had been highly critical of Solidarity, condemning it as an `` anti-socialist organization which desires the overthrow of a socialist state ''. In late 2008, several democratic opposition groups in the Russian Federation formed a Solidarity movement. In the United States, the American Solidarity Party ( formerly the Christian Democratic Party USA ), a Christian democratic political party, attributes its namesake to Solidarity. Secular philosophical underpinnings Although Leszek Kołakowski 's works were officially banned in Poland and he lived outside the country from the late 1960s, the philosopher 's ideas nonetheless exerted an influence on the Solidarity movement. Underground copies of his books and essays shaped the opinions of the Polish intellectual opposition. His 1971 essay Theses on Hope and Hopelessness, which suggested that self - organized social groups could gradually expand the spheres of civil society in a totalitarian state, helped inspire the dissident movements of the 1970s that led to the creation of Solidarity and provided a philosophical underpinning for the movement. Kołakowski later described Solidarity as `` perhaps ( the ) closest to the working class revolution '' that Karl Marx had predicted in the mid-1800s. Ironically, however, Solidarity featured many elements contrary to socialism as conceived by Marx : `` ( workers organized ) against the exploiters, that is to say, the state. And this solitary example of a working class revolution ( if even this may be counted ) was directed against a socialist state, and carried out under the sign of the cross, with the blessing of the Pope. '' Organization The union was officially founded on 17 September 1980, the union 's supreme powers were vested in a legislative body, the Convention of Delegates ( Zjazd Delegatów ). The executive branch was the National Coordinating Commission ( Krajowa Komisja Porozumiewawcza ), later renamed the National Commission ( Komisja Krajowa ). The Union had a regional structure, comprising 38 regions ( region ) and two districts ( okręg ). At its highest, the Union had over 10 million members, which became the largest union membership in the world. During the communist era the 38 regional delegates were arrested and jailed when martial law came into effect on 13 December 1981 under General Wojciech Jaruzelski. After a one - year prison term the high - ranking members of the union were offered one way trips to any country accepting them ( including Canada, the United States, and nations in the Middle East ). Solidarity was organized as an industrial union, or more specifically according to the One Big Union principle, along the lines of the Industrial Workers of the World and the Spanish Confederación Nacional del Trabajo ( workers in every trade were organized by region, rather than by craft ). In 2010, Solidarity had more than 400,000 members. National Commission of Independent Self - Governing Trade Union is located in Gdańsk and is composed of Delegates from Regional General Congresses. Regional structure Solidarity is divided into 37 regions, and the territorial structure to a large degree reflects the shape of Polish voivodeships, established in 1975 and annulled in 1998 ( see : Administrative division of People 's Republic of Poland ). The regions are : Gdańsk, based in Gdańsk, Warmia - Masuria, based in Olsztyn, Elbląg, based in Elbląg, Lower Silesia, based in Wrocław, Pila, based in Piła, Western Pomerania, based in Szczecin, Land of Łódź, based in Łódź, Częstochowa, based in Częstochowa, Land of Sandomierz, based in Stalowa Wola, Płock - Kutno, based in Płock, Lesser Poland, based in Kraków, Opole Silesia, based in Opole, Seashore, based in Koszalin, Słupsk, based in Słupsk, Zielona Góra, based in Zielona Góra, Podbeskidzie, based in Bielsko - Biała, Konin, based in Konin, Southern Greater Poland, based in Kalisz, Podlachia, based in Białystok, Piotrków, based in Piotrków Trybunalski, Cuiavia and Dobrzyń Land, based in Włocławek, Carpathia, based in Krosno, Land of Rzeszów, based in Rzeszów, Toruń, based in Toruń, Silesia - Zaglebie, based in Katowice, Land of Radom, based in Radom, Greater Poland, based in Poznań, Gorzów, based in Gorzów Wielkopolski, Holy Cross, based in Kielce, Middle - East, based in Lublin, Bydgoszcz, based in Bydgoszcz, Jelenia Góra, based in Jelenia Góra, Leszno, based in Leszno, Chełm, based in Chełm, Przemyśl - Jarosław, based in Przemyśl, Mazovia, based in Warsaw, Copper Basin, based in Legnica. Network of key factories The network of Solidarity branches of the key factories of Poland was created on 14 April 1981 in Gdańsk. It was made of representatives of seventeen factories ; each stood for the most important factory of every voivodeship of the pre-1975 Poland ( see : Administrative division of People 's Republic of Poland ). However, there were two exceptions. There was no representative of the Koszalin Voivodeship, and the Katowice Voivodeship was represented by two factories : Voivodeship Represented by Gdańsk Vladimir Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk Szczecin Szczecin Shipyard Poznań H. Cegielski - Poznań S.A. Bydgoszcz Rail Vehicles Repair Shop Zielona Góra Rolling Stock and Steel Works Zastal in Zielona Góra Katowice Wujek Coal Mine in Katowice The Spare Parts Factory Zgoda in Świętochłowice Koszalin No representative Kraków Vladimir Lenin Steelworks in Nowa Huta Wrocław Rail Carriage Factory Pafawag in Wrocław Rzeszów Factory of Communication Equipment WSK in Rzeszów Białystok Cotton Works Fasty in Białystok Kielce Ball Bearings Factory Iskra in Kielce Olsztyn Tire Company Stomil in Olsztyn Lublin Factory of Communication Equipment PZL in Świdnik Łódź Julian Marchlewski Cotton Works in Łódź Warsaw Ursus Factory in Warsaw Opole Malapanew Steelworks in Ozimek Chairmen Lech Wałęsa ( 1980 -- 91 ) Marian Krzaklewski ( 1991 -- 2002 ) Janusz Śniadek ( 2002 -- 10 ) Piotr Duda ( 2010 -- present ) See also Christian democracy portal Poland portal 1981 warning strike in Poland 1988 Polish strikes 31 August 1982 demonstrations in Poland Civil resistance Conference of Solidarity Support Organizations European Solidarity Centre Fighting Solidarity Jastrzebie - Zdroj 1980 strikes June 1976 protests Lublin 1980 strikes Polish 1970 protests Polish legislative election, 1989 Hungarian Solidarity Movement Solidarnost Summer 1981 hunger demonstrations in Poland References ^ Jump up to : Guardian newspaper report Retrieved 22 June 2009 ^ Jump up to : ( in Polish ) 30 lat po Sierpniu'80 : `` Solidarność zakładnikiem własnej historii '' Archived 29 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 7 June 2011 ^ Jump up to : ( in Polish ) Duda za Śniadka ? by Maciej Sandecki and Marek Wąs, Gazeta Wyborcza of 24 August 2010 ^ Jump up to : ( in Polish ) `` Solidarność '' a systemowe przekształcenia Europy Środkowo - Wschodniej Archived 7 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 7 June 2011 Jump up ^ Aleksander Smolar, ' `` Self - limiting Revolution '' : Poland 1970 - 89 ', in Adam Roberts and Timothy Garton Ash ( eds. ), Civil Resistance and Power Politics : The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present, Oxford University Press, 2009, ISBN 978 - 0 - 19 - 955201 - 6, pp. 127 - 43. Jump up ^ Tony Judt ( 2005 ). Postwar : A History of Europe Since 1945. The Penguin Press. p. 589. Jump up ^ KOR : a history of the Workers ' Defense Committee in Poland, 1976 - 1981. Berkeley : University of California Press. 1985. ISBN 0 - 520 - 05243 - 9. Jump up ^ From Solidarity to Martial Law : The Polish Crisis of 1980 - 1981 : A Documentary History by Andrzej Paczkowski, Malcolm Byrne. Central European University Press, Budapest 2007. p. xxix ^ Jump up to : ( in Polish ) Solidarność, wielopłaszczyznowy ruch na rzecz demokratyzacji i głębokich reform ustrojowych PRL Retrieved on 7 June 2011 ^ Jump up to : Steger, Manfred B ( January 2004 ). Judging Nonviolence : The Dispute Between Realists and Idealists ( ebook ). Routledge ( UK ). p. 114. ISBN 0 - 415 - 93397 - 8. Retrieved 9 July 2006. Jump up ^ Paul Wehr ; Guy Burgess ; Heidi Burgess, eds. ( February 1993 ). Justice Without Violence ( ebook ). Lynne Rienner Publishers. p. 28. ISBN 1 - 55587 - 491 - 6. Retrieved 6 July 2006. Jump up ^ Cavanaugh - O'Keefe, John ( January 2001 ). Emmanuel, Solidarity : God 's Act, Our Response ( ebook ). Xlibris Corporation. p. 68. ISBN 0 - 7388 - 3864 - 0. Retrieved 6 July 2006. Jump up ^ Piotr Gliński, The Self - governing Republic in the Third Republic, `` Polish Sociological Review '', 2006, no. 1 Jump up ^ Douglas J. MacEachin. `` US Intelligence and the Polish Crisis 1980 - 1981 ''. Jump up ^ Looking to the Future : Essays on International Law in Honor of W. Michael Reisman Jump up ^ Richard T. Davies, `` The CIA and the Polish Crisis of 1980 -- 1981. '' Journal of Cold War Studies ( 2004 ) 6 # 3 pp : 120 - 123. online Jump up ^ Gregory F. Domber ( 2008 ). Supporting the Revolution : America, Democracy, and the End of the Cold War in Poland, 1981 -- 1989. ProQuest. p. 199., revised as Domber 2014, p. 110 ( 1 ). Jump up ^ Domber, Gregory F. ( 28 August 2014 ), What Putin Misunderstands about American Power, University of California Press Blog, University of North Carolina Press Jump up ^ MacEachin, Douglas J. `` US Intelligence and the Polish Crisis 1980 -- 1981. '' CIA. June 28, 2008. Jump up ^ Cover Story : The Holy Alliance By Carl Bernstein Sunday, June 24, 2001 Jump up ^ Branding Democracy : U.S. Regime Change in Post-Soviet Eastern Europe Gerald Sussman, page 128 Jump up ^ Executive Secrets : Covert Action and the Presidency William J. Daugherty. page 201 - 203 Jump up ^ Repa, Jan ( August 12, 2005 ). `` Analysis : Solidarity 's legacy ''. BBC News. Retrieved 2017 - 01 - 29. Jump up ^ `` Polish bishops for total ban on Sunday shopping ''. BBC. 23 August 2017. Retrieved 29 August 2017. Jump up ^ https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2018-03-11/most-stores-shut-in-poland-as-sunday-trade-ban-takes-effect Jump up ^ https://globalnews.ca/news/4076186/poland-sunday-shopping-ban/ Jump up ^ https://www.rte.ie/news/2018/0311/946597-poland-shopping/ Jump up ^ http://www.thenews.pl/1/2/Artykul/353341,Stores-closed-as-Poland-phases-out-Sunday-shopping Jump up ^ `` Workers unite, east and west ! ''. Workers ' Liberty. Alliance for Workers ' Liberty. 2009 - 10 - 08. Retrieved 2017 - 01 - 29. Jump up ^ McKinlay, John ( 8 September 1983 ). `` Scargill angers unions with Solidarity attack ''. The Glasgow Herald. Retrieved 1 September 2014. Jump up ^ Kasparov starts new Russian opposition movement. The Associated Press. 13 December 2008. Jump up ^ Gehrz, Chris ( 16 August 2016 ). `` Could the U.S. Finally Get a Significant Christian Democratic Party ? ''. Patheos. Retrieved 16 August 2016. The nominees of the American Solidarity Party ( ASP ), which takes its name from the Polish movement of the late Cold War and calls itself `` the only active Christian Democratic party in the United States. '' Jump up ^ Leszek Kołakowski. What Is Left of Socialism. First Things, October 2002 Jump up ^ ( in Polish ) Solidarność NSZZ in WIEM Encyklopedia. Last accessed on 10 October 2006 Further reading Domber, Gregory G. ( 2016 ). Empowering Revolution : America, Poland, and the End of the Cold War. Dodd Mead. ISBN 978 - 1469629810. Eringer, Robert ( 1982 ). Strike for Freedom : The Story of Lech Wałęsa and Polish Solidarity. The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0 - 396 - 08065 - 0. Goddeeris, Idesbald ( 2002 ). The Polish Revolution : Solidarity. Yale University Press. ISBN 0 - 300 - 09568 - 6. Garton Ash, Timothy ( 2012 ). Solidarity with Solidarity : Western European Trade Unions and the Polish Crisis, 1980 -- 1982. Lexington Books. ISBN 978 - 0739150719. Kaminski, Marek M. ( 2004 ). Games Prisoners Play. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0 - 691 - 11721 - 7. Kenney, Patrick ( 2003 ). A Carnival of Revolution : Central Europe 1989. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0 - 691 - 11627 - X. Kenney, Patrick ( 2006 ). The Burdens of Freedom. Zed Books Ltd. ISBN 1 - 84277 - 662 - 2. Kubik, Jan ( 1994 ). The Power of Symbols Against the Symbols of Power : The rise of Solidarity and the fall of state socialism in Poland. The Pennsylvania State University. ISBN 0 - 271 - 01084 - 3. Ledger, Robert. `` From Solidarity to ' Shock Therapy '. British Foreign Policy Towards Poland Under the Thatcher Government, 1980 -- 1990. '' Contemporary British History 30 # 1 ( 2016 ) : 99 - 118. Matynia, Elzbieta ( 2009 ). Performative Democracy. Paradigm. ISBN 1594516561. Osa, Maryjane ( 2003 ). Solidarity and Contention : Networks of Polish Opposition. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0 - 8166 - 3874 - 8. Ost, David ( 2005 ). The Defeat Of Solidarity : Anger and Politics in Postcommunist Europe ( ebook ). Cornell University Press. ISBN 0 - 8014 - 4318 - 0. Penn, Shana ( 2005 ). Solidarity 's Secret : The Women Who Defeated Communism in Poland. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0 - 472 - 11385 - 2. Perdue, William D. ( 1995 ). Paradox of Change : The Rise and Fall of Solidarity in the New Poland. Praeger / Greenwood. ISBN 0 - 275 - 95295 - 9. Pope John Paul II, Sollicitudo rei socialis, on Vatican website Staniszkis, Jadwiga ( 1984 ). Poland 's Self - Limiting Revolution. Princeton University Press. Smolar, Aleksander, ' `` Self - limiting Revolution '' : Poland 1970 - 89 ', in Adam Roberts and Timothy Garton Ash ( eds. ), Civil Resistance and Power Politics : The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present, Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2009. ISBN 978 - 0 - 19 - 955201 - 6. ( 2 ). Szporer, Michael ( 2014 ). Solidarity : The Great Workers Strike of 1980. Lexington Books. ISBN 978 - 0739192801. Weigel, George ( 1992 ). The Final Revolution : The Resistance Church and the Collapse of Communism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0 - 19 - 516664 - 7. External links Polish Wikisource has original text related to this article : Solidarity Wikimedia Commons has media related to Solidarność. Official website Presentation on The Solidarity Phenomenon FAES The Polish trade Union Solidarity and the European idea of freedom Solidarity 25th Anniversary Press Center Who is Anna Walentynowicz ?, a documentary film about Solidarity Katherine Kenning collection of Joanna Wojciechowicz papers, MSS 8081 at L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young University. Contains materials about Wojciechowicz 's participation in the Solidarity movement. International Conference ' From Solidarity to Freedom ' Advice for East German propagandists on how to deal with the Solidarity movement The Birth of Solidarity on BBC Solidarity, Freedom and Economical Crisis in Poland, 1980 - 81 Solidarność collection at the Libertarian Communist library Solidarność from Gdańsk to Military Repression by Colin Barker and Kara Weber ( 1982 ) Arch Puddington, How American Unions Helps Solidarity Win Motion for a resolution, the European Parliament on the 25th anniversary of Solidarity and its message for Europe Solidarity Lost, by Daniel Singer ( in Polish ) Solidarity Center Foundation - Fundacja Centrum Solidarności A Simple Way to Learn an Old Song A radio programme about the song `` Mury '', the anthem of Solidarność. In Russian with English transcript Leaders of Solidarity Lech Wałęsa Marian Krzaklewski Janusz Śniadek Piotr Duda Revolutions of 1989 Internal background Era of Stagnation Communism Anti-communism Criticism of communist party rule Eastern Bloc Eastern Bloc economies Eastern Bloc politics Eastern Bloc media and propaganda Eastern Bloc emigration and defection KGB Nomenklatura Shortage economy Totalitarianism Eastern European anti-Communist insurgencies International background Active measures Cold War List of socialist states People Power Revolution Predictions of the dissolution of the Soviet Union Reagan Doctrine Soviet Empire Terrorism and the Soviet Union Vatican Opposition Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia Reforms Uskoreniye Perestroika Democratization in the Soviet Union Khozraschyot 500 Days Sinatra Doctrine Glasnost Socialism with Chinese characteristics Đổi mới Government leaders Ramiz Alia Nicolae Ceaușescu Mikhail Gorbachev Károly Grósz Erich Honecker János Kádár Miloš Jakeš Egon Krenz Wojciech Jaruzelski Slobodan Milošević Mathieu Kérékou Mengistu Haile Mariam Ne Win Denis Sassou Nguesso Heng Samrin Deng Xiaoping Todor Zhivkov Siad Barre Opposition methods Civil resistance Demonstrations Human chains Magnitizdat Polish underground press Protests Samizdat Strike action Opposition leaders Lech Wałęsa Václav Havel Alexander Dubček Ion Iliescu Liu Gang Wu'erkaixi Chai Ling Wang Dan Feng Congde Tank Man Joachim Gauck Sali Berisha Sanjaasürengiin Zorig Vladimir Bukovsky Boris Yeltsin Viacheslav Chornovil Vytautas Landsbergis Zianon Pazniak Zhelyu Zhelev Aung San Suu Kyi Meles Zenawi Isaias Afwerki Viktor Orbán Ronald Reagan George H.W. Bush Pope John Paul II Opposition movements Beijing Students ' Autonomous Federation Charter 77 New Forum Civic Forum Democratic Party of Albania Democratic Russia Initiative for Peace and Human Rights Sąjūdis Peaceful Revolution People 's Movement of Ukraine Solidarity Popular Front of Latvia Popular Front of Estonia Public Against Violence Belarusian Popular Front National League for Democracy National Salvation Front Unification Church political activities Union of Democratic Forces Events by location Central and Eastern Europe Albania Bulgaria Czechoslovakia East Germany Hungary Poland Romania Soviet Union Yugoslavia Soviet Union Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Chechnya Estonia Georgia Latvia Lithuania Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Moldova Russia Tajikstan Turkmenistan Ukraine Uzbekistan Elsewhere Afghanistan Angola Benin Burma Cambodia China Congo - Brazzaville Ethiopia Mongolia Mozambique Somalia South Yemen Individual events 1988 Polish strikes April 9 tragedy Black January Baltic Way 1987 -- 89 Tibetan unrest Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 Removal of Hungary 's border fence with Austria Polish Round Table Agreement Hungarian Round Table Talks Pan-European Picnic Monday Demonstrations Alexanderplatz demonstration Malta Summit German reunification January Events in Lithuania January Events in Latvia 1991 protests in Belgrade August Coup Dissolution of the Soviet Union Later events Colour revolution Decommunization Lustration Democratization Economic liberalization Post-Soviet conflicts Neo-Sovietism Neo-Stalinism Post-communism Yugoslav Wars Cold War USA USSR ANZUS NATO Non-Aligned Movement SEATO Warsaw Pact Cold War II 1940s Morgenthau Plan Hukbalahap Rebellion Dekemvriana Percentages agreement Yalta Conference Guerrilla war in the Baltic states Forest Brothers Operation Priboi Operation Jungle Occupation of the Baltic states Cursed soldiers Operation Unthinkable Operation Downfall Potsdam Conference Gouzenko Affair Division of Korea Operation Masterdom Operation Beleaguer Operation Blacklist Forty Iran crisis of 1946 Greek Civil War Baruch Plan Corfu Channel incident Turkish Straits crisis Restatement of Policy on Germany First Indochina War Truman Doctrine Asian Relations Conference May 1947 Crises Marshall Plan Comecon 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état Tito -- Stalin Split Berlin Blockade Western betrayal Iron Curtain Eastern Bloc Western Bloc Chinese Civil War ( Second round ) Malayan Emergency Albanian Subversion 1950s Papua conflict Bamboo Curtain Korean War McCarthyism Egyptian Revolution of 1952 1953 Iranian coup d'état Uprising of 1953 in East Germany Dirty War ( Mexico ) Bricker Amendment 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état Partition of Vietnam Vietnam War First Taiwan Strait Crisis Geneva Summit ( 1955 ) Bandung Conference Poznań 1956 protests Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Suez Crisis `` We will bury you '' Operation Gladio Arab Cold War Syrian Crisis of 1957 1958 Lebanon crisis Iraqi 14 July Revolution Sputnik crisis Second Taiwan Strait Crisis 1959 Tibetan uprising Cuban Revolution Kitchen Debate Sino - Soviet split 1960s Congo Crisis 1960 U-2 incident Bay of Pigs Invasion 1960 Turkish coup d'état Soviet -- Albanian split Berlin Crisis of 1961 Berlin Wall Portuguese Colonial War Angolan War of Independence Guinea - Bissau War of Independence Mozambican War of Independence Cuban Missile Crisis Sino - Indian War Communist insurgency in Sarawak Iraqi Ramadan Revolution Eritrean War of Independence Sand War North Yemen Civil War Aden Emergency 1963 Syrian coup d'état Vietnam War Shifta War Guatemalan Civil War Colombian conflict Nicaraguan Revolution 1964 Brazilian coup d'état Dominican Civil War South African Border War Transition to the New Order Domino theory ASEAN Declaration Laotian Civil War 1966 Syrian coup d'état Argentine Revolution Korean DMZ Conflict Greek military junta of 1967 -- 74 Years of Lead ( Italy ) USS Pueblo incident Six - Day War War of Attrition Dhofar Rebellion Al - Wadiah War Protests of 1968 French May Tlatelolco massacre Cultural Revolution Prague Spring 1968 Polish political crisis Communist insurgency in Malaysia Invasion of Czechoslovakia Iraqi Ba'athist Revolution Goulash Communism Sino - Soviet border conflict CPP -- NPA -- NDF rebellion Corrective Move 1970s Détente Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Black September in Jordan Corrective Movement ( Syria ) Cambodian Civil War Koza riot Realpolitik Ping - pong diplomacy Uganda -- Tanzania War 1971 Turkish military memorandum Corrective Revolution ( Egypt ) Four Power Agreement on Berlin Bangladesh Liberation War 1972 Nixon visit to China North Yemen - South Yemen Border conflict of 1972 Yemenite War of 1972 NDF Rebellion Eritrean Civil Wars 1973 Chilean coup d'état Yom Kippur War 1973 oil crisis Carnation Revolution Spanish transition Metapolitefsi Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Rhodesian Bush War Angolan Civil War Mozambican Civil War Oromo conflict Ogaden War Ethiopian Civil War Lebanese Civil War Sino - Albanian split Cambodian -- Vietnamese War Sino - Vietnamese War Operation Condor Dirty War ( Argentina ) 1976 Argentine coup d'état Korean Air Lines Flight 902 Yemenite War of 1979 Grand Mosque seizure Iranian Revolution Saur Revolution New Jewel Movement 1979 Herat uprising Seven Days to the River Rhine Struggle against political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union 1980s Soviet -- Afghan War 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics boycotts 1980 Turkish coup d'état Peruvian conflict Casamance conflict Ugandan Bush War Lord 's Resistance Army insurgency Eritrean Civil Wars 1982 Ethiopian -- Somali Border War Ndogboyosoi War United States invasion of Grenada Able Archer 83 Star Wars Iran -- Iraq War Somali Rebellion 1986 Black Sea incident 1988 Black Sea bumping incident South Yemen Civil War Bougainville Civil War 8888 Uprising Solidarity Soviet reaction Contras Central American crisis RYAN Korean Air Lines Flight 007 People Power Revolution Glasnost Perestroika Nagorno - Karabakh War Afghan Civil War United States invasion of Panama 1988 Polish strikes Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 Revolutions of 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall Velvet Revolution Romanian Revolution Peaceful Revolution Die Wende 1990s Mongolian Revolution of 1990 German reunification Yemeni unification Fall of communism in Albania Breakup of Yugoslavia Dissolution of the Soviet Union Dissolution of Czechoslovakia Frozen conflicts Abkhazia China - Taiwan Korea Nagorno - Karabakh South Ossetia Transnistria Sino - Indian border dispute North Borneo dispute Foreign policy Truman Doctrine Containment Eisenhower Doctrine Domino theory Hallstein Doctrine Kennedy Doctrine Peaceful coexistence Ostpolitik Johnson Doctrine Brezhnev Doctrine Nixon Doctrine Ulbricht Doctrine Carter Doctrine Reagan Doctrine Rollback Sovereignty of Puerto Rico during the Cold War Ideologies Capitalism Chicago school Keynesianism Monetarism Neoclassical economics Reaganomics Supply - side economics Thatcherism Communism Marxism -- Leninism Castroism Eurocommunism Guevarism Hoxhaism Juche Maoism Trotskyism Naxalism Stalinism Titoism Other Fascism Islamism Liberal democracy Social democracy Third - Worldism White supremacy Apartheid Organizations ASEAN CIA Comecon EEC KGB MI6 Non-Aligned Movement SAARC Safari Club Stasi Propaganda Active measures Crusade for Freedom Izvestia Pravda Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Red Scare TASS Voice of America Voice of Russia Races Arms race Nuclear arms race Space Race See also Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War Soviet espionage in the United States Soviet Union -- United States relations USSR -- USA summits Russian espionage in the United States American espionage in the Soviet Union and Russian Federation Russia -- NATO relations Brinkmanship CIA and the Cultural Cold War Cold War II Commons Portal Timeline List of conflicts Polish uprisings Partitions Bar Confederation Kościuszko Uprising Greater Poland Uprising ( 1794 ) Greater Poland Uprising ( 1806 ) November Uprising Greater Poland Uprising ( 1846 ) Kraków Uprising Greater Poland Uprising ( 1848 ) January Uprising Baikal insurrection 1866 Łódź insurrection Second Republic Greater Poland Uprising ( 1918 -- 19 ) Sejny Uprising Silesian Uprisings World War II Czortków Uprising Zamość Uprising Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Białystok Ghetto Uprising Częstochowa Ghetto Uprising Operation Tempest Operation Ostra Brama Lwów Uprising Warsaw Uprising Kraków Uprising People 's Republic Poznań 1956 protests Polish 1970 protests Solidarity Eastern Bloc Soviet Union Communism Formation Secret Molotov -- Ribbentrop Pact protocol Soviet invasion of Poland Soviet occupations Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina Baltic states Hungary Romania Yalta Conference Annexed as, or into, SSRs Eastern Finland Estonia Latvia Lithuania Memel East Prussia West Belarus Western Ukraine Moldavia Satellite states Hungarian People 's Republic Polish People 's Republic Czechoslovak Socialist Republic Socialist Republic of Romania German Democratic Republic People 's Republic of Albania ( to 1961 ) People 's Republic of Bulgaria Federal People 's Republic of Yugoslavia ( to 1948 ) Annexing SSRs Russian SFSR Ukrainian SSR Byelorussian SSR Organizations Cominform COMECON Warsaw Pact World Federation of Trade Unions ( WFTU ) World Federation of Democratic Youth ( WFDY ) Revolts and opposition Welles Declaration Goryani Movement Forest Brothers Ukrainian Insurgent Army Operation Jungle Baltic state continuity Baltic Legations ( 1940 -- 1991 ) Cursed soldiers Rebellion of Cazin 1950 1953 uprising in Plzeň 1953 East German uprising 1956 Georgian demonstrations 1956 Poznań protests 1956 Hungarian Revolution Novocherkassk massacre 1965 Yerevan demonstrations Prague Spring / Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia Brezhnev Doctrine 1968 Red Square demonstration 1968 student demonstrations in Belgrade 1968 protests in Kosovo 1970 Polish protests Croatian Spring 1972 unrest in Lithuania SSR June 1976 protests Solidarity / Soviet reaction / Martial law 1981 protests in Kosovo Reagan Doctrine Jeltoqsan Karabakh movement April 9 tragedy Romanian Revolution Black January Cold War events Marshall Plan Berlin Blockade Tito -- Stalin split 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état 1961 Berlin Wall crisis Conditions Emigration and defection ( list of defectors ) Sovietization of the Baltic states Information dissemination Politics Economies Telephone tapping Decline Revolutions of 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall Romanian Revolution Fall of communism in Albania Singing Revolution Collapse of the Soviet Union Dissolution of Czechoslovakia January 1991 events in Lithuania January 1991 events in Latvia Post-Cold War topics Baltic Assembly Collective Security Treaty Organization Commonwealth of Independent States Craiova Group European Union European migrant crisis Eurasian Economic Union NATO Post-Soviet states Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Visegrad Group History of the Polish People 's Republic 1945 -- 48 Early post-war Recovered Territories Polish population transfers ( 1944 -- 46 ) Expulsion of Germans Operation Vistula Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland Polish Committee of National Liberation Provisional Government of National Unity Trial of the Sixteen Cursed soldiers Augustów roundup Polish people 's referendum, 1946 Polish legislative election, 1947 Small Constitution of 1947 Amnesty of 1947 Battle for trade Three - Year Plan 1948 -- 56 Sovietisation under Bierut 's rule Polish United Workers ' Party Six - Year Plan Collectivization Socialist realism in Poland 1951 Mokotów Prison execution 1952 Constitution Stalinist show trial of the Kraków Curia PAX Association Poznań 1956 protests Polish October ( 1956 ) 1956 -- 70 Gomułka 's autarchic communism Polish legislative election, 1957 Bishops ' Letter of Reconciliation 1968 Polish political crisis Warschauer Kniefall 1970 Polish protests 1970 -- 80 Gierek 's international opening 1971 Łódź strikes Letter of 59 June 1976 protests Workers ' Defence Committee Flying University Lublin 1980 strikes Gdańsk Agreement Jastrzębie - Zdrój 1980 strikes Solidarity ( Polish trade union ) Independent Students ' Union Rural Solidarity Bydgoszcz events 1981 warning strike in Poland Summer 1981 hunger demonstrations in Poland 1981 -- 89 Jaruzelski 's autocratic rule and demise Martial law in Poland Military Council of National Salvation Pacification of Wujek 1982 demonstrations Fighting Solidarity Federation of Fighting Youth Orange Alternative Polish political and economic reforms referendum, 1987 1988 Polish strikes Polish Round Table Agreement BNF : cb118621220 ( data ) GND : 1089046 - 4 ISNI : 0000 0001 2180 9165 LCCN : n81117915 NKC : kn20010710620 NLA : 36524976 SUDOC : 027437302 VIAF : 309875957 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Solidarity_(Polish_trade_union)&oldid=840652433 '' Categories : Solidarity ( Polish trade union ) Trade unions in Poland Eastern Bloc Trade unions established in 1980 1980 establishments in Poland Nonviolent revolutions Organisations based in Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Self - governance Hidden categories : Articles with Polish - language external links Webarchive template wayback links All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from May 2016 Use dmy dates from July 2012 Pages using deprecated image syntax Articles containing Polish - language text Articles with hAudio microformats All articles with self - published sources Articles with self - published sources from December 2017 Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLA identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Afrikaans Azərbaycanca Bân - 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Question: who led the solidarity movement for independence in poland
Answer: Lech Wałęsa