Solidarity (Polish Trade Union)

Solidarity (Polish Trade Union)

Solidarity (Polish: Solidarność, pronounced ; full name: Independent Self-governing Trade Union "Solidarity" – Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy "Solidarność" ) is a Polish trade union federation that emerged on 31 August 1980 at the Gdańsk Shipyard under the leadership of Lech Wałęsa. It was the first non–communist party-controlled trade union in a Warsaw Pact country. Solidarity reached 9.5 million members before its September 1981 Congress (up to 10 millions) that constituted 1/3 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 during the period of martial law in the early 1980s and several years of political repression, but in the end it was forced to negotiate with the union.

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 and in December 1990 Wałęsa was elected President of Poland. Since then it has become a more traditional, liberal trade union. 30 years after emerging its membership dropped to over 400,000 (680,000).