Solidarity, full name Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity", is a Polish trade union founded in August 1980 at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland. Subsequently, it was the first independent trade union in a Warsaw Pact country to be recognised by the state.
Strike committee at the Lenin Shipyard, August 1980. On stage are Bogdan Lis (left) and Lech Wałęsa (right).
Meeting between Wałęsa and U.S. President George H. W. Bush, 1989
30th anniversary mural depicting the murdered priest Jerzy Popiełuszko who publicly supported Solidarity during the 1980s
The logo of Solidarność painted on an overturned Soviet era T-55 in Prague in 1990
The Gdańsk Shipyard is a large Polish shipyard, located in the city of Gdańsk. The yard gained international fame when Solidarity was founded there in September 1980. It is situated on the western side of Martwa Wisła and on Ostrów Island.
SS Sołdek, the first ship built in Poland after World War II
A view of the shipyard in 2009