Lech Walesa speaks to workers during a strike at the Gdansk shipyard, August 1980. Photograph: Erazm CioĊek/Forum/Reuters
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After World War II ended, Poland was a communist country in the Soviet bloc, aligned with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) politically and economically. In 1980, 17,000 shipyard workers went on strike in Gdansk, Poland to protest rising food prices. 36 area trade unions came together and formed Solidarity. Led by an electrician, Lech Wałęsa, Solidarity had a membership of 10 million people, which represented most of the work force in Poland at that time. They set up controlled strikes to push for economic reforms, free elections. While the Polish government declared Martial Law and jailed the leaders of Solidarity, it continued as an underground organization. A new wave of labor strikes happened in Poland in 1988. One of the demands of the workers was recognition of Solidarity by the Polish government. By the next year, the government agreed to legalize Solidarity and allow its members to run for office. Solidarity backed candidates won all but one of the upper and lower house seats available in that election. In 1990, Wałęsa was the first popularly elected president of Poland
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