Solidarity (Polish trade union) Solidarity (Polish trade union) Solidarity (, pronounced ; full name: Independent Self-governing Labour Union "Solidarity"—"Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy "Solidarność"" ) 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 peaked at 10 million members at its September 1981 Congress, 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
History of Solidarity excuse to bring security forces into play. After 27 Bydgoszcz Solidarity members, including Jan Rulewski, were beaten up on March 19, a four-hour warning strike on March 27, involving around twelve million people, paralyzed the country. This was the largest strike in the history of the Eastern bloc, and it forced the government to promise an investigation into the beatings. This concession, and Wałęsa's agreement to defer further strikes, proved a setback to the movement, as the euphoria that had swept Polish society subsided. Nonetheless the Polish communist party—the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR)—had lost its total control over society.