History of Solidarity History of Solidarity The history of Solidarity (, pronounced ), a Polish non-governmental trade union, began on August 14, 1980, at the Lenin Shipyards (now Gdańsk Shipyards) at its founding by Lech Wałęsa and others. In the early 1980s, it became the first independent labor union in a Soviet-bloc country. Solidarity gave rise to a broad, non-violent, anti-communist social movement that, at its height, claimed some 9.4 million members. It is considered to have contributed greatly to the fall of communism. Poland's communist government attempted to destroy the union by instituting martial law in 1981, followed by several years of
Day of Solidarity with Belarus burning candles to their window boards as a solidarity sign. An estimated 100,000 people took part in the action. Encouraged, it was proposed to carry out this action on 16th day of each month. Day of Solidarity with Belarus A Day of Solidarity with Belarus is an action proposed by the Belarusian journalist Iryna Khalip, supported by the civic initiative "We Remember" and the "Zubr" movement. It was offered to announce October 16, 2005 to be a Day of Solidarity with Belarusian "political prisoners", the "disappeared" persons Yury Zakharanka, Viktar Hanchar, Anatol Krasouski, and Dzmitry Zavadski, their families, and other