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
Civic Committee of the Solidarity with Ukraine Civic Committee of the Solidarity with Ukraine Civic Committee of the Solidarity with Ukraine (KOSzU) – Polish organization founded in order to support pro-democratic changes in Ukraine. The group has been established at the beginning of Revolution of Dignity (Revolution of Euromaidan) in the beginning of 2014. The mission - as declared in Founding Declaration - is support for pro-democratic changes in Ukraine, but also providing support to people and organizations repressed for their political beliefs. Other aims are: The Committee (KOSzU) was founded on 30 January 2014, which was announced on a press conference held on 4 February 2014