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
Solidarity Movement with Chile Socialist Allende government of Chile fell to a U.S.-involved military "coup d'état" on September 11, 1973. The Pinochet regime targeted and forced the disappearance of political opposition. At least 200,000 people left Chile as exiles and settled, in highest numbers, in Europe and North America. In exile, the Chilean left established an "external front" to fight the dictatorship. They joined with allies and created a culturally vibrant and politically diverse solidarity movement with the Chilean Left. U.S. solidarity groups operated in New York, Berkeley, CA, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. Movement groups operated out of Amsterdam, London, and other European cities.