Solidarity
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Solidarity was a independent trade union in Communist-dominated Poland. Its courageous struggle for freedom ultimately helped bring about the collapse of Communism in Poland and eastern Europe.
Solidarity was founded in September 1980 during a strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, on Poland's Baltic Sea coast. Its first leader was a shipyard electrician, Lech Walesa. In 1981 the Polish government imposed martial law to suppress industrial and political unrest, and Walesa was interned; the union was forced underground for several years, but the Communist Party eventually had to negotiate. Elections held in 1989 led to a coalition government of which Solidarity formed part, and Walesa became Polish president.