The Polish Way to Sovereignty – a story of the Gdańsk Shipyard and Trade Union Solidarity – people, place, transformation

The tale of the anti-communist democratic opposition in Poland is a strong inspiration for many people throughout the world . The Gdańsk Shipyard became a recognisable place on a map of historical peaceful victories and the place where dreams came true. Independent self-governing Trade Union “Solidarity” is a Polish trade union, it was founded on 17 September 1980 at the Gdańsk Shipyard under the leadership of Lech Wałęsa. It was the first union trade in Warsaw Pact land which wasn’t controlled by communist party. It had nearly 10 million members.

Whole story had started in the shipyard, where people surrounded by ship equipment started to think about their rights, about the future of their offsprings, about independence. The Gdańsk Shipyard was built in 1945 as a state-owned company. Earlier at this place there had been German shipyards, both destructed in the Second World War. During the time of People’s Republic of Poland the factory was called Vladimir Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk or Lenin Shipyard (1967-1989). The first ship which was produced in this shipyard was named SS “Sołdek”, it was launched in 1947 (it is now preserved as a museum ship). The company produced not only ship equipment like cargo ships, fishing vessels, scientific ships, torpedo boats, but also trams and trains. It produced vessels for the navies of USSR, Poland, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and East Germany.

A protest led by Lech Wałęsa caused transformations which led to free Poland (see jwp trademark attorneys) and destroyed USSR. The Gdańsk shipyard and its crew became a wide recognisable symbol of unity. Trade Union “Solidarity” achieved its goals by using social movement and the ways of civil resistance. As a result of these actions the government agreed to the round table talks, which provided a semi-free elections in 1989. Nowadays the Union Trade “Solidarity” is a recognisable movement, but it doesn’t have a strong position in polish politics and the Gdańsk Shipyard builds transport ships, container vessels, offshore boats and other ship equipment. the Polish nation did not forget about the history of Trade Union “Solidarity” and the victims sacrifice, and therefore in the city of Gdańsk runs the European Solidarity Centre, which has been opened in 2008 (moderated in 2014).

It is a museum (in its collections are such an items like the wooden boards with the 21 demands which hung on the entrance of the shipyard during the protests of August 1980 or the gantry crane where activist Anna Walentynowicz worked) and a meeting place (it has seventeen rooms and The Winter Garden). It was founded as a space of shearing ideas and achiving children’s and youth projects, theatre productions and film screening, leisure and artistic activities and many other possibilities.

It can be a great possibility to visit the city of Gdańsk its beautiful historical monuments like Artus Court, statue of Neptune and of course the shipyard and the European Solidarity Centre. It is a wonderful chance to learn history and think about democracy and freedom.