Celebrating Solidarity

Gdansk hosted the 31st anniversary of the landmark August Agreement, which marked the first steps towards the creation of the Solidarity Movement and the downfall of communism in Poland.

The August Agreement was a momentous achievement by the workers of the shipyards in Gdansk and Gdynia, led by Lech Walesa. The agreement followed huge strikes by workers across the cities, with over a hundred thousand Poles striking by April 1980. The agreement gave workers the legal right to strike and increased job security.

At the 31st anniversary celebrations, Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski laid flowers at the monument to the fallen shipyard workers in Gdansk.