The word Solidarity, Solidarnosc in Polish, is synonymous with the city of Gdansk. Although Poland’s first free labour union was born out of the 1980 Lenin Shipyard strikes in Gdansk, Solidarnosc would bloom into a nationwide social movement. Truth be told there are other cities in Poland which feel that Gdansk has unfairly become symbolic of a movement that was bravely coordinated by Poles across the country. Nonetheless, for most foreign visitors Solidarity is strongly associated with Gdansk,its shipyards and the leader of the protests: Lech Walesa.
