The independent Solidarity Trade Union in Poland was formed in 1980. It provided a key focal point for opposition to the Communist government in Poland until the collapse of Soviet control and free elections in Poland in 1989. Lech Walesa, its charismatic leader, became a symbol of Eastern European opposition to communism in the 1980s and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983. In 1989 he became the leader of Poland’s first non-Communist government since the Second World War.
Solidarity was significant in causing the collapse of communism because it represented the views of ordinary workers, rather than intellectuals and students. In the early 1970s most Poles were broadly satisfied with progress in the economy and expected their standard of living to improve. However, the economic crisis of the late 1970s changed this.
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