The strike that changed Poland

Poland’s communist economy was in crisis in 1980. When the price of everyday essentials went up, workers at the Lenin Shipyard in the Baltic city of Gdańsk went on strike. Led by Lech Wałęsa, the strike committee issued 21 demands on 17 August 1980. The demands were painted on sheets of plywood and hung up at the entrance to the shipyard for all to see. At the end of August a social contract was drawn up in which the communist authorities essentially caved in to the shipyard workers' demands. It marked the beginning of the Solidarity workers’ movement. Maciej Grzywaczewski was a student at the time who joined the strikers and who painted the demands on the plywood boards.

A Free Range/Overcoat Media production for BBC World Service

Photo: Strikers on the wall of the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk in 1980. Credit: Getty Images.