Solidarity (Polish: Solidarność, full name: Independent Self-governing Labour Union "Solidarity"—Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy "Solidarność" ) is a Polish labour union that was founded on 17 September 1980 at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk under the leadership of Lech Wałęsa. It was the first trade union in a Warsaw Pact country that was not controlled by a communist party. Its membership peaked at 10 million members at its September 1981 Congress, which constituted one third of the total working-age population of Poland.

In the 1980s, Solidarity was a broad anti-bureaucratic social movement, using the methods of civil resistance to advance the causes of workers' rights and social change. The government attempted to destroy the union by imposing martial law in Poland, which lasted from December 1981 to July 1983 and was followed by several years of political repression from 8 October 1982, but in the end it was forced to negotiate with Solidarity. In the union's clandestine years, Pope John Paul II and the United States provided significant financial support, estimated to be as much as US$50 million.

The round table talks between the government and the Solidarity-led opposition led to semi-free elections in 1989. By the end of August, a Solidarity-led coalition government was formed. In December 1990, Wałęsa was elected President of Poland. Since then, Solidarity has become a more traditional liberal trade union. Its membership had dropped to 680,000 by 2010 and 400,000 by 2011.

Organization

The union was officially founded on 17 September 1980, the union's supreme powers were vested in a legislative body, the Convention of Delegates (Zjazd Delegatów). The executive branch was the National Coordinating Commission (Krajowa Komisja Porozumiewawcza), later renamed the National Commission (Komisja Krajowa). The Union had a regional structure, comprising 38 regions (region) and two districts (okręg). At its highest, the Union had over 10 million members, which became the largest union membership in the world. During the communist era the 38 regional delegates were arrested and jailed when martial law came into effect on 13 December 1981 under General Wojciech Jaruzelski. After a one-year prison term the high-ranking members of the union were offered one way trips to any country accepting them (including Canada, the United States, and nations in the Middle East).

Solidarity was organized as an industrial union, or more specifically according to the One Big Union principle, along the lines of the Industrial Workers of the World and the Spanish Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (workers in every trade were organized by region, rather than by craft).

In 2010, Solidarity had more than 400,000 members. National Commission of Independent Self-Governing Trade Union is located in Gdańsk and is composed of Delegates from Regional General Congresses.

Solidarity is divided into 37 regions, and the territorial structure to a large degree reflects the shape of Polish voivodeships, established in 1975 and annulled in 1998 (see: Administrative division of People's Republic of Poland). The regions are:

• Gdańsk, based in Gdańsk,
• Warmia-Masuria, based in Olsztyn,
• Elbląg, based in Elbląg,
• Lower Silesia, based in Wrocław,
• Pila, based in Piła,
• Western Pomerania, based in Szczecin,
• Land of Łódź, based in Łódź,
• Częstochowa, based in Częstochowa,
• Land of Sandomierz, based in Stalowa Wola,
• Płock-Kutno, based in Płock,
• Lesser Poland, based in Kraków,
• Opole Silesia, based in Opole,
• Seashore, based in Koszalin,
• Słupsk, based in Słupsk,
• Zielona Góra, based in Zielona Góra,
• Podbeskidzie, based in Bielsko-Biała,
• Konin, based in Konin,
• Southern Greater Poland, based in Kalisz,
• Podlachia, based in Białystok,
• Piotrków, based in Piotrków Trybunalski,
• Cuiavia and Dobrzyń Land, based in Włocławek,
• Carpathia, based in Krosno,
• Land of Rzeszów, based in Rzeszów,
• Toruń, based in Toruń,
• Silesia-Zaglebie, based in Katowice,
• Land of Radom, based in Radom,
• Greater Poland, based in Poznań,
• Gorzów, based in Gorzów Wielkopolski,
• Holy Cross, based in Kielce,
• Middle-East, based in Lublin,
• Bydgoszcz, based in Bydgoszcz,
• Jelenia Góra, based in Jelenia Góra,
• Leszno, based in Leszno,
• Chełm, based in Chełm,
• Przemyśl-Jarosław, based in Przemyśl,
• Mazovia, based in Warsaw,
• Copper Basin, based in Legnica.