Crowd Chants ‘Solidarity!’ as Pope Says Mass

A crowd of more than 1 million people chanted “Solidarity, Solidarity!” as Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass today amid a massive show of police force in this city where the labor movement was born.

“He (the worker) has the right to self-management, a manifestation of which are, among other things, trade unions independent and self-governing,” the Polish-born pontiff said from a 10-story platform shaped like the bow of a sailing ship.

The crowd at the outdoor Mass immediately broke into more than 30 seconds of wild chanting, yelling “Solidarity, Solidarity!” as the pontiff looked down on them. A sea of red-and-white Solidarity banners with their familiar flowing script fluttered in front of him.

The police presence in this Baltic seaport that gave birth to the outlawed labor union appeared to be the largest since the 19-month-long martial law was declared in December, 1981.

Solidarity chief Lech Walesa, who led thousands of union supporters in attending the Mass, received Holy Communion from the Pope.

‘This Is Our Homeland’

Walesa and his wife, Danuta, sat in the first row of a VIP section directly in front of the platform, which had a replica of a sail and three white crosses arranged to resemble a mast.

“This is our homeland,” the Pope told an early-morning rally of thousands of cheering young people. The pontiff added that “no one can deprive us of the right” to determine the country’s future course.

John Paul later placed about two dozen yellow flowers and prayed at the Three Crosses monument to the dozens of workers slain in 1970 during riots that followed government-imposed food price hikes.

The site is opposite the main gate of the Lenin shipyard, where Walesa had forged the Soviet Bloc’s only independent labor union during a nationwide wave of strikes in August, 1980.