Walesa, Supporters Mark Solidarity Anniversary

Lech Walesa and other leaders of the outlawed Solidarity trade union federation told thousands of cheering supporters Sunday that “Solidarity is winning” as the movement marked its seventh anniversary.

The movement was officially recognized after agreements were signed on Aug. 30, 1980, in Szczecin and the next day in Gdansk by the Communist government and striking workers who had brought Poland almost to a standstill.

The accords were the first to guarantee workers in a Soviet Bloc nation the right to form independent unions. They also promised increased freedom in the news media and improvements in working conditions, housing and medical care. But Solidarity was suspended in December, 1981, and subsequently outlawed by the government.

About 3,000 people attended an anniversary Mass at St. Brigida’s Church, a few blocks from the gates of the huge V. I. Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk where Solidarity was founded. A crowd later packed the courtyard behind the church to hear speeches by Walesa and former Solidarity leaders from Warsaw, Poznan and Krakow.

No police were visible during the anniversary celebration, and authorities made no attempt to stop the activities.

Solidarity Service in Warsaw

In Warsaw, a large crowd attended a Solidarity service at St. Stanislaw Kosta Church. Father Stefan Miecznikowski told the congregation of several thousand people that Solidarity remains the “chance for our country.”

The Roman Catholic church was the parish of Father Jerzy Popieluszko, an outspoken pro-Solidarity priest who was kidnaped and killed by government security agents.

Walesa invited his supporters in Gdansk to join him at a wreath-laying this afternoon at the monument to workers killed in anti-government riots in 1970.

“Solidarity lives, exists and is winning,” Walesa told the crowd.

Walesa, winner of the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize, was applauded when he stressed that the movement seeks nonviolent reform.

“Nobody wants to take over power, nobody wants to fight or die in the street,” he said. “What we want is to build Poland, for ourselves and our children.”