August 14, 1980 - Polish Workers Strike - a podcast by Stephen Hammond

Polish workers stage a massive strike for rights. In the 1970s, Poland was part of the Soviet Bloc, but its citizens had a knack for flexing their political muscle in a way that distressed Russians. In 1980, things came to a head when Polish workers stepped up union activities in hopes of improving their working conditions and political freedoms. Shipyard workers in Gdansk, Poland staged a strike to protest the dismissal of trade union activist Anna Walentinowicz. Some 16,000 workers joined in the August 14, 1980 strike, which kicked off the Solidarity movement. Not only did the workers get Walentinowicz reinstated; they eventually won many other important rights and political freedoms. Unfortunately, the success influenced Russia to outlaw Solidarity a year later.

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