Solidarity (Polish trade union)

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

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Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/solidarity-polish-trade-union

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the full name?Independent Self-Governing Trade Union 'Solidarity' (Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy „Solidarność”)
2. What is the founding event?Strike at the Lenin Shipyard, Gdańsk, August 1980
3. What was Solidarity?Solidarity was a big group of workers in Poland who wanted better jobs and more freedom. It became the first independent trade union in a country that was part of the Soviet bloc.
4. How did Solidarity start?It began in August 1980 when workers at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk went on strike to ask for better pay and rights. The strike grew into a national movement for political freedom.

Warsaw Pact: A Cold War-era military alliance of communist states in Eastern Europe, dominated by the Soviet Union.
Martial Law: The imposition of direct military control over normal civilian functions of government, especially during a temporary emergency.
Civil Resistance: The practice of achieving goals through symbolic, non-violent, and legal actions, often used to challenge authority.
Privatization: The process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency, public service, or public property from the public sector to the private sector.