Poland's Solidarity hailed as inspiration for freedom

GDANSK, Poland - Ukraine and Georgia, new democracies in the former Soviet Union, have thanked Poland's Solidarity movement for helping tear down the Iron Curtain and inspiring new revolutions that toppled authoritarian rulers.

They and thousands of Poles celebrated 25 years of Solidarity, a trade union whose mass demonstrations called first for fair pay and then grew into a movement that helped oust Poland's communist government and break down the Berlin wall.

"For the Ukrainian people the idea of Solidarity was symbolic," Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko told an applauding audience at a conference on Solidarity's heritage.

"For millions it was a banner of independence," said Yushchenko, swept to power after last year's "Orange Revolution" that overturned a rigged election.

Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili agreed: "Solidarity was the best thing which happened in the 20th century."

Solidarity hero Lech Walesa put it in his trademark colourful style: "Here the (Soviet) bear got his teeth knocked out. He could no longer bite other nations trying to break away to freedom."

From early morning hundreds of Poles laid flowers at the gate of the Gdansk shipyard where on August 31, 1980, a historic strike ended with an agreement creating the Soviet Bloc's first independent trade union.

"If I had a chance to go back in time I would have backed Solidarity again, because it means freedom for Poland and this is worth, I think, any price," said Irmina Szymanska, a nurse from the central town of Wloclawek.

But in a reminder that the sweeping change did indeed come at a price, some 200 shipyard workers stayed behind the gates after management granted the day off, protesting at the dismal state of their indebted and loss-making company.

Poland-born Pope John Paul II was Solidarity's spiritual father and his portrait has decorated the shipyard gate since the 1980 strike. His successor Pope Benedict paid tribute to Solidarity in a letter read out in Polish.

Some 30 delegations, including from the EU and nearly all of eastern Europe, joined the celebrations and signed an act founding a European Solidarity Centre to promote freedom and the ideals of Solidarity.

Two notable exceptions were Poland's neighbours Belarus, which has yet to become a democracy, and Russia, whose relations with Poland have remained tense since its backing for Ukraine's "Orange Revolution".

Walesa signed the act using the same large pen, printed with a picture of John Paul, that he used to sign the strike agreement in 1980.

He also challenged today's leaders to work for unity of Europe, torn by conflicts over its budget and future shape.

- REUTERS