How did the Solidarity movement help end communist rule in Poland?

The Solidarity movement played a pivotal role in ending communist rule in Poland by serving as a powerful, independent opposition that challenged the state's monopoly on power.12

Founded in 1980 as a trade union led by Lech Wałęsa, the movement united workers and intellectuals under the influence of civil society and the church. Despite being forced underground by the imposition of martial law in 1981, the movement persisted, undermining the government's legitimacy.12

By 1988, renewed labor unrest and economic crisis forced the communist regime to negotiate with Solidarity leaders. These "roundtable negotiations" resulted in a "negotiated revolution," leading to the legalization of the union and the holding of partly free elections in June 1989. Solidarity’s overwhelming victory in these elections paved the way for the formation of a coalition government and the appointment of Tadeusz Mazowiecki as the first noncommunist premier in Eastern Europe since the 1940s, effectively marking the collapse of communist rule in Poland.13245