Communism would not have fallen in Europe without Solidarity - US amb

US Ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher wrote on Twitter on Monday that "without the agreement signed in August which led to the creation of Solidarity, communism would not have fallen in Europe."

In her tweet, the diplomat commemorated the 40th anniversary of the birth of the first independent trade union in Poland and Central Europe.

Forty years ago, in August 1980, Poland's then communist authorities signed two agreements with protesting workers. The first was signed in Szczecin, north-western Poland, on August 30, and the second one in Gdansk, northern Poland, on August 31. 

The so-called August Agreements led to the birth of Solidarity, the first free and independent trade union in a communist country. They also marked the beginning of changes of 1989, namely, the fall of communism and the end of the Yalta division of Europe.

"The path to freedom which started 40 years ago was tough, rocky and tragic, but the Poles never lost hope," the ambassador wrote.