Polish PM compares Poland's fight against communism with Ukraine war

Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish prime minister, has compared Ukraine’s fight for independence to the confrontation in 1980 between Polish workers and Poland’s then communist government.

Wednesday marked the 42nd anniversary of the historic August Agreements between Poland's communist authorities and striking workers which paved the way to the ultimate collapse of communism.

Signed on August 31, 1980, the Agreements contained "21 postulates" which included the legalisation of independent trade unions, ensuring freedom of speech, releasing political prisoners, removing party privileges for managerial staff and introducing a five-day working week.

Morawiecki attended events marking the signing in the coastal city of Gdańsk, which was the birthplace of the Solidarity trade union, the first independent trade union in the communist bloc.

"Forty-two years ago, a social movement was created that contributed to the bloodless overthrow of the system," said Morawiecki.

"Just as then (in 1980) the act of breaking the bondage of Soviet Russia began - so today we should also mention our contemporary heroes, Ukrainian soldiers, civilians who fight for freedom in Ukraine, for your freedom and ours," he said.

"Just as our workers won their freedom then, 42 years ago, today we also live at a turning point in modern history, because Ukraine cannot fall, their struggle must be victorious," he added.

President Andrzej Duda wrote in a letter to participants of the ceremonies that the August Agreements started "a carnival of Solidarity" which was a time of "hope, enthusiasm, bold visions and plans".

He also referred to a document adopted in 1981 at the 1st National Congress of Solidarity Delegates, which, he said, "expressed the conviction that the nations of Central and Eastern Europe are united by a common past and a common future and that only by acting together and showing support can we enjoy freedom, independence, security and the possibility of development."

"The correctness of this position has been confirmed by the events of recent years, and even more so by the past six months," Duda wrote, referring to the Ukraine war.

Meanwhile, Lech Wałęsa, the Solidarity leader in the 1980s who took part in the signing of the August Agreements, was absent from the ceremonies in Gdańsk.

Poland's ruling party has refused to recognise his role in the battle with the Polish communist state, and accused him of being a communist spy who betrayed the true Solidarity leaders and helped communists find their roles in the new democratic system.

Wałęsa has always denied being a communist spy.