Welcome to this week’s History Thread! This week we’ll try having a discussion question for the first time in awhile (though don’t feel bound by it): pieces of historical writing that changed your worldview. Be it a book, an essay, heck if it’s a work of historical fiction that helped you see things in a completely different light, you can include it here.

Today’s picture: August 14, 1980 saw the beginning of the Gdansk strike in Poland, in response to rising food prices. The strike was led and organized by Lech Walesa, already a celebrated/notorious figure for his part in past protests against the Communist regime in Warsaw. The strike lasted for several weeks, after which the Polish government agreed to grant laborers the right to strike and form a labor union. Thus was born Solidarity, which played a major role in organizing resistance to the Communist regime and a crucial role in the unraveling of the Warsaw Pact.