WORLD leaders gathered in the Polish seaport of Gdansk yesterday to mark the 25th anniversary of the Solidarity movement, which was credited with paving the way for revolutionary change across eastern Europe.

It was on 31 August, 1980, after 18 days of strikes at the Lenin shipyards of Gdansk and elsewhere, that Poland's Communist regime made unprecedented concessions to the workforce, including allowing the Soviet bloc's first free trade union.

Solidarity suffered setbacks, but went on to negotiate a peaceful end to Communism in Poland in 1989, which, in turn, helped hasten the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Those gathered for the ceremony yesterday included Solidarity's founder, Lech Walesa.

The former shipyard electrician, reflected on how he and the other strikers risked their lives to defy the Communist regime. "Why did we do all of it?" he asked. "To launch a new epoch - one without divisions. Without one shot, our generation was able to do it."

Jose Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, told world leaders that Solidarity had determined today's make-up of the European Union, which expanded last year to include eight former communist states.

"Without the Solidarity movement we would not have had the European Union that we have today," Mr Barroso said. "And we know that there is no Europe without freedom and solidarity."