ON THIS DAY in 1980, Polish electrician and human rights activist Lech Wałęsa scaled a fence at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk where a food price-hike strike was taking place. Wałęsa became the strike’s leader, his actions leading to Poland’s Solidarity movement. In 1981, the film MAN OF IRON, directed by Andrzej Wajda, told the story of how the movement persuaded the Polish government to recognize workers’ rights.