Poland - Gdansk - Shipbuilders chat during the day shift.

Two shipbuilders chat beneath the heavy lifting cranes at the Polish Gdansk shipyard - once known as the Lenin Shipyard but still the largest of its kind in modern Poland. The grimy and hazardous working conditions make for a dangerous environment in which to work and the two men in the foreground and those behind, wear bright yellow hard hats, protecting them from steel edges and rusting machinery. Here in 1980 the union Solidarity (Solidarnosc) was conceived and was partly responsible for a growing dissent against Communist rule, ultimately contributing towards the fall of the Berlin Wall. Lech Walesa started his political career as an electrical technician here, going on to lead Solidarity and then to become President of a democratic Poland. Today Gdansk is a major industrial city and shipping port.

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Two shipbuilders chat beneath the heavy lifting cranes at the Polish Gdansk shipyard - once known as the Lenin Shipyard but still the largest of its kind in modern Poland. The grimy and hazardous working conditions make for a dangerous environment in which to work and the two men in the foreground and those behind, wear bright yellow hard hats, protecting them from steel edges and rusting machinery. Here in 1980 the union Solidarity (Solidarnosc) was conceived and was partly responsible for a growing dissent against Communist rule, ultimately contributing towards the fall of the Berlin Wall. Lech Walesa started his political career as an electrical technician here, going on to lead Solidarity and then to become President of a democratic Poland. Today Gdansk is a major industrial city and shipping port.