In 1970 a strike by shipyard workers was brutally suppressed, leading to the deaths of some of the protestors. Another strike in 1980 resulted in the establishment of the Independent Solidarity Trade Union, led by Lech Wałęsa, who later became president of Poland, and the fall of communism. The shipyard proved to be commercially unviable after 1989 and is now closed, replaced by a modern facility. The shipyard used to be called the Lenin Shipyard (Stocznia Gdańska im. Lenina), which is covered up by a Solidarity (Solidarność) sign.

On our last morning in Gdańsk a taxi driver took us to a very distant church and knew we had been to the shipyard the day before, so he drove us past Wałęsa's house, which I thought was a very thoughtful thing to do.