WARSAW, Poland -- Solidarity, the East Bloc's first independent trade union, was registered in a Polish court Monday culminating a seven-year struggle for its re-legalization following martial law.
As Judge Danuta Widawska read out the decision, about 200 spectators in the courtroom cheered and chanted 'Solidarity' and 'Lech Walesa,' the union leader, who was not present.
Many people wept. 'We have again a little hope,' said one woman.
The ruling said amendments to the law on operation of unions passed by the Parliament 'gave legal grounds to the start of the new stage of union pluralism in Poland.'
Solidarity's legalization was assured as part of a sweeping agreement with the government, following eight weeks of talks, that sets out a program of democratic and institutional reforms.