Today marked the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Solidarity trade union, which broke the grip of Soviet communism over the freedom-loving nation of Poland. It isn’t a national holiday, or even one that many people were alive to remember, but people took to the streets in celebration to remember the birth of freedom in their country.

It might not have been a public holiday – but it was a national day of celebration in Poland.

Gdansk, the home of the Solidarity movement, was particularly festive.

Thousands of people crammed into Solidarity Square beside the main gate of the shipyard to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the birth of the movement.

Crowds filled the streets leading to the square. Among them were pensioners, families with children’s strollers and scouts.

Many wore armbands in the national colours of red and white. Others brought flags with Solidarity written in its famous red letters.

Under a clear blue sky they listened to an open-air Mass led by Pope John Paul II’s former private secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz.

Other countries wouldn’t have got their freedom if the Poles had not broken the Soviet bear’s teeth.

The overwhelming majority of Poles look to the Roman Catholic Church for moral and spiritual guidance. And under communism, the Church was one of the few places they could go to to hear the truth.

The Church and in particular the Polish pope, played a vital role in galvanizing support for Solidarity.

Above the huge stage in the square a banner quoted John Paul II.

It read: “Solidarity opened the gates to freedom.”

Also, if it hadn’t have been for the support of the democratic west, these freedom fighters may never have had the support they needed to rise up against communism. It is because of great leaders like the Pope John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and Margaret Thatcher, who unrelentlingly stood with them in total solidarity, that men like Lech Walesa were able to be born of such historic events.

It serves as both a reminder and a warning. Freedom is the natural tendency of every human being, but it also leaves people to their own choices. In order for freedom to be won, and for tyranny to be defeated, the men and women of the west must continue to stand in solidarity for democratic values, and isolate those governments which seek to oppress their own people. It is because of this that Poland was finally able to achieve its freedom. And twenty five years after the founding of Solidarity, that truth keeps marching on.