Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) -- The 25th anniversary of Solidarity, the workers' movement that helped overthrow communism, is being observed in Poland this week with pop concerts and street fairs. Some Poles say the highest unemployment and among the lowest wages in the European Union provide little reason to celebrate.

``We ask ourselves what Solidarity has brought us over the last 25 years,'' said Andrzej Mielcarz, 66, a retired clerk from Tomaszow Mazowiecki in central Poland, in an interview in Warsaw. ``We see that we are free, but freedom in our case means a complete lack of any control.''

With wages just 20 percent of the region's average, many Poles question the merits of a decade and a half of free-market economics and the benefits of joining the EU last year. Solidarity, the local protest at the Gdansk shipyard that became a mass movement, forcing the communist government to negotiate, has struggled to build on its initial success.

``There is a blanket trust in the so-called free hand of the market, money is wasted on bureaucracy, laws aren't properly implemented and corruption and crime are on the increase,'' said Mielcarz, whose monthly pension is around half the average salary of 2,507 zloty ($755) in July.

Poland, the largest of the new EU entrants, forecasts economic growth of between 3.3 percent and 3.5 percent this year, compared with 5.4 percent in 2004.

Disappointments

The July jobless rate was 17.9 percent, double the euro-region average of 8.7 percent. About 3 million people have been without work for four years and two-thirds have no right to any benefits, the Central Statistical Office says. Under communism, the Polish government claimed full employment.

``I used to be a member of Solidarity, I believed in its ideals -- but all it caused in 25 years was unemployment, poverty, loutishness and commemorative monuments,'' said an unidentified Internet surfer in a forum on the onet.pl Web site.

``There are major disappointments with the outcomes of Solidarity: corruption, and major pockets of economic backwardness and even poverty,'' said Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, in Warsaw on Aug. 29, the first day of a conference commemorating Solidarity. ``By and large, though, if there were a choice between the life Poles led in the 1970s and 1980s and now, nobody but a lunatic would say they wanted to have back what they had before.''

Solidarity's Rise

In 1980, a wave of strikes protesting price rises led Lech Walesa, a former electrician at the Gdansk shipyard, and fellow workers to set up Solidarity and demand the establishment of independent trade unions.

The election of a Pole as Pope John Paul II in 1979 helped his fellow citizens find the courage to oppose the communist powers. The Pope encouraged 1 million worshippers in Warsaw in 1979: ``Don't be afraid. Let God's spirit descend and renew the face of this earth.''

The communist authorities agreed to the strikers' demands and Solidarity's membership swelled to about 10 million. After about 16 months of relative freedom, the government imposed martial law and sentenced Walesa and other activists to prison, outlawing the movement in 1982.

Martial law was lifted in 1983, and Walesa and his co-workers continued to push for political change. Prime Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski entered into talks with Solidarity in 1988 and the movement was legalized in 1989. Walesa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 and was elected Poland's first post-communist president in 1991.

As part of the festivities, Jean Michel-Jarre, a French musician, on Aug. 26 drew 100,000 spectators to a concert in Gdansk, featuring film footage of the strikes that sparked the birth of Solidarity. The last day of the anniversary celebrations today will be attended by European Commission President Jose Barroso and former Czech President Vaclav Havel, also a dissident who was interned by the communist authorities.

Lost Generation

A headline in daily Rzeczpospolita this week read: ``From Solidarity to Freedom,'' the slogan of the week, while Gazeta Wyborcza's front-page said: ``Lech Walesa's Day.'' Fakt, the best- selling Polish daily, headlined with: ``21 demands for today,'' a play on the original 21 demands that Solidarity's leaders made of the Communist authorities in 1980.

In a Aug. 5-8 survey of 949 adults for the Warsaw-based Center for Public Research, almost 90 percent said the Solidarity movement was ``an outstandingly important'' event in the history of Poland, with 70 percent saying it was also significant for Europe and the rest of the world.

``There's a lost generation of workers who may never manage to find employment,'' said Timothy Garton-Ash, professor of European Studies at Oxford University, in an interview. ``But the Poles should be proud. They were the ice-breakers of Communism, the pioneers who made it possible to bring down the system.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Katya Andrusz in Warsaw at kandrusz@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 30, 2005 19:06 EDT