#Solidarność, the Polish #Solidarity union & movement spent years underground in a dictatorship, opposed to a corrupt régime & with support across the spectrum (though centre-right). On #ThisDayInHistory in 1989 it won election in #Poland, helping to launch the #1989Revolutions.

One of the first steps in the #1989Revolutions came on #ThisDayInHistory in 1989 when #Hungary began dismantling its #BorderFence with #Austria. An exodus followed of people from across the #SovietBloc, East Germans especially; folks taking a 'holiday' and failing to return home.

On #ThisDayInHistory in 1987, one of the preliminary rebellions prior to the #1989Revolutions happened in Communist #Romania. Dictator #Ceaușescu cut food rations to afford #debt payments to the West, so 20,000 workers joined the #BrașovRebellion. Securitate arrested hundreds.