The correct answer to this open question is the following.
Although you did not attach any context to the above-mentioned quotation or further references, we are going to assume that you are referring to Solidarity, the social moment in Poland that turned into a worker union that opposed the Communist government.
I have to say that a don't agree with the statement ‘Solidarity died as quickly as it started, having achieved nothing."
I consider that the Solidarity movement in Poland accomplished many things. Indeed, the strike of August 14, 1980, changed the political scenario in Eastern Europe.
The leader of the movement was Lech Walesa. Years later he won the presidential election of Poland. His victory and Vacláv Havel’s victory to become President of Czechoslovakia signified the transformation of Eastern Europe from dominance by the Soviet Union to new democracies.
So what started as a union movement in Communist time in Poland, ended up being a political party that got to power when Lech Walesa became the President of Poland in December 1990.
