Glemp. After Cardinal Wojtyła of Kraków became Pope John Paul II, his election was greeted in Poland with great enthusiasm. He visited Poland from June 2–10 in 1979. During his visit he bluntly challenged Communist ideology by declaring that Christianity was the route to true human freedom (as opposed to Marxism) and called people to non-conformance. Over thirteen million people went into the streets to greet him in his visit, in direct defiance to the Polish government. Dissidents in Poland and elsewhere in Eastern Europe took great notice to this fact. Radosław Sikorski in his memoir later said: "We realized for the first time that 'we' were more numerous than 'them'." When visiting the satellite town of Mogiła (location of the Mogiła Abbey) in Kraków, the Pope said: Christ never wants Man to be considered merely as a means of production. . . This should be remembered by the worker and the employer, by the work system as well as by the system of remuneration. It must be remembered by the State, the nation and the Church. . . For the sake of humanity the Church would like to reach an understanding with every work system, asking only to be permitted to speak to the individual human being about Christ and to love him according to his human dignity. . . In the spirit of fraternal solidarity and on the foundation of Christ's cross I, too, have shared in the building of the huge Polish works known as 'Nowa Huta' together with you, managers, engineers, miners, labourers, minister Within a year the independent trade union 'Solidarity' was formed, which was initially based on economic concerns, but soon became a political movement affiliated with the Church. Jerzy Urban, government spokesman claimed: "All the people's grievances against the power of the state were channelled into the Church and the election of a Pole as the Pope strengthened this religious propensity even further; when He came to Poland, I knew that this meant the end of a political epoch." Solidarity movement and its aftermath (1981–1990) Pope John Paul II promoted Poland's cause as well as the cause of Christians behind the Iron Curtain on an international level, to the great discomfort of the communist governments in the Warsaw pact. He rejected liberation theology, however, and kept the Church away from becoming too directly involved with politics. The church in Poland, nevertheless, played a