Monday, March 18, AD 2024 9:59pm

Victims of Communism Day: Year of Miracles

 

Today is the Victims of Communism Day  on which we remember the one hundred million and counting butchered by Communist regimes and movements.  Twenty-seven years ago in 1989 I lived through the Year of Miracles in which nation after nation in Eastern European threw off the shackles of the Soviet imposed Communist regimes that had enslaved them in the wake of World War II.   It was a year that seemed like a dream come true.

In 1982 President Ronald Reagan laid out a blue print for what was to come:

Some argue that we should encourage democratic change in right-wing dictatorships, but not in Communist regimes. Well, to accept this preposterous notion — as some well-meaning people have — is to invite the argument that once countries achieve a nuclear capability, they should be allowed an undisturbed reign of terror over their own citizens.

We reject this course.

As for the Soviet view, Chairman Brezhnev repeatedly has stressed that the competition of ideas and systems must continue and that this is entirely consistent with relaxation of tensions and peace.

Well, we ask only that these systems begin by living up to their own constitutions, abiding by their own laws, and complying with the international obligations they have undertaken. We ask only for a process, a direction, a basic code of decency, not for an instant transformation.

We cannot ignore the fact that even without our encouragement there has been and will continue to be repeated explosions against repression and dictatorships. The Soviet Union itself is not immune to this reality. Any system is inherently unstable that has no peaceful means to legitimize its leaders. In such cases, the very repressiveness of the state ultimately drives people to resist it, if necessary, by force.

While we must be cautious about forcing the pace of change, we must not hesitate to declare our ultimate objectives and to take concrete actions to move toward them. We must be staunch in our conviction that freedom is not the sole prerogative of a lucky few, but the inalienable and universal right of all human beings. So states the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which, among other things, guarantees free elections.

The objective I propose is quite simple to state: to foster the infrastructure of democracy, the system of a free press, unions, political parties, universities, which allows a people to choose their own way to develop their own culture, to reconcile their own differences through peaceful means.

This is not cultural imperialism, it is providing the means for genuine self-determination and protection for diversity. Democracy already flourishes in countries with very different cultures and historical experiences. It would be cultural condescension, or worse, to say that any people prefer dictatorship to democracy. Who would voluntarily choose not to have the right to vote, decide to purchase government propaganda handouts instead of independent newspapers, prefer government to worker-controlled unions, opt for land to be owned by the state instead of those who till it, want government repression of religious liberty, a single political party instead of a free choice, a rigid cultural orthodoxy instead of democratic tolerance and diversity?

Since 1917 the Soviet Union has given covert political training and assistance to Marxist-Leninists in many countries. Of course, it also has promoted the use of violence and subversion by these same forces. Over the past several decades, West European and other Social Democrats, Christian Democrats, and leaders have offered open assistance to fraternal, political, and social institutions to bring about peaceful and democratic progress. Appropriately, for a vigorous new democracy, the Federal Republic of Germany’s political foundations have become a major force in this effort.

We in America now intend to take additional steps, as many of our allies have already done, toward realizing this same goal. The chairmen and other leaders of the national Republican and Democratic Party organizations are initiating a study with the bipartisan American political foundation to determine how the United States can best contribute as a nation to the global campaign for democracy now gathering force. They will have the cooperation of congressional leaders of both parties, along with representatives of business, labor, and other major institutions in our society. I look forward to receiving their recommendations and to working with these institutions and the Congress in the common task of strengthening democracy throughout the world.

It is time that we committed ourselves as a nation — in both the pubic and private sectors — to assisting democratic development.

We plan to consult with leaders of other nations as well. There is a proposal before the Council of Europe to invite parliamentarians from democratic countries to a meeting next year in Strasbourg. That prestigious gathering could consider ways to help democratic political movements.

This November in Washington there will take place an international meeting on free elections. And next spring there will be a conference of world authorities on constitutionalism and self-goverment hosted by the Chief Justice of the United States. Authorities from a number of developing and developed countries — judges, philosophers, and politicians with practical experience — have agreed to explore how to turn principle into practice and further the rule of law.

At the same time, we invite the Soviet Union to consider with us how the competition of ideas and values — which it is committed to support — can be conducted on a peaceful and reciprocal basis. For example, I am prepared to offer President Brezhnev an opportunity to speak to the American people on our television if he will allow me the same opportunity with the Soviet people. We also suggest that panels of our newsmen periodically appear on each other’s television to discuss major events.

Now, I don’t wish to sound overly optimistic, yet the Soviet Union is not immune from the reality of what is going on in the world. It has happened in the past — a small ruling elite either mistakenly attempts to ease domestic unrest through greater repression and foreign adventure, or it chooses a wiser course. It begins to allow its people a voice in their own destiny. Even if this latter process is not realized soon, I believe the renewed strength of the democratic movement, complemented by a global campaign for freedom, will strengthen the prospects for arms control and a world at peace.

I have discussed on other occasions, including my address on May 9th, the elements of Western policies toward the Soviet Union to safeguard our interests and protect the peace. What I am describing now is a plan and a hope for the long term — the march of freedom and democracy which will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash-heap of history as it has left other tyrannies which stifle the freedom and muzzle the self-expression of the people.

An essential element in this road to freedom was Pope John Paul II.  It was his election that inspired Solidarity in Poland to create the first successful open defiance in a Warsaw Pact Nation:

 

 

 The Pope’s trip to Poland n 1979 began the historical process of the unraveling of Communism in Europe.  It is hard not to see his election as Pope in 1978, and Reagan’s election as President in 1980, as anything other than Providential.  The hand of God places in each human soul a desire for freedom.  That divine spark can be suppressed for a time, but it can never be extinguished, something a great Pope and a great President both understood.

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Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Sunday, May 1, AD 2016 8:30am

This article needs to shoved right into the Pharasitical face of Jorge the commie Bergoglio.

Penguins Fan
Penguins Fan
Sunday, May 1, AD 2016 9:41am

The Pontiff is no Communist. He is an Argentine Peronist, which is one of the most confused and stupid ideologies a person can believe in. He is limited by his upbringing and his enviornment. What happened in Poland and the rest of the former Warsaw Pact is beyond his understanding. It is like trying to teach a pig to appreciate Mozart. This is why I have pointed out that the Pontiff’s upcoming trip to Krakow, Poland for World Youth Day will be his first visit to a Catholic nation….in his life.

Communism is man’s greatest evil he has inflicted upon himself. Even after its failure it has its adherents all over the world. Usually they want to be the ones to install some sort of Marxism and be the ones pulling the strings.

We have a political party that is a mix of Marxism and organized crime, and another run by weak, spineless Washington quislings.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Sunday, May 1, AD 2016 10:23am

Their opposition to the Vietnam War was not about peace. It was about aiding and abetting the communist, evil empire. It was the same in the early 1940’s when US reds (useful idiots) stridently opposed US intervention in WWII until Hitler attacked Stalin and their orders changed.
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I apologize in advance. Daniel Berrigan, aged 94 years, notorious communist sympathizer, Society of Judas member, and America-hater, has died. Which event provides evidence that only the good die young.

TomD
TomD
Sunday, May 1, AD 2016 1:58pm

“Communism is man’s greatest evil he has inflicted upon himself. ”
PF, are you implying that the Religion of Peace was not inflicted by man? In death toll alone it exceeds Communism by 3:1, and that is a conservative estimate. Another causative agent? Hmmmm.

Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Sunday, May 1, AD 2016 2:45pm

TomD may have a valid point:
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http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2014/05/the_greatest_murder_machine_in_history.html
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Nevertheless, to be a communist is to be a murderer.

Penguins Fan
Penguins Fan
Sunday, May 1, AD 2016 8:11pm

Islam, bad as it is, did not wipe out a hundred million people in a century.

More nations were ruled by Communists than by Muslims in the 20th Century.

The crimes of Islam have been perpetrated over nearly a millenium and a half. Really, so what if Islam has caused more deaths than Communism? Does that make Islam worse, or simply point out that Islam has been around longer?

Communism did its worst in the 20th century and has more adherents in academia and popular entertainment.

Poland fought both Islam and Communism. Beat ’em, both, too.

A debate over which is worse is a debate for another day. Today is Victims of Communism Day.

TomD
TomD
Sunday, May 1, AD 2016 8:32pm

“Islam, bad as it is, did not wipe out a hundred million people in a century. ” True PF. At Islam’s worse the death rate per century was about half that of Communism.

It’s your “inflicted upon himself” part that I was really homing in on. I think you are right, but only because we don’t know the extent of diabolical influences on Marx, Engles, Lenin, etc. With the ‘angel Gabriel’ appearance in that cave near Mecca, we can speculate a bit more reasonably on his origins.

TomD
TomD
Sunday, May 1, AD 2016 8:47pm

In any case, 1989 was truly a miracle. So was 1991. I recall driving to work that year and hearing of John Paul II’s call for the world to pray as the tanks were rolling into Moscow. His words were to the effect “This is the moment!” Yes it was. I wonder if there has been a time since then when so many prayed together.

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