[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 87 (Thursday, June 13, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1080-E1081]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        A TRIBUTE TO LECH WALESA

                                 ______


                          HON. MARTIN R. HOKE

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 13, 1996

  Mr. HOKE. Mr. Speaker, the great twilight struggle against the 
incredible evil of communism produced some of history's most 
extraordinary people. But if you had to choose the three people who 
played the biggest role in relegating communism to the dustbin of 
history it would have to be Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II, and a 
shipyard worker from Gdansk named Lech Walesa--the three men Time 
Magazine dubbed ``The Holly Alliance.''
  The centerpiece of the operation to free Eastern Europe from the 
chains of communism was Solidarity, the workers' union founded by Lech 
Walesa. Everything else flowed from that. Solidarity was the weapons 
that the Pope and President Reagan nurtured and protected and 
eventually used to help bring about communism's collapse, first in 
Poland, then in the rest of Eastern Europe.
  None of what was accomplished, however, could have happened without 
Lech Walesa. It was his bravery, his skill, his dedication, and his 
love for his country and its people that showed the way. The world owes 
a debt of gratitude to this common man with uncommon valor.
  Last week a ceremony was held in Washington both to honor this hero, 
as well as to celebrate the introduction of the NATO Expansion Act, a 
bill that will bring Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic into NATO. 
In many ways this bill is the culmination of all that Mr. Walesa has 
worked for and I am proud not only to be an original cosponsor of this 
bill, but also that I had a hand in drafting some of the language. I 
urge the Congress to pass this important bill and the President to sign 
it.
  I would now like to submit a copy of Mr. Walesa's inspiring remarks 
for the Record.

    Statement of the Honorable Lech Walesa, Washington, June 4, 1996

       Mr. Speaker, Members of Congress, Ladies and Gentleman, 
     Dear Friends.
       First and above all, I would like to say how very grateful 
     I am for being invited here today. Being here again brings 
     back cherished memories of that day six years ago, when, as 
     we were all witnessing the end of the communist empire and of 
     the Cold War, I had the honor of addressing the joint session 
     of the United States Congress. It was one of those rare 
     moments when we all felt that history was being made. There 
     are in deed very few such great landmarks to one's lifetime.
       But this was not the first time Poles and Americans shared 
     such moments. It was two centuries ago when, by a historical 
     coincidence, our ancestors both in America and in Poland were 
     simultaneously experiencing momentous changes in the lives of 
     their nations. America had just won her independence and in 
     1790 ratified a democratic constitution. A year later and an 
     ocean away on May 3rd, the Polish Parliament also passed its 
     own constitution, a grand design for modern political reform.
       There were striking similaries between them. The basic 
     concept of the American constitution, that the source of 
     governmental power stems from the will of the people, was 
     also embodied in the Polish one. Both stated the same basic 
     objective: liberty and general welfare of the people. The 
     Polish reformers were spiritually at home with the American 
     Founding Fathers; they shared the same fundamental ideals. 
     America was viewed as a model; it was certainly not an 
     accident that Polish Reformer-King Stanislaw August had put a 
     bust of George Washington in his study at the Warsaw Castle. 
     And it was certainly not accidental that Polish volunteers 
     participated in the American Revolution. At this point I must 
     express my most sincere gratitude for the recent joint 
     resolution of the United States Congress commemorating the 
     two hundred fifth anniversary of the adoption of Poland's 
     first constitution.
       But while the America envisaged by the Founding Fathers has 
     become a great democracy and still governs itself by the same 
     constitution, Poland has spent most of the last two centuries 
     relentlessly struggling to achieve among the nations of the 
     earth that which your Declaration of Independence called ``a 
     separate and equal station to which laws of nature and 
     Nature's God entitle them''. I am not a historian, as you 
     know, but sometimes I think that, perhaps, apart from the 
     right ideals and stubborn resolve, nations need a bit of luck 
     too. For instance, I would have liked Fortune to have placed 
     the Poland of the 1791 Constitution somewhere on the map of 
     North America and not in the center of Europe, between 
     autocratic and imperial Russia and Prussia.
       It was exactly 200 years ago that President George 
     Washington was retiring. Having led a victorious fight 
     against the imperial tyranny of Britain and ensured America's 
     independence, he could withdraw into the peace and 
     tranquillity of his beloved Mount Vernon. He cautioned that 
     free people must always remain wary of potential threats, but 
     he was convinced that what he called America's ``detached and 
     distant position'' offered hope that the republic would 
     endure. As you well know, my country, inhabiting the heart of 
     Europe, unfortunately had not the luxury of such a ``distant 
     and detached position'' over the past two centuries. The 
     tough experiences of our history do not make a retirement in 
     true peace of mind a very likely possibility for any leader. 
     Perhaps that is why Poles love liberty as one loves a bride 
     but Americans love her more as a grandmother.
       But I believe that, although we cannot affect Fortune, we 
     can and should help it. From 1989, liberty in Central Europe 
     had been given a new, historic chance, a chance preceded by a 
     very, very long and bitter struggle, and, as such, deserving 
     the needed nourishment of peace and security. May I point out 
     that Poland is today the fastest growing economy in Europe a 
     remarkable evidence of fruits born of regained liberty.

[[Page E1081]]

       We have before us a rare window of opportunity to help 
     preserve both peace and freedom--and the former depends much 
     on the latter--and ensure that it extends well into the 
     twenty first century. Just as the eighteenth-century 
     constitutions opened a new epoch, the fall of totalitarianism 
     in Europe offers a similar prospect today. But many a great 
     battle in history had been ultimately lost due to a lack of 
     follow up by the victors to ensure a durable success. I 
     strongly believe that this is such a moment requiring a 
     follow up in the form of providing NATO security to ensure 
     the durability of the democratic revolutions of 1989. Only 
     United States has the power and authority today to lead 
     towards this goal. I am particularly pleased that this cause 
     has found much bipartisan support in the United States 
     Congress. It gives me much faith and hope that the liberty 
     for which so many have struggled for so long will be given 
     the protection and opportunity it merits.
       I wish to thank you once again for your kind invitation and 
     for your inestimable support now as in the past.

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