[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
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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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