[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 100 (Thursday, July 23, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8949-S8950]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                40TH OBSERVANCE OF CAPTIVE NATIONS WEEK

 Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, this year's Captive Nations 
celebration is dedicated to the ``Memory of the Over 100 Million 
Victims of Communism.''
  Behind the Iron Curtain millions were killed and millions more were 
victimized by the societal and political structures that coerced 
conformity and attempted to dictate thought in these authoritarian 
states.
  The term victim in this context conjures up SS troops and gas 
chambers, the purges under Stalin, Hungary in 1956, and the Prague 
Spring. Countless tragedies are recounted in the stories of those who 
fought for freedom and died at the hands of a racist regime bent on 
genocide or in confrontation with a relentless and overpowering Red 
Army.
  Fascism lasted for 12 years in Germany.
  Stalinism lasted twice as long in the Soviet Union.
  An estimated 6 million perished in Nazi concentration and work camps 
during World War II.
  Between 30 and 60 million perished through the work of Stalin's 
secret police from torture and execution.
  There were, however, many more who persisted and became victims for 
their beliefs but remained clear in their conscience. The yoke of 
oppression could

[[Page S8950]]

not smote their passion. That is the essence of the ``Power of the 
Powerless,'' according to Vaclav Havel, dissident, writer, and 
political prisoner who is now President of the Czech Republic.
  The ideas contained in the ``Power of the Powerless'' is what I would 
like to convey to you on this occasion, because of its lesson in 
today's world where Captive Nations are few and the powerless seized 
the power, because it belonged to them all along.
  In 1978, Havel wrote:

       A specter is haunting Eastern Europe: the specter of what 
     in the West is called ``dissent.'' This specter has not 
     appeared out of thin air. It is the natural and inevitable 
     consequence of the present historical phase of the system it 
     is haunting. It was born at a time when the system, for a 
     thousand reasons, can no longer base itself on the 
     unadulterated, brutal, and arbitrary application of power, 
     eliminating all expressions of nonconformity. What is more, 
     the system has become so ossified politically that there is 
     practically no way for such nonconformity to be implemented 
     within its official structures.

  The system was exemplified by the greengrocer whose store displays 
the slogan: ``Workers of the world, unite!''
  Due to semantics, the greengrocer is indifferent to the slogan.
  His obedience is verbalized in a manner that does not degrade his 
humanity so much as the truth. ``I am afraid and therefore 
unquestioningly obedient.''
  Ten years later, the system collapsed in the wake of dissent. The 
Berlin Wall fell in response to the pressure of East Germans voting 
with their feet, and within a year a microcosm of the former World 
Order vanished. Glasnost and Perestroika shook the ossified foundation 
of the Party and its dogma to its core, and the Soviet Union collapsed, 
allowing for self-determination and the birth of democracy in many 
formerly Captive Nations.
  It was the Power of the Powerless, the greengrocer's humanity, that 
eventually brought the system to its knees. Any political system is 
comprised of the individuals within it, and these individuals, victims 
or conformists, possess the power of conferring legitimacy to the 
system.
  In the former Captive Nations legitimacy waned when the victims 
refused to perpetuate the lie.
  When the gap between ideology and daily reality could no longer be 
bridged by pat slogans and prescribed ritual, the system's foundation 
crumbled.
  By accepting the rules of the game, individuals became players. But 
their refusal to abide by the rules frayed the tightly woven fabric of 
falsity upon which the system was based.
  Rejection of the system is encapsulated in the following description:

       One day something in the greengrocer snaps and he stops 
     putting up the slogans merely to ingratiate himself. He stops 
     voting in elections he knows are a farce. He begins to say 
     what he really thinks at political meetings. And he even 
     finds the strength in himself to express solidarity with 
     those whom his conscience commands him to support. In this 
     revolt the greengrocer steps out of living within the lie. He 
     rejects the ritual and breaks the rules of the game. He 
     discovers once more his suppressed identity and dignity. He 
     gives his freedom a concrete significance. His revolt is an 
     attempt to live within the truth.

  In his expression of his identity and human dignity, the greengrocer 
becomes the victim.
  He is purged from the system and punished. His actions are a reminder 
that an alternate truth exists, thus, he is a threat.
  He has done more than express his dissent, he has illuminated the lie 
that comprise his surroundings.
  His power is augmented in its juxtaposition to the facade.
  It was the many who expressed their identity in those Captive Nations 
who tarnished the ideological veneer that was to bridge the gap between 
truth and falsity. They were victimized, often murdered, for their 
unwillingness or incapacity to abide by the rules and forfeit their 
dignity.
  Legitimacy is the glue that holds the system together. Legitimacy 
must be conferred by the individuals in the system. Without the power 
of individuals the system must utilize force, coercion and fear to 
maintain control. The days of an authoritarian state are always 
numbered, and democracy is the only legitimate social order. It is for 
this reason, I believe, that in time the remaining Captive Nations--
Cuba, China, North Korea--also will join the community of democratic 
states. The ideological battle is over, and the system with the only 
solid basis for its legitimacy--its citizens--won.
  In memory of the millions who perished under authoritarian regimes, 
it is only right for us to recognize their sacrifice. They rejected the 
facade and refused to perpetuate or propagate the lie. Their sacrifice 
is also a sobering reminder of our privilege.
  It is also appropriate and important to recognize the victims who 
survived and are witness to the crimes of history. In commemoration of 
those who perished, it is all the more potent to recognize those who 
were victims and survived. Today we can applaud those who would not be 
victimized, the individuals who refused to be swayed by untruths and 
promises of power. They are the ones that I would like to remember 
today. The ones who fought tyranny and prevailed have offered the 
greatest gift to those who tried and failed. They serve as a reminder 
to those around them that living a lie is worse than living in fear. 
And in the Captive Nations they were many in 1989 and 
thereafter.

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