[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 119 (Tuesday, September 14, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1871-E1872]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 TRIBUTE TO LANE KIRKLAND: CHAMPION FOR WORKING PEOPLE IN AMERICA AND 
                            AROUND THE WORLD

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 14, 1999

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, America lost one of its most prominent and 
honored patriots on August 14 when Lane Kirkland, the president of the 
AFL-CIO from 1979 to 1995, passed away. He devoted his life to 
advancing the interests of our nation's working families, and what he 
achieved has benefited millions of our country's citizens.
  Mr. Kirkland will long be remembered for reunifying the labor 
movement, welcoming the United Auto Workers, the Teamsters, and other 
major unions back into the AFL-CIO. He will also be remembered for his 
steadfast advocacy for civil rights. As a national labor leader during 
the 1960's, he rallied organized labor behind the Civil Rights Act of 
1964 and other anti-discrimination measures. He will also be remembered 
fondly for his passion as a self-professed ``pure and simple and 
unreconstructed'' supporter of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal, 
one who believed in the responsibility of government to help create 
hope and opportunity for those less fortunate. The influence of Lane 
Kirland's convictions, however, did not stop at America's borders. He 
fought for freedom and human rights around the world, and future 
generations will long remember him as a man who helped create the first 
cracks in the Iron Curtain.
  Throughout his half-century in the leadership of the AFL-CIO, 
Kirkland never shied away from his principal belief that the labor 
movement must not ignore the struggles of its oppressed counterparts 
abroad. He placed the full weight of America's unions behind 
condemnation of racist apartheid in South Africa

[[Page E1872]]

and opposition to dictators in Cuba, Chile, and China. Kirkland 
forcefully and decisively undermined the Marxist claims of Fidel Castro 
and Leonid Brezhnev to the sympathies of the world's workers. He sent a 
message to the peoples of the world that America's working men and 
women would fight against any form of totalitarianism and repression. 
Kirkland's actions ensured that this message would not be ignored.
  During the early 1980's, a small collection of shipyard workers in 
Gdansk, Poland, courageously organized in opposition to their Communist 
government. During the course of that decade, the Solidarity labor 
movement under the leadership of Lech Walesa grew to embody the desires 
of the Polish people for freedom and democracy, and it brought Polish 
society together in the successful effort to topple an unjust 
dictatorship. The unwavering support of Lane Kirkland for Solidarity 
provided enormous assistance to the movement and added to its strength 
at a critical time when the Polish Communist leadership sought to stamp 
it out. At Kirkland's direction, the AFL-CIO channeled money, 
organizers, machines, and other assistance to Walesa's foot soldiers. 
At the end of the decade-long struggle the Polish dictatorship 
collapsed, and Walesa became Poland's democratically elected president. 
As Henry Kissenger noted, ``The success of Solidarity owes a lot to 
Lane.''
  Mr. Speaker, in 1994 Lane Kirkland's extraordinary contributions were 
recognized by President Bill Clinton, who awarded him the Presidential 
Medal of Freedom for his commitment to democracy and human rights 
around the world. President Clinton's words about Mr. Kirkland are both 
moving and accurate: ``Throughout the Cold War, when some leaders saw 
only the threats to our freedom overseas and neglected the barriers to 
freedom and inequality within our own land, Kirkland showed America 
that you can stand up to communism abroad just as forcefully as you can 
stand up for working men and women here at home.''
  Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleagues to join me in offering 
condolences to Lane Kirkland's widow, Irena, and to his children and 
grandchildren. It is most appropriate, that we honor and pay tribute to 
this outstanding leader. Lane is a credit to the American labor 
movement, as well as a credit to all who fight for human rights and 
civil liberties both here in America and around the world.

                          ____________________