| BACK |
Otherwise they would consider their life and work pointless. Only such politicians are great politicians and Ronald Reagan was one of them.The 1980s were a curious time — a time of realization that a new age was upon us. Communism was coming to an end. It had used up its means and possibilities. The ground was set for change. But this change needed the cooperation, or unspoken understanding, of different political players. Now, from the perspective of our time, it is obvious that like the pieces of a global chain of events, Ronald Reagan, John Paul II, Margaret Thatcher and even Mikhail Gorbachev helped bring about this new age in Europe. We at Solidarity like to claim more than a little credit, too, for bringing about the end of the Cold War.In the Europe of the 1980s, Ronald Reagan presented a vision. For us in Central and Eastern Europe, that meant freedom from the Soviets. Mr. Reagan was no ostrich who hoped that problems might just go away. He thought that problems are there to be faced. This is exactly what he did.Every time I met President Reagan, at his private estate in California or at the Lenin shipyard here in Gdansk, I was amazed by his modesty and even temper. He didn’t fit the stereotype of the world leader that he was. Privately, we were like opposite sides of a magnet: He was always composed; I was a raging tower of emotions eager to act. We were so different yet we never had a problem with understanding one another. I respected his honesty and good humor. It gave me confidence in his policies and his resolve. He supported my struggle, but what unified us, unmistakably, were our similar values and shared goals.* * * I have often been asked in the United States
to sign the poster that many Americans consider very
significant. Prepared for the first almost-free
parliamentary elections in Poland in 1989, the poster
shows Gary Cooper as the lonely sheriff in the American
Western, “High Noon.” Under the headline
“At High Noon” runs the red Solidarity banner
and the date — June 4, 1989 — of the poll. It
was a simple but effective gimmick that, at the time, was
misunderstood by the Communists. They, in fact, tried to
ridicule the freedom movement in Poland as an invention
of the “Wild” West, especially the U.S.But the
poster had the opposite impact: Cowboys in Western
clothes had become a powerful symbol for Poles. Cowboys
fight for justice, fight against evil, and fight for
freedom, both physical and spiritual. Solidarity trounced
the Communists in that election, paving the way for a
democratic government in Poland. It is always so touching
when people bring this poster up to me to autograph it.
They have cherished it for so many years and it has
become the emblem of the battle that we all fought
together.As I say repeatedly, we owe so much to all those
who supported us. Perhaps in the early years, we
didn’t express enough gratitude. We were so busy
introducing all the necessary economic and political
reforms in our reborn country. Yet President Ronald
Reagan must have realized what remarkable changes he
brought to Poland, and indeed the rest of the world. Lech Walesa
Send your questions
comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com |
GDANSK,
Poland — When talking about Ronald Reagan, I have to
be personal. We in Poland took him so personally. Why?
Because we owe him our liberty. This can’t be said
often enough by people who lived under oppression for
half a century, until communism fell in 1989.Poles fought
for their freedom for so many years that they hold in
special esteem those who backed them in their struggle.
Support was the test of friendship. President Reagan was
such a friend. His policy of aiding democratic movements
in Central and Eastern Europe in the dark days of the
Cold War meant a lot to us. We knew he believed in a few
simple principles such as human rights, democracy and
civil society. He was someone who was convinced that the
citizen is not for the state, but vice-versa, and that
freedom is an innate right.I often wondered why Ronald
Reagan did this, taking the risks he did, in supporting
us at Solidarity, as well as dissident movements in other
countries behind the Iron Curtain, while pushing a
defense buildup that pushed the Soviet economy over the
brink. Let’s remember that it was a time of
recession in the U.S. and a time when the American public
was more interested in their own domestic affairs. It
took a leader with a vision to convince them that there
are greater things worth fighting for. Did he seek any
profit in such a policy? Though our freedom movements
were in line with the foreign policy of the United
States, I doubt it.President Reagan, in a radio address
from his ranch on Oct. 9, 1982, announces trade sanctions
against Poland in retaliation for the outlawing of
Solidarity.I distinguish between two kinds of
politicians. There are those who view politics as a
tactical game, a game in which they do not reveal any
individuality, in which they lose their own face. There
are, however, leaders for whom politics is a means of
defending and furthering values. For them, it is a moral
pursuit. They do so because the values they cherish are
endangered. They’re convinced that there are values
worth living for, and even values worth dying for.