The Untold Story Of the Collapse Of Communism: And Why The 'Arab Spring' Is Not Like Solidarity

6/6/73 4:40 PM

THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE COLLAPSE OF COMMUNISM: AND WHY THE 'ARAB SPRING' IS NOT LIKE SOLIDARITY
by SUN TZU (/COLUMNISTS/SUN-TZU) 18 Sep 2011 0 POST A COMMENT (/BIG-PEACE/2011/09/18/THEUNTOLD-STORY-OF-THE-COLLAPSE-OF-COMMUNISM---AND-WHY-THE-ARAB-SPRING-IS-NOT-LIKESOLIDARITY#COMMENTS) SHARE THIS:

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Editor's note: This very special article comes from a close friend who was imtimately involved in the underground Solidarity movement in Poland. This is a story you are not likely to read anywhere else. Tom Dao-Pompowski is married and has been a journalist for twenty years. He coestablished the first Christian radio in Poland after the fall of Berlin Wall. He authored numerous original historical articles on history of the Cold War. He has appeared in Polish and foreign media. Recently he co-produced multi awarded documentary Nine Days That Changed The World on fall of Berlin Wall in the context of the formation of the Solidarity movement. His book How Christianity Won Cold War: Ronald Reagan, John Paul II and Solidarity will be published this year.

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(http://bigpeace.com/files/2011/09/Marvin0902.jpg) Exactly thirty years ago on September 5th, 1981 the first free Parliament gathering in Eastern Europe occupied by the Soviet Union took place in Gdansk, a metropolitan city in northern Poland. It was Congress of Solidarity Movement which gathered over eight hundred delegates representing ten million members in Poland. In Gdansk, a year earlier, historical strikes by shipyard workers led by Anna Walentynowicz and Lech Walesa, resulted in a signing of an unprecedented socio-political agreement with humbled Communist regime. After Gdansk shipyards ended, local chapters of the Solidarity movement were formed in every Polish company and their members elected representatives to the Congress. This was the first democratic structure not controlled by the Communist government behind the Iron Curtain. The Solidarity movement was formally registered as a labor

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The Untold Story Of the Collapse Of Communism: And Why The 'Arab Spring' Is Not Like Solidarity

6/6/73 4:40 PM
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union. However, it did not resemble any Western workers union. Solidarity members had trust in God, respect for man and disbelief in the state. As late Solidarity leader Anna Walentynowicz put it: a militant atheism was equally evil as communist bureaucracy.

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It is important to set the record straight since politicians and pundits compared this years Arab uprisings to the Solidarity strikes. In May the United States Secretary Hillary Clinton said, in an interview, that Arab revolutions created for the West an opportunity of influence with democratic values in these societies as it was once behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. She said: Now, we need to do it in a way thats more likely to be understood and received than just asserting it in a conclusory way, but no, we need to be much more engaged. And frankly, just at the moment when theres this ferment for democracy breaking out 20 years-plus after the Berlin Wall fell, and we invested so much money and effort over so many decades to get behind the Iron Curtain, to talk about what democracy was, to keep the flag of freedom unfurled in peoples hearts, to get our messages in through every means of shortwave radio and smuggling bibles, and we did all kinds of things just to give people a sense that they werent alone and that maybe their ideas about the human spirit were not subversive. Let us leave aside the assessment of the Secretarys contentious judgment about the ferment for democracy breaking out in the Middle East and rather concentrate on the essence of the events that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall: the nature of the Solidarity movement. At least three elements distinguish the Middle East revolutions from the Solidarity struggle: a goal, a motivation and Christian values. This miracle, Solidarity winning the Cold War, can be compared to Israels victory over Jericho. It was a physical triumph over Red Jericho, however it was deeply rooted in the spiritual realm. Unlike most of the uprisers participants in Syria, Egypt or Yemen the Polish workers did not intend to topple the regime. First, it would be a unrealistic goal because the ruling Communist party was backed by the seventeen divisions of the Soviet Army armed with nuclear weapons stationed in Poland. Moreover, the Solidarity movement was not aimed against anybody. Its first goal was to unite and reconcile people fragmented and isolated by the operations of Communist secret police and Communist propaganda. During the strikes, workers publicly forgave their oppressors. Secondly, workers demanded rights to freely organize themselves (free unions), inform (free speech) and to express their faith (freedom of conscience). Anna Walentynowicz acknowledged the key role of John Paul II in the formation of Solidarity. She said: I cannot imagine it without our pope. Likewise Polish historian, Marek Lasota, who specializes in the history of 1980s, concurred with the Solidarity leader: The movement was born in the hearts of Poles during the first pilgrimage of John Paul II to his Fatherland in June 1978. This pilgrimage had critical significance for the formation of Solidarity. Polish workers were inspired seeing themselves in mass public prayer meetings for the first time on a such a grand scale. Other Solidarity leader Krzysztof Wyszkowski explains: we understood that there is more of us than them. Polish workers rejected fear from their hearts. In this moment the Communist regime lost its power of influence because fear is a fundamental element of a totalitarian system. Solidarity workers emphasized in their speeches and documents that they acted for the common good of man. The movement was not a political organization but a moral force for the renewal of society. Its ethics may be difficult to understand today. For instance,

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The Untold Story Of the Collapse Of Communism: And Why The 'Arab Spring' Is Not Like Solidarity

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during the August 1980 strikes Solidarity leaders asked doctors, nurses and other medical or social facilities workers to not leave their patients. Anna Walentynowicz emphasized that workers will be striking on behalf of the medical workers because it would be immoral to leave people in need. On the other hand, during the February 2011 uprisings in Egypt, a female Western journalist was brutally assaulted by the members of the supposedly democratic movement. In her interview Secretary Hillary Clinton mentions smuggling bibles as a mean to keep the flag of freedom unfurled in peoples heart behind the Iron Curtain. For at least thirty years before the Solidarity movement was formed, Christian missionaries secretly helped Poles. The full picture of this effort is yet to be painted by historians. t was during my childhood in Poland that the spiritual awakening was taking place. Poland was perceived as a Catholic country by the Western observers. Churches were full - they said. Some historians added that the Catholic Church was more or less an intact institution by the Communist regime. While this statement maybe partly true, new information that comes from Communist secret police archives shows the struggle between clergy, who supported the regime and their opponents. For instance, priests who were ministering to the Solidarity workers (Solidarity chaplains) suffered persecutions from some of the prominent Polish Catholic hierarchy members. It is true that Church ministers preached ethics on every Sunday, however the Communist regime was demoralizing the nation during the rest of the week. Propaganda, poverty and intimidation formed peoples attitudes contradictory to the Gospel. It was known that petty theft was socially acceptable. Stealing from the state company, was labeled as organizing. Shop shelves were stocked only with vodka, cigarettes and the Communist party daily newspaper. The majority of families lived in a small confined space. Some were allowed to built small villas (to succeed they would steal part of the material from the workplace and the other half were bought with bribes). In the same time alcoholism was destroying families. Hundreds of thousands of Polish babies were killed by abortion. Atheist schools were programming children how to think about the world, country and family. The majority of Poles buried their hope for a change and seemed to be content with life in a cage. A Polish literary writer Tadeusz Konwicki observed that people were satisfied having their own small stabilization. The breakthrough came with influential Catholic renewal Light-Life movement, supported by Campus Crusade for Christ. Probably the most important organization that helped bring real change. During the summer retreats organized by the Light Life movement between 1970 and 1989, millions of Poles received Jesus as their Personal Lord and Savior. They reflected on four spiritual laws. Poles may have heard the Gospel being nominal Catholics but they were not able to learn about it in such an easy-to-understand and personal way as spiritual laws: (1) God created man to be with Him (2) but he sinned and willfully rejected Him thus creating a chasm between God and himself, so (3) God sent his son and put cross as a bridge, (4) now man needs to accept Jesuss sacrifice, confess sin and receive Him as His Lord and Savior. God was touching peoples lives. Many new believers declared their permanent abstinence from alcohol and cigarettes, to be an encouragement for those who were struggling with their addictions. (Alcoholism was the most serious social plague during the 1980s in Poland). Pro-life movements were formed mostly as prayer groups in cities and villages around the country. The Bible became the most read book among many Polish families. Thanks to the cooperation of Protestant churches with Catholic organizations, hundreds of Jesus movie screenings took place in Poland. Every week in almost every city there were prayer groups formed by youth, families and singles
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to minister each other. These groups would meet together monthly during agape (Christian meals) to encourage each other with the testimonies of Gods presence in their life. As a consequence of the Light-Life movement ministry the Soviet system of fragmentation and isolation of people was significantly limited. Dramatic physical healing from addictions, restoration of marriages and spiritual rebirth resulted in a complete change of the social atmosphere in Poland. Former atheists and nominal Christians stood hand in hand among new believers. Their hearts were on fire for the Lord. Polish people were helped by many missionaries from Christian organizations including the Billy Graham Association, Focus on the Family, Youth With A Mission and the Bible Society. Bibles and Christian literature smuggled through tightly controlled borders were distributed in unusual places, such as the Russian Orthodox Churches. Christian radio programs sponsored by believers from the West were beaming the Word of God, every Sunday, from transmitters in Monte Carlo and Munich. This Christian revival, called sometimes revolution of conscience, had a decisive role in the success of peaceful negotiations between the Solidarity movements representative and Communist regime. For various reasons, too complex to explain here, it was an unfinished revolution. After thirty years it is however even more crucial to emphasize that democratic changes were the fruits of an invisible spiritual change. The fall of Berlin Wall preceded a massive come-back of Polish people to Gods presence. Tom Dao-Pompowski blogs at http://commentarypl.blogspot.com (http://commentarypl.blogspot.com)

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