Lech Walesa
+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
9 Nov 2003
By 1980 most people behind the Iron Curtain knew the Communist system was corrupt and inefficient. But they felt powerless to change it.
Communism was an accepted part of the world scene and even in Catholic circles in Australia anti-Communism was not universal or fashionable. In 1987 I attended a high-level seminar in Melbourne, with international speakers, on the topic. Only one man, Frank Knopflemacher, said that the communist system was rotten and doomed and he was politely dismissed, in public. Privately he was ridiculed.
In fact in Poland since Pope John Paul II’s 1979 visit vast changes were brewing and the waves were spreading all over Eastern Europe.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the great Soviet writer and dissident recognised what was happening as did Yuri Andropov, head of the Russian KGB. On May, 13th, 1981 the Pope was shot in St. Peter’s Square in Rome.
Earlier than that on August 31st, 1980 the Polish Communist government had been forced by a strike and occupation of the Gdansk shipyards by 17,000 workers to accept an 8 point programme of demands, including the legal recognition of the first independent self-governing trade union in the Communist world. “Solidarity” was born.
It was unprecedented in many ways through its disciplined non-violence, the confidence of the workers, the alliance with the intellectuals, its emphasis on moral renewal, and the massive support of church and people.
The union took the name Solidarity and spread all over Poland. Its leader was an unemployed electrician, Lech Walesa. Years of struggle lay ahead. An imminent Soviet invasion was called off. Martial law was declared. There was prison and internal exile. Solidarity was outlawed. But the struggle continued and the defiance spread through Eastern Europe and then into Russia itself.
Other great figures seized this historic movement to uproot the “Evil Empire”, e.g. Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Michael Gorbachev’s recognition of the need for reform, his refusal to resort to violence must also be acknowledged.
But revolutions also need local leadership. Lech Walesa made a unique contribution at this crucial turning point in history. The Iron Curtain is gone. The old Soviet system is gone, its peoples free. St. Mary’s Cathedral was proud to welcome Lech Walesa.
