Twenty-five years ago today, the Revolutions of 1989 – which led to the overthrow of numerous communist regimes – began in Poland and, unfortunately, failed in China. The Revolutions of 1989 would ultimately end communism in Eastern Europe and eventually result in the end of the Soviet Union. On June 4th, 1989, Poland had its first free elections under communist rule with Lech Walesa’s Solidarity Party wining the vast majority of the parliamentary seats. However, in the same year, the Chinese government declared martial law in order to stop nationwide protests, and on the morning of June 4th, the infamous Tiananmen Square Massacre occurred with the Chinese military squashing peaceful protests in Beijing with battlefield tactics. Throughout most of the 20th century totalitarian regimes ruled Poland and China. Much of Europe and some parts of Asia were liberated by Allied victories in the Second World War; yet – in the words of Winston Churchill – an Iron Curtain descended upon Eastern Europe and Asia with Stalin’s sphere of influence spreading as far as the Red Army’s gains during the Great Patriotic War and with the Chinese communist leader Moa Zedong’s victory over the pro-Western Chiang Kai-shek in the Chinese Civil War. Communist regimes solidified control over most of the eastern hemisphere. In general, communism gained ground throughout the Cold War era. This all changed during the 1980s. The Cold War between United States and the Soviet Union had many theaters both military and social. However, by the 1980s, the frontline of the Cold War shifted to Eastern Europe, specifically Poland. The anti-Communist and Catholic trade union Solidarity led the fight against one-party communist rule in Poland. The leader of Solidarity was Lech Walesa, an electrician by trade, who led strikes in the Gdansk shipyards against the Communist regime. Walesa and Solidarity had to battle many obstacles such as the Polish regime outlawing non-governmental unions and the declaration of marital law. Yet, Solidarity gained immense popularity in Poland. Additionally, an alliance of President Ronald Reagan, Pope Saint John Paul II, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher aided the Solidarity Movement financially, spiritually, and diplomatically. In 1989, Solidarity finally gained significant concessions from the communist regime. In April 1989, Solidarity and the regime finalized the Polish Round Table Agreement, which guaranteed partly free elections to take place on June 4, 1989. This was a significant concession considering that, according to the historian Richard Pipes, throughout history communist regimes had never gained power through the democratic process. And, on June 4, 1989, the rest was not the end of history with the communist regime being soundly voted out of office. With the June 4th elections Lech Walesa would become the leader of the parliamentary government and the Soviet satellite of Poland would no longer be under communist control or be contained within the Iron Curtain. Immediately, other Eastern European countries, using Poland as inspiration, overthrew their communist leaders starting with Hungary establishing its own Roundtable Agreement in September 1989. The revolutions continued with Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution, Bulgaria’s revolution, and the violent Romanian Revolution. But the most significant event in the Revolutions of 1989 was the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, an event that Ronald Reagan had predicted throughout his political career though always accompanied with ridicule from his detractors. Although freedom blossomed in Europe and European Communism was discarded “upon the ash heap of history,” events took a tragically different turn in China. Starting in April of 1989, students from Beijing University staged demonstration in Tiananmen Square – which happens to be the world’s largest public gathering place – to protest for economic and political reform of the totalitarian and socialist Chinese government. Soon citizens from all aspects of Chinese society – except for the executive leadership – joined the student protesters. Furthermore, the protests spread to over 400 cities in China. At times, the number of protestors in Tiananmen Square reached 100,000. With the vast and diverse group of protestors threatening the communist leadership, on May 20th, China declared martial law. After a failed first attempt by a military tentative on using lethal force on its fellow citizens, the People’s Liberation Army was ordered to remove all protestors from Tiananmen Square by June 4th at 6:00 am. Over ten infantry and tank divisions attacked the peaceful unarmed protestors in the early morning of June 4th. The massacre resulted in over 2,600 people losing their lives, though official government statistics put the number at around 200 deaths. Furthermore, an unknown number of protestors were arrested with many being publically executed and many others receiving life sentences for “counterrevolutionary” activities. Although China was condemned throughout the world for its actions against its own innocent civilians, martial law effectively terminated the protests and quashed any type of political reform. The events in Poland and China had very different outcomes with freedom resulting in the former and despotism resulting in latter. Yet, both events showed that freedom and individualism are natural impulses of man for which many are willing to fight and risk their lives to defend. The willingness to sacrifice one’s life for freedom was evinced the day after the Tiananmen Square Massacre when an unknown Chinese protestor caused one of the most iconic events in history… youtube/watch?v=hc2XGHA7NK4
Posted on: Wed, 04 Jun 2014 17:30:43 +0000
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