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| This photo from www.comunismulinromania.ro is of former Polish Communist leader Wojciech Jaruzelski, at left, and Nicolae Ceaucescu, the last Communist leader of Romania. |
It’s a sad irony, and I was once again reminded of it when I heard
news last week that Wojciech Jaruzelski died. He was the last Communist leader
of Poland, one more remnant of the Cold War that ended in the 1989-1990 period.
Martial law
When I was growing up, I listened to the news from a young age. Every
day there were stories coming out of Poland about protests in the Gdansk
Shipyards by workers. They were part of a trade union called Solidarity led by
Lech Walesa, an electrician and an inspiring leader.
My family has a special connection to Poland, as my mother was born
there and her family lived there for generations before they had to leave
during the Second World War. I grew up hearing stories about Poland, the Nazis,
and the subsequent takeover by the Communists. They seemed to be this
dictatorship that suppressed all dissent and tolerated no one who disagreed
with the government. That’s why I was so surprised Solidarity’s protests were
not only tolerated, but freely reported to the world.
Then one day in 1981, I awoke and I heard it on CJOC Radio before I
went to school. Leadership had hardened in the Communist party and the
president, Wojciech Jaruzelski, had imposed martial law. Solidarity had been
outlawed, the media had been severely curtailed, and Lech Walesa had been arrested.
I was not sure what martial law was, but it sounded bad – and it was. Martial
law would last until the middle of 1983.
Winds of change
So much happened in my own life over the next few years, that it’s
hard to believe it was only six years until the winds of change swept Eastern
Europe clean of Communism. The rise of Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union,
and the reforms he introduced, led to political reform all over Eastern Europe.
It seemed like every day another domino was falling, whether it was the Velvet
Revolution in Czechoslovakia, the coup in Romania that toppled Nicolae
Ceacescu, unrest and change in Hungary, or the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The winds of change blew through Poland as well. By the end of 1988,
strikes forced the Communists to approach Solidarity to enter into talks. The
result was an agreement in 1989 that created a new governing body and paved the
way for free elections. It also created the office of president.
Solidarity won most of the available seats, and Jaruzelski won the
presidency. Ultimately, he was unsuccessful in convincing Solidarity to enter a
coalition and, after his other allies broke ranks, he was forced to appoint
Solidarity’s Tadeusz Mazowiecki as prime minister.
Jaruzelski would resign soon after, and be replaced by Lech Walesa in
1990.
The Communists had been blown away once and for all.
Parting thoughts
The 1980s began with martial law and ended with the flag of freedom
flying high in Warsaw. It had been quite a decade in Poland. While we all heard
of Walesa, Mazowiecki, and the other reformers, Jaruzelski seemed to go quietly
into that good night.
It seems unfair that he simply drifted off into retirement. It wasn’t
like Canada or the United States where leaders left office because they lost or
retired. He had been deposed. Worse, his actions had led to the deaths of
hundreds, and perhaps thousands, through the suppression of freedom and the
assertion of authority.
It really does not seem fair that he was allowed to just get on with
his life without ever suffering the consequences of his actions.
Thousands were never allowed to live out their lives because of him.
It seems wrong that he got to live to a ripe old age and none of those people
did.
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