Date: 1982-03-02
Speaker: ROBERT C. BYRD (democrat)
Chamber: S

Mr. President. I want to commend the senior Senator from Pennsylvania. Mr. HEINZ. for offering this resolution calling for the release of Lech Walesa and other political leaders in Poland. I welcome this opportunity to join with him in sponsoring this resolution. What is happening in Poland today epitomizes the hyprocrisy of Sovietbloc totalitarianism. On April 9. 1981. I delivered a speech before this body stating that the ongoing crisis in Poland presented the international community with a classic example of the contradictions between the theory and actual practice of communism. The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 was premised on the theory that the peasants and workersthe proletariathad historically represented the exploited and oppressed classes of the world. Communist ideology promoted the idea of a completely classless society. wherein the exploitation and opression of the proletariat would cease. I Solidarity began as a small. almost obscure. union in the shipyards of Gdansk. It grew to encompass 10 million industrial workers from the coal miners of Silesia to the factory workers in the major cities. and spread to the rural areas to encbmpass the peasant farmers. Why was Solidarity so successful in such a short period of time? The answer is simple. The Communist Party elite in Poland. as elsewhere in the Eastern bloc. is a symbol of corruption and privilege in a supposedly classless society. This position of privilege was built upon the backs of those very peoplethe peasants and workerswho were in the vanguard and who were the supposed beneficiaries of the Russian revolution of 1917. Solidarity has. therefore. become the most glaring example of the continuing exploitation of the proletariat in the Eastern bloc for the past 65 years. Far from evolving into the dictatorship of the proletariat or into classless societies. we have witnessed the emergence and perpetuation of a new elitea Communist bourgeoisie who enjoy a standard of living far beyond the reach or dreams of the proletariat in their countries. Solidarity challenged this system of corruption and oppression. Solidarity has come to represent the failure of communism. Solidarity was more than just an independent trade union. It represented a union of workers who realized that the Communist system had not met and would never meet their basic needs. It did not deliver food to their tables. meaning to their jobs. happiness to their lives. or hope for their futures. In essence. the Polish people. through Solidarity. were trying to establish a system which worked for them. What this resolution actually says is that the proletariat in Poland deserve to participate in the political and economic decisionmaking processes of their government. That they are denied this opportunity only exposes the Communist system for what it really isan oppressive and corrupt minority who fear the masses of their own people. Passage of this resolution will send a strong signal to the martial law leaders in Poland and the Soviet leaders that the U.S. Senate sees this crackdown for what it really isthe continued exploitation of the workers and peasants of the Easten bloc.