A Candle That
Burned Bright for Freedom 25 Years Ago
By Paul Kengor, PhD
Grove City College
Grove City, Pennsylvania
It’s difficult
to explain how much the world has changed in 25
years. Those who lived through December 1981 would
be well-served to pause this Christmas season and
give thanks for the differences.
In December 1981, much of the world lived in totalitarian
darkness. This was captured at the time by Freedom
House with its map of global freedom, which showed
the world’s free nations in white and unfree
nations in black. Nearly all the great Eurasian
land mass was colored black, from the western border
of East Germany, through eastern Europe and the
massive spaces of the Soviet Union, and on to the
huge terrain of China, and still further down to
Vietnam. These communist governments, according
to the The Black Book of Communism (Harvard University
Press), killed at least 100 million people in the
20th century — twice the total deaths from
World War I and World War II combined.
These governments robbed individuals of basic rights,
with a particular antipathy for religious freedom.
Marx had called religion “the opiate of the
masses” and said that “Communism begins
where atheism begins.” His chief disciple
agreed: “There can be nothing more abominable
than religion,” wrote Vladimir Lenin, the
founder of the Soviet state, in a January 1913 letter.
Lenin called religion “a necrophilia”
and, once in power, ordered “mass terror”
against the religious: “The more representatives
of the reactionary clergy we manage to shoot, the
better.”
Lenin was especially miserable at Christmas time.
On December 25, 1919, he issued an edict directed
at all levels of Soviet society: “To put up
with ‘Nikola’ [the religious holiday]
would be stupid — the entire Cheka must be
on the alert to see to it that those who do not
show up for work because of ‘Nikola’
are shot.”
Fast forward to Christmas 1981. That year in Moscow
“church watchers” were on duty: sitting
in chapels taking notes on the “stupid people”
who entered to worship. By 1981, only 46 of the
657 churches operating in Moscow on the eve of the
Bolshevik Revolution remained open, holding closely
monitored services. In the Ukraine, political commissars
hijacked traditional Christmas carols. Lyrics such
as “believers” were changed to “workers;”
the time of the season became October, the month
of the glorious revolution; rather than the image
of Christ, one song extolled “Lenin’s
glory hovering;” the Star of Bethlehem became
the Red Star. Said Ukrainian Olena Doviskaya, a
church watcher and a teacher, who was required to
report students who attended Christmas services:
“Lenin was Jesus. They wanted you to worship
Lenin.”
The prospects for shining light upon that darkness
seemed bleak in 1981. The Soviets were on the rise,
having added 11 proxy states as allies since 1974.
The new man in Washington, President Ronald Reagan,
was sure he could reverse this tide, beginning in
Poland, the most recalcitrant of all the Soviet
bloc states.
And just then, on December 13, 1981, the lights
were dimmed again. At midnight, a police raid commenced
upon the headquarters of Lech Walesa’s Solidarity
labor union. The Polish Communist government, consenting
to orders from Moscow, declared martial law. Solidarity’s
freedom fighters were imprisoned, and the cries
of liberty were snuffed out. But then came a moment
of hope forgotten by history:
Ten Days later, on December 23, Ronald Reagan connected
the spirit of the season with events in Poland:
“For a thousand years,” he told his
fellow Americans, “Christmas has been celebrated
in Poland, a land of deep religious faith, but this
Christmas brings little joy to the courageous Polish
people.” He then made an extraordinary gesture:
The president asked Americans that Christmas season
to light a candle in support of freedom in Poland.
Ronald Reagan and a core group of cadres —
some of whom passed away this past year, such as
Cap Weinberger and Jeane Kirkpatrick — were
committed to liberating Poland and all the Soviet
empire. Without going into where and how they succeeded,
suffice to say that the world changed dramatically.
In 1980, according to Freedom House, there were
56 democracies in the world; by 1990, there were
76. The numbers continued an upward trajectory,
hitting 114 by 1994, a doubling since Reagan entered
the Oval Office. By 1994, 60% of the world’s
nations were democracies, compared to less than
30% in the mid 1970s.
This very recent explosion of freedom is one of
the great stories of modern humanity, and one of
the least remarked upon — a truly global blessing.
A look back at 25 years ago this month can help
us to be grateful, especially during Christmas,
when we pause to remember the ultimate source of
light that conquers the darkness.
(Paul Kengor is author of The Crusader: Ronald Reagan
and the Fall of Communism (2006) and executive director
of the Center for Vision & Values at Grove City
College)
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