The Evil Empire
President
Ronald Reagan, June 8, 1982. The British House of Commons.
Were
approaching the end of a bloody century plagued by a terrible political
invention totalitarianism. Optimism comes less easily today,
not because democracy is less vigorous, but because democracys
enemies have refined their instruments of repression. Yet optimism
is in order because day by day democracy is proving itself to be
a not at all fragile flower. From Stettin on the Baltic to Varna
on the Black Sea, the regimes planted by totalitarianism have had
more than thirty years to establish their legitimacy. But none
not one regime has yet been able to risk free elections.
Regimes planted by bayonets do not take root.
The
strength of the Solidarity movement in Poland demonstrates the truth
told in an underground joke in the Soviet Union. It is that the
Soviet Union would remain a one-party nation even if an opposition
party were permitted because everyone would join the opposition
party
.
Historians
looking back at our time will note the consistent restraint and
peaceful intentions of the West. They will note that it was the
democracies who refused to use the threat of their nuclear monopoly
in the forties and early fifties for territorial or imperial gain.
Had that nuclear monopoly been in the hands of the Communist world,
the map of Europe indeed, the world would look very
different today. And certainly they will note it was not the democracies
that invaded Afghanistan or suppressed Polish Solidarity or used
chemical and toxin warfare in Afghanistan and Southeast Asia.
If
history teaches anything, it teaches self-delusion in the face of
unpleasant facts is folly. We see around us today the marks of our
terrible dilemma predictions of doomsday, antinuclear demonstrations,
an arms race in which the West must, for its own protection, be
an unwilling participant. At the same time we see totalitarian forces
in the world who seek subversion and conflict around the globe to
further their barbarous assault on the human spirit. What, then,
is our course? Must civilization perish in a hail of fiery atoms?
Must freedom wither in a quiet, deadening accommodation with totalitarian
evil?
Sir
Winston Churchill refused to accept the inevitability of war or
even that it was imminent. He said, "I do not believe that
Soviet Russia desires war. What they desire is the fruits of war
and the indefinite expansion of their power and doctrines. But what
we have to consider here today while time remains is the permanent
prevention of war and the establishment of conditions of freedom
and democracy as rapidly as possible in all countries."
Well,
this is precisely our mission today: to preserve freedom as well
as peace. It may not be easy to see; but I believe we live now at
a turning point.
In
an ironic sense Karl Marx was right. We are witnessing today a great
revolutionary crisis, a crisis where the demands of the economic
order are conflicting directly with those of the political order.
But the crisis is happening not in the free, non-Marxist West but
in the home of Marxism- Leninism, the Soviet Union. It is the Soviet
Union that runs against the tide of history by denying human freedom
and human dignity to its citizens. It also is in deep economic difficulty.
The rate of growth in the national product has been steadily declining
since the fifties and is less than half of what it was then.
The
dimensions of this failure are astounding: a country which employs
one-fifth of its population in agriculture is unable to feed its
own people. Were it not for the private sector, the tiny private
sector tolerated in Soviet agriculture, the country might be on
the brink of famine. These private plots occupy a bare 3 percent
of the arable land but account for nearly one-quarter of Soviet
farm output and nearly one-third of meat products and vegetables.
Overcentralized, with little or no incentives, year after year the
Soviet system pours its best resources into the making of instruments
of destruction. The constant shrinkage of economic growth combined
with the growth of military production is putting a heavy strain
on the Soviet people. What we see here is a political structure
that no longer corresponds to its economic base, a society where
productive forces are hampered by political ones.
The
decay of the Soviet experiment should come as no surprise to us.
Wherever the comparisons have been made between free and closed
societies West Germany and East Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia,
Malaysia and Vietnam it is the democratic countries that
are prosperous and responsive to the needs of their people. And
one of the simple but overwhelming facts of our time is this: of
all the millions of refugees weve seen in the modern world,
their flight is always away from, not toward the Communist world.
Today on the NATO line, our military forces face east to prevent
a possible invasion. On the other side of the line, the Soviet forces
also face east to prevent their people from leaving.
The
hard evidence of totalitarian rule has caused in mankind an uprising
of the intellect and will. Whether it is the growth of the new schools
of economics in America or England or the appearance of the so-called
new philosophers in France, there is one unifying thread running
through the intellectual work of these groups rejection of
the arbitrary power of the state, the refusal to subordinate the
rights of the individual to the superstate, the realization that
collectivism stifles all the best human impulses
.
Chairman
Brezhnev repeatedly has stressed that the competition of ideas and
systems must continue and that this is entirely consistent with
relaxation of tensions and peace.
Well,
we ask only that these systems begin by living up to their own constitutions,
abiding by their own laws, and complying with the international
obligations they have undertaken. We ask only for a process, a direction,
a basic code of decency, not for an instant transformation.
We
cannot ignore the fact that even without our encouragement there
has been and will continue to be repeated explosion against repression
and dictatorships. The Soviet Union itself is not immune to this
reality. Any system is inherently unstable that has no peaceful
means to legitimize its leaders. In such cases, the very repressiveness
of the state ultimately drives people to resist it, if necessary,
by force.
While
we must be cautious about forcing the pace of change, we must not
hesitate to declare our ultimate objectives and to take concrete
actions to move toward them. We must be staunch in our conviction
that freedom is not the sole prerogative of a lucky few but the
inalienable and universal right of all human beings. So states the
United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which, among
other things, guarantees free elections.
The
objective I propose is quite simple to state: to foster the infrastructure
of democracy, the system of a free press, unions, political parties,
universities, which allows a people to choose their own way to develop
their own culture, to reconcile their own differences through peaceful
means.
This
is not cultural imperialism; it is providing the means for genuine
self-determination and protection for diversity. Democracy already
flourishes in countries with very different cultures and historical
experiences. It would be cultural condescension, or worse, to say
that any people prefer dictatorship to democracy. Who would voluntarily
choose not to have the right to vote, decide to purchase government
propaganda handouts instead of independent newspapers, prefer government
to worker-controlled unions, opt for land to be owned by the state
instead of those who till it, want government repression of religious
liberty, a single political party instead of a free choice, a rigid
cultural orthodoxy instead of democratic tolerance and diversity.
Since
1917 the Soviet Union has given covert political training and assistance
to Marxist-Leninists in many countries. Of course, it also has promoted
the use of violence and subversion by these same forces. Over the
past several decades, West European and other social democrats,
Christian democrats, and leaders have offered open assistance to
fraternal, political, and social institutions to bring about peaceful
and democratic progress. Appropriately, for a vigorous new democracy,
the Federal Republic of Germanys political foundations have
become a major force in this effort.
We
in America now intend to take additional steps, as many of our allies
have already done, toward realizing this same goal. The chairmen
and other leaders of the national Republican and Democratic party
organizations are initiating a study with the bipartisan American
Political Foundation to determine how the United States can best
contribute as a nation to the global campaign for democracy now
gathering force. They will have the cooperation of congressional
leaders of both parties, along with representatives of business,
labor, and other major institutions in our society. I look forward
to receiving their recommendations and to working with these institutions
and the Congress in the common task of strengthening democracy throughout
the world.
It
is time that we committed ourselves as a nation in both the
public and private sectors to assisting democratic development
.
What
I am describing now is a plan and a hope for the long term
the march of freedom and democracy which will leave Marxism-Leninism
on the ash heap of history as it has left other tyrannies which
stifle the freedom and muzzle the self-expression of the people.
And thats why we must continue our efforts to strengthen NATO
even as we move forward with our zero-option initiative in the negotiations
on intermediate-range forces and our proposal for a one-third reduction
in strategic ballistic missile warheads.
Our
military strength is a prerequisite to peace, but let it be clear
we maintain this strength in the hope it will never be used, for
the ultimate determinant in the struggle thats now going on
in the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and
ideas, a trial of spiritual resolve, the values we hold, the beliefs
we cherish, the ideals to which we are dedicated.
The
British people know that, given strong leadership, time, and a little
bit of hope, the forces of good ultimately rally and triumph over
evil. Here among you is the cradle of self-government, the Mother
of Parliaments. Here is the enduring greatness of the British contribution
to mankind, the great civilized ideas: individual liberty, representative
government, and the rule of law under God.
I've
often wondered about the shyness of some of us in the West about
standing for these ideals that have done so much to ease the plight
of man and the hardships of our imperfect world. This reluctance
to use those vast resources at our command reminds me of the elderly
lady whose home was bombed in the blitz. As the rescuers moved about,
they found a bottle of brandy shed stored behind the staircase,
which was all that was left standing. And since she was barely conscious,
one of the workers pulled the cork to give her a taste of it. She
came around immediately and said, "Here now there now,
put it back. Thats for emergencies."
Well,
the emergency is upon us. Let us be shy no longer. Let us go to
our strength. Let us offer hope. Let us tell the world that a new
age is not only possible but probable.
During
the dark days of the Second World War, when this island was incandescent
with courage, Winston Churchill exclaimed about Britain's adversaries,
"What kind of people do they think we are?" Well, Britains
adversaries found out what extraordinary people the British are.
But all the democracies paid a terrible price for allowing the dictators
to underestimate us. We dare not make that mistake again. So, let
us ask ourselves, "What kind of people do we think we are?"
And let us answer, "Free people, worthy of freedom and determined
not only to remain so but to help others gain their freedom as well."
Sir
Winston led his people to great victory in war and then lost an
election just as the fruits of victory were about to be enjoyed.
But he left office honorably and, as it turned out, temporarily,
knowing that the liberty of his people was more important than the
fate of any single leader. History recalls his greatness in ways
no dictator will ever know. And he left us a message of hope for
the future, as timely now as when he first uttered it, as opposition
leader in the Commons nearly twenty-seven years ago, when he said,
"When we look back on all the perils through which we have
passed and at the mighty foes that we have laid low and all the
dark and deadly designs that we have frustrated, why should we fear
for our future? We have," he said, "come safely through
the worst."
Well,
the task Ive set forth will long outlive our own generation.
But together, we too have come through the worst. Let us now begin
a major effort to secure the best a crusade for freedom that
will engage the faith and fortitude of the next generation. For
the sake of peace and justice, let us move toward a world in which
all people are at last free to determine their own destiny.
[Posted
June 9, 2004]
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