Lech Walesa, leader of the Polish labor group known as Solidarity — the person and the group that led to the downfall of Soviet Communism — still thinks commuism has a better message than does capitalism. The 82-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner has been on the lecture circuit this year and has spoken of current affairs, even giving advice to Cubans on how to change the system.
Walesa — and I agree — still believes that communism resonates most with young people and the downtrodden because it promises so much. “[C]ommunism has beautiful slogans,” he told a Meeting of the International Bar Association. It promises a utopian society based on an equitable world. That can seem nice to people. “
He said a major fallacy underlay the West’s view of the fall of the Soviet system. Leaders in the West felt that eliminating known “bad actors” as leaders of Russia would transform the entire system, but that proved false.
“Gorbachev did not want to change the political system in Russia, because in this system, another Putin or Stalin can appear and rebuild the Soviet Union. This is why we are threatened with the same situation right now in Russia because their political system is built for this type of leadership,” he explained.
At a meeting in Miami, WaLesa addressed an assembly of Cuban émigrés that President Trump’s policies may help speed change from a communist system, telling them:
“You need to take advantage of Trump because he is moving in the right direction but remember that he is moving in the direction of US interests, not Cuban interests. So, you need to be prepared for all of this to converge,” he said.
Walesa later went on to become president of a democratic Poland.
[PICTURED: A young Lech Walesa speaking to shipoyard workers on strike as part of Solidarity]
