Democracy should not be written off

Twenty-five years ago today, communist generals declared martial law in Poland. Many Poles, to whom the creation of Solidarity over a year earlier had given hope of freedom, saw this as an end to their dreams. In reality, as we now know, this was the beginning of the end for communism.

The communist system was able to crush Solidarity, but it paid a high price for that victory. Though the "king" General Wojciech Jaruzelski appeared in military uniform on December 13, 1981, the rest of the world saw that he was, in fact, like a naked king. The news of his weakness spread quickly throughout the socialist realm.

Martial law in Poland was one of the defining moments of the Cold War. On that December day, one of the pillars of detente fell the hope that the communist regime could be entwined in a web that would limit its movements and force it to concede to the democratic cause.

This course of action had been successful to a certain degree in the 1970s. But the communist regime in Poland, feeling its monopoly threatened, threw off the web in an act of desperation in 1981. There could be no return to the detente-style politics of the '70s.

Solidarity was weakened and removed from legal political life, but it survived. What's more, first from the dissident movement and then from the workers' unions, arose a political opposition, the first of its size in the East Bloc. Western governments had a completely new problem: how to deal with a regime that rules but lacks legitimacy, and also with an opposition that is barred from ruling but does have moral legitimacy. Were they to choose the lure of the status quo or the uncertain promise of change?

The United States made the right decision. President Ronald Reagan accurately perceived that Poland offered the fulcrum needed to move things forward from the so-called Yalta pattern of a divided Europe. The United States gave the Solidarity opposition the support it needed most moral support. By doing so the Reagan administration followed in the footsteps of President Jimmy Carter's administration, which had listened to the advice of its national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and strongly supported earlier dissident movements.

After December 13, 1981, Poland received a large wave of humanitarian help for its people, as well as financial and technical help directed to the opposition. Perhaps the most important actor in the fight for the future of Poland and Europe lived in the Vatican: Pope John Paul II, the Polish pope.

Eight years after the 1981 coup, Poland had the first democratically elected non-communist government in the eastern part of Europe. The winds of change from Poland were so strong that they soon brought down the Berlin Wall. Poland, which on December 13, 1981, was widely regarded as a hopeless case, had transformed itself into a success story. How did it achieve this? Mostly through its own efforts, but also with outside support, particularly from the United States.

According to the rules of retrospective determinism, today this all looks logical and unavoidable. But just as we usually ask what went wrong, here it is worth considering what went right.

Poland was ripe for change, of course. It had an elite that knew not only what it didn't want but also what it wanted. Most important, this elite was ready to take upon itself the responsibility for the state, not only for its successes but also for mistakes made during the process of reform.

American leaders at the time showed a particular sense of psychological and political intuition.

First, they perceived in what direction Poland was moving and chose to support those who would later prove to be the catalysts of political and social change.

Second, there was never a doubt that Solidarity was a movement developed from Polish tradition and experience, and that the Poles knew what was best for their country. The US respectfully accepted this.

Third, this was a great fight for hearts and minds. To win it, the United States opened its arms, in particular to the younger generations of Poles. Thousands of them scientists, artists, students then came to the United States. Some remained here, but many returned to Poland and used their American experiences to help deal with the growing pains of a newly democratic society.

Janusz Reiter is Poland's ambassador to the United States.