The purpose of this speech was to examine the past, present, and future of the world situations emerging from post world war II sentiment to the current demand for peace and later globalization of the world. Speaker Lech Wałęsa former president of Poland touched on challenges Europe and the world faced, marked by totalitarianism ideology; along with the state of democracy and rise of capitalist economies in the post- war era.
The talk initiated with a famous quote from Winston Churchill’s 1946, famous speech The Sinews of Peace, which he alleged:
From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in some cases, increasing measure of control from — from Moscow (Mark A. Kishlansky, ed., Sources of World History).
Churchill highlights the global controversy, politic, ideological, and physical division of Europe in two separate spheres democracy and communism. On the east side countries were connected by the influence of the Soviet Union. On the other side of the “iron curtain”, states developed their own “international economic and military alliances” the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Pact were established. Figure 1, shows the boundaries the iron curtain held.
Lech Wałęsa like Winston Churchill brought a message for the people and government of America, he proposes a plan to America, and wants to increase awareness of the past and the era that society is currently in. Both of Wałęsa and Churchill’s speech are informative, structured topically, and chronologically. They address give recognition to the institution, they are speaking at and formally start talking about the President for being there.
Winston Churchill, thanks President Truman for offering his time to listen and Lech Wałęsa, acknowledges the FIU president Dr. Mark B. Rosenberg for letting him give the speech. They both agree upon the fact that in order to succeed in an effort to promote democracy, they must follow some sort of criteria, which they hope the U.S and their country follows. The three-step method plan Churchill and Wałęsa established includes the attainment of the United Nations, the proclamation of freedom, and the fraternal association of the English-speaking peoples. Wałęsa speaks of a lack of common foundation, the achievement of peace worldwide, and common interests.
Churchill believed that both countries would profit in several ways. “The sharing of military advice, the exchange of officers and cadets, and the joint use of naval and air bases” were some of the benefits he mentioned in his speech. His use of the word “fraternal” in The Sinews of Peace implies that common defense interests and cultural ties made mutual assistance possible. Lech Wałęsa’s solution involved the establishment of a nation-liberating movement called “solidarity”, this was the first independent self-governing trade union in the Warsaw Pact country in 1980. This union created the first non-communist government.
Solidarity fought for increased wages, it gave a rise to economic and social reform plans, and improved working conditions. The economic plans included renowned economist and the social plans included education and increasing the development of the industry. This movement also fought for freedom of speech. In the Eastern bloc activists and followers of Lech Wałęsa and solidarity called on workers to stand up for their rights. As a result, the KGB or the (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti) foreign intelligence and domestic security agency of the Soviet Union. In the U.S it would be the FBI. The KGB intensified disputes in the Baltic States, Ukraine, and Belarus when the workers rose to conflict for their rights.
Wałęnsa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 for the non-violence struggle for peace. He later became the first democratically elected president of Poland on 1990 and his presidency lasted until 1995. Today, the assertive powers of Russia’s foreign policy, is seen in the recent invasion of the Ukraine, the Crimean annexation, and military intervention in the Syrian Civil War against militant groups of the Islamic State.
The European Union is still healing from the economic upheavals and the transcendent need for people and for the freedom of their country is still increasingly relevant today. Europe has been a colonizer of territories, it has advanced in the development of capitalism over the years, and it has revived from the two massive wars in the twentieth century. Lech Wałęsa briefly talks about the Wars, problems, and reactions to the wars in his speech. He reviews the European Union’s role in uniting most of the countries to the West, South, North, and Central Europe. The European Union faces a challenge, countries like Greece that have a less developed system and industry face economic issues and can’t pay off their national debt. This brings Greece closer to bankruptcy. The International Monetary Fund, the European Commission, as well as the European Central Bank issued loans to Greece, but this did not help Greece pay up the debt as a result of the rising unemployment and downward economy.
Europe in the end of World War II, it was divided into many different countries that were small but rich and each of those countries dealt with its own issues. They had their beliefs and their own solutions, all of this was contained within the borders of those countries. The countries of Western Europe and many in Southern Europe along with West Germany, Switzerland, and Austria were under the political influence of the Soviet Union and operated market economies. These countries became an independent democracy. In Figure 3, the power of the Soviet Union in Europe is evident in this image. Yugoslavia and Albania were the only two countries that escaped Soviet influence and aligned itself with China. These countries were ruled by capitalist democracies with the exception of Spain and Portugal which had a period of fascism. Most of the states that were west of the iron curtain were allied with the United States and within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The European Community and the European Free Trade Organization were the organizations of Western Europe like the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance was for the East side of Europe.
Russia’s control of of East and Central Europe made countries like Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, and Poland solidify into a Soviet bloc. The soviet bloc was an ideology of resistance towards the communist inspired economic model “central planning”. Central planning is socialist form of the government having full ownership of the trades prices and outputs.
Supranationalism is when three or more independent states come together to generate some measure of sovereignty for mutual benefit. The Benelux Agreement of 1944 showed European supranationalism, the problem this ideology faced was that each country had their own language, traffic laws, legal system, and their own currency. The European Union decided to establish the euro as the standard currency.
Democracy was a reappearing concept in Wałęsa’s speech, he started with the arguments of Democracy. A successful democratic society is surrounded by a multifaceted system of political, legal, economic, and social institutions. Lech Wałęsa argued, that when these institutions do not exist or fail to work, some other institution must be established to begin developing. The key to establishing a successful democratic development is to increase its supply of leaders who have a good reputation for public necessities and not just to give patronage jobs to their supporters. Interactions between local and national politics can strengthen a democracy by providing a ladder for democratic advancement that effective leaders can climb from. Politicians are elected for too many terms, the lower entry levels into the elections, and there is no transparency in finances.
There are three elements that create democracy according to Lech Wałęsa
1. The Laws and the Constitution.
2. People’s participation in the elections.
3. The amount of money the person has.
According to those divisions democracy can’t grow. People are afraid to lose their jobs, so they are not fighting for their rights. People don’t participate in the elections and poor people don’t look towards democracy. Less than 50% of True Democracy. Public pressure guided European governments to become welfare states. This type of government was responsible for the benefit of their people. Movements on education, health plan, employment, affordable food, and the wages.
The European Union began in 1951 the purpose of this Union was to end the frequent discrepancies and confrontations between neighbors, that increased in the Second World War. Economically and politically the European Union united in 1950, the Coal and Steel community. This was a successful attempt that united France, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Italy, and the Netherlands. The Treaty of Rome led to the European Economic Community or common market. Afterwards, people, goods, and services could move freely across borders.
Different organizations and agreements were created post World War II. The World Trade Organization created in 1995 dealt with free trade, reducing trade barriers, and any negotiate any disputes dealing with trades. Another organization established the International Monetary Fund kept currency exchange rates stable and helps developing countries restructure their economies. NAFTA the North American Free Trade Agreement called for the Mexico, the U.S, and Canada to lower and eliminate trade barriers. Some of the agreements are still standing in Figure 2.15, the NAFTA and the European Union as well as other agreements show the interconnected of our world.
Although World War I, World War II, and the Cold War divided Europe during the twentieth century, the European Union rose as a unifying force for the European people. The Benelux Agreement, the Marshall Plan, and the Treaty of Rome all helped Europe countries to unite. Supranationalism provided the European countries with the ability to compete economically in the global market. Difficulties in people’s cultural and historical differences have created economical and political challenges. The European Union exemplifies a core economic region global wise.
The modern era of globalization began during the Cold War, just after World War II. When world leaders acted on their beliefs of interdependence, their necessity for peace, and their idea that breaking down barriers to international trade would spread prosperity. In a 1944 Conference representatives of 44 nations laid the foundations for the International Monetary Fund and what would later become the World Bank. More and more countries moved towards free-market economies and lowering barriers to trade. National economies have now become so interconnected that if there is a problem in one country, it can affect the rest of the world. The speech by Lech Wałęsa touched upon every topic mentioned in this essay.
Figure: 1
Figure: 2.15Figure: 3
Works Cited
"Winston Churchill "Iron Curtain"" The History Place, Part of the Great Speeches Collection. Philip Gavin. Web. 2 Mar. 2016. <http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/ironcurtain.htm.>.
"Iron Curtain." American History USA. Web. 2 Mar. 2016. <https://www.americanhistoryusa.com/topic/iron-curtain/>.
"Winston Churchill's "Sinews of Peace" Speech Winston Churchill Winston Churchill Westminster College, Fulton, MO March 5, 1946." AuthenticHistory.com on the Origins of The Cold War: 1946-1950. Web. 2 Mar. 2016. <http://www.authentichistory.com/1946-1960/1-cworigins/19460305_Winston_Churchill-The_Sinews_of_Peace.html>.