Bread and Liberty > IDEAS & IDEALS

• 목록
• 게시판 리스트 옵션
  • 검색

 In the recent development of the situation in the Soviet Union unfavorable to Mr. Mikhail Gorvachev, we see a classic case of history in which a political leader, with enlightened ideas and ideals, inevitably fail before the stark realities. When he came to power six years ago and initiated some reforms towards freedom and human rights, he was welcomed as a harbinger of spring in that frozen country and loved by all the freedom-loving people at home and abroad. He was indeed a rare case in history, but history also has shown us that such popular leaders or heroes had rarely succeeded. Champions of people's liberty have so often ended up in some sort of martyrs.

     Although touted and lionized so much in the west, it was soon reported that he had become least popular figure at home. He allowed his people to speak out freely what they wanted to say, for the first time in Russian history, and he became the butt of criticism for what he had done and given to them. Instead of thanks or praises, grievances and discontents fell upon him. In short, he was betrayed by his people he loved so much.
To the amazement of all the good-wishers for Mr. Gorvachev and his Soviet Union, we came to realize, with some horror, that the once great Soviet Union, for all those mighty nuclear arsenals and the most elegant Bolshoi ballet, is a poor country short of not only liberty but also of bread. As long as he could not fill the empty stomach of his people, his ambitious plan was doomed from the start. For the hungry people liberty is a luxury that can be dispensed with. Bread comes before liberty.

     Despite innumerable things to be desired, worried about and even ashamed of, I thank God that we came to live in a time when we can have bread and liberty at the same time. We see, hear and read every day that prices are up, stock-market down, trade deficit widening, corruption everywhere, crimes rampant, and pollution of water and air getting worse. It seems there is nothing cheering and heartening us. But, there is, indeed, something to be acknowledged, cherished, savored, and even be proud of. No one in this country is starving to death now, and no generals of the army will take over the government overnight any more, as some did in the past. The two things are small but a solid achievement that we have achieved since our history began.

     For most of the civilized and advanced countries on the face of the earth today, these two factors are so natural, so familiar and so deeply ingrained into their life that there is no reason for them to be particularly thankful for or enthusiastic about these two basic requirements. But there is enough reason for us, who have achieved them so recently through so much sweat, pain and agony. We have shed much blood and sacrificed so many lives. Being engulfed by the mounting problems surrounding us, we have already lost sight of what we have achieved at so dear a price. If we overlook, underestimate or even forget that, it is a real problem.

     Once we were all abject subjects before the almighty king of hunger. There was a time when filling our empty stomach was all that must be done by anyone and by any means. From time to time I look back to the time with shame, and sometimes with tears, when I lost my honesty, face and dignity before food. As far as I remember, adults were not great exceptions. No one can deny that hunger is one of the worst evils to be eliminated, and we are much relieved and happy that we have at last done away with it. I can dare say that if there be any one still starving in this country, there must be something wrong with the man himself or the people around him.

     By the time we were liberated from the bound of hunger, we found ourselves shackled by the chain of tyranny. The joy and contentmennt of the full stomach was offset by the groans and outcries for freedom. The demand for freedom, the political freedom to be exact, was no less violent and ardent than the demand for bread had been. We knew people could die of hunger, but we did not know that we could die of hunger for freedom. Disappearance of hunger brought the hunger for freedom. Civil government and rule of law were all we wanted to have and even to die for. Human history can be summed up, in a way, as an incessant and bloody striving and struggle of people to be free from hunger and tyranny.

     After so many long years of effort, pain, suffering and sacrifice, we have at last become free, free from hunger and tyranny, the two most detestable evils in human life. The quantity and quality of our achievement can not be compared to that of the United States, Britain, Germany, France of Japan, but it is by no means a small one compared with many other countries on the globe.

     I am so sad that we didn't stop even for a moment to celebrate this monumental success. We have been again thrown into the chaos of desire, anger, discontent and forgetfulness. What we have done is taken for granted, and we have become obsessed by the new problems confronting us. Nothing is wrong with our preoccupation with these pressing problems. We ought to do something about them. But, what is also needed is that these problems or evils should never blur or obscure what we have achieved. Bread and liberty are the two most essential as well as fundamental factors required for the civilized structure of an advanced nation. Absence of the one makes the other impossible and meaningless.

     I feel greatly sorry for Mr. Gorvachev and for his people who cannot have bread and liberty at the same time. They came to have a good leader for one, but very unfortunately he could not give the other to them so quickly. He will be remembered in history as the man who slew the giant, the aging and ailing dinosaur of the Soviet Empire, quietly and peacefully. There will be born many new species of nations, smaller but more agile, and adaptable to the struggle for more bread and liberty.
                (November 16, 1989)