European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 01, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes . Rosenthal dissident martyrs silent heroes of soviet Reform it is time now to talk about men and women whose dreams and sufferings Are shaping great events but whose names and very lives arc hardly Ever mentioned. It is important not simply for their Sake or to Honor the memories of those of them who died in prison or in exile. It is essential to understanding the intellectual and  upheaval taking place in the soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Now is the time when americans and europeans arc hugging themselves with de Light Al the wonder of soviet citizens marching right up to the Rostrum last week and attacking soviet communists about their personal lives their political records even their right to Rule Over them. Mikhail Gorbachev was astonished. Give and take. Yes. Debate yes the would be Good for Gorbachev and his goals. But this this impertinence from ingrates was this the Reward for All he had done Gorbachev and his wife responded As they usually do. Moving Forward to meet the Challenge and turn it to their political advantage. They both have what american politicians pay advisers millions of dollars to Leach them. The politicians never get their Money s Worth because what the Gorba chess have can t be taught rhythm Fin Ger snapping political rhythm. By the time the meeting of the Congress of people s deputies was Over Gorbachev showed he had More than rhythm he had his political apparatus. Insurgents Giddy with dreams of the future found themselves staring at a bit of the past. The apparatus rolled Over them and they found themselves outside looking in without scats in the new legislature. Hut the insurgents and the world knew the apparatus would be challenged once More. They would shout and fight again to get in. So throughout the world due Honor is paid to them for their esl and  due Honor is paid to Gorbachev for having the Genius to understand that Only by making inc soviet system flexible enough to allow some Challenge even if he decides to put it Down could the soviet system be saved at All. Fine but have we no need for in names and the stories of the thousands of soviet citizens who dissented when now if there Are Nolet us continue,., dissent was rewarded not with Candida cies and appearances on television but with arrest and years in the cells of the political prisons their names and stories Are the great reality beneath everything we read and see about the Gorbachev Era. Their years of struggle and pain kept the Hope of Freedom alive in the soviet Union and thus were a gift to All the soviet people including Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev the dissident movement decade after decade prison after prison created vivid awareness of soviet communist tyranny without which Gorbachev a product of the system could never have moved for change. And even More important is this most of the dissidents in exile or at Home arc not satisfied not grateful. They continue to struggle and will until Freedom is full. Some of them were in the Hall last week mostly Unno Ted by the world Lizul Many others were in their apart ments planning together or working on newsletters about repressions still taking place new Legal provisions still threaten ing prison political prisoners still in freed reforms still pressing. Others were in exile. But each took with him a fundamental achievement in the Battle for human rights in the soviet Union in which they Are still participants. Vladimir Bukovsky focused attention on psychiatric tortures. Aleksandr Ginz Burg helped found the underground press. Natan Sharansky linked jewish Emi Gration to human rights till Madisson fought for the estonian Independence movement now surging. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn taught the world what gulag meant. Each name stands for thousands. Even More died fighting. The writer Anatoly Marchnko died in prison Dur ing the Gorbachev Era. Petro Grigorenko was a general of the red army and of human rights. He died in exile. Each name stands for thousands. On my desk is a Loose Leaf Book of names of people still struggling in the soviet Union some of them still imprisoned. Every worthwhile human rights group has such lists longer. Their achievements and those of the exiles and the fighters who died have helped bring changes that enrich the world. But they arc not a part of the past heroes in a struggle now to be memorialized. They Are All part of the pre sent. They arc part of that sudden exhilarating political uprising in the Kremlin meeting Hall and of the next one. Now of h Utmos Jim Fain making punishment fit crime on expensive Deol the John Mack Case combined a Barbaric crime with celebrity and political melodrama two of Washington s hypnotic fascinations. It bruised a feminist nerve on the subject of male brutality to women and a male dominated society s reluctance to face the Issue. It rekindled debate about the civics of dredging up old news stories. Mainly it lit White heat under the ancient dilemma of How to fit punishment to crime. For any who missed the details. Mack resigned As chief aids to speaker of the House Jim Wright after the Washington Post published an interview with a woman he had bludgeoned stabbed repeatedly slashed and left for dead 16 years ago. He served 27 months of a 15-year sentence and was paroled after Wright to whom he was related by marriage hired him As file clerk. He married had children and worked his Way to Congress lop staff Job. His Story was no secret. It was published two years ago in Texas and distributed nationally. Even so it became a Bombshell because of the Wright ethics probe. As radio talk shows picked it up anger swept the nation. Partly the feminist Issue fuelled the outrage though Mack had got off no easier because he was a Man and his victim a woman. Partly it was the pain so palpable in his victim s account. He had made no gesture of alone mint claim ing he feared she might have resented any Contact. Sadly the criminal Justice system makes Little provi Sion for restitution either by the transgressor when As in Mack s Case he is Able or by society in general. Bui the primary outrage was resentment that the system had not inflicted adequate suffering on him for so heinous an act. In this sense it reflected a National belief that the purpose of Legal punishment is vengeance. Sometimes we say we also expect it to protect society but there is evidence harsh sentences do not further that goal. On the contrary prisons offer Post graduate curriculum in crime. Most prisoners when freed commit worse crimes. If Protection were the . Mack would be a Success Story. He had become a useful citizen threatening no one. The outcry that forced him to flee showed How Little society values rehabilitation. The Issue was not whether he would sin again but whether he had suffered enough. He served roughly the same time As others convicted of comparable crimes. Jails everywhere arc Over crowded and voters arc unwilling to pay for More. It costs $30,000 to $40,000 a year to warehouse a prisoner. Only some 10 percent of current crimes result in arrests. Should we succeed in catching More criminals costs would soar. More and longer prison sentences As advocated by president Bush and others might make us feel better but would be ruinous by expensive forcing tax hikes in All slates and curb few crimes. The sensible course would be to let god sort out vengeance and use the criminal Justice by slim to protect society in the most Cost effective Way. Corrections experts have urged for years that we make More use of scientifically selected probation and parole. Public emotions make that impossible and doom us to continue inc current crime and punish Cal Circle. We pay a High Price for vengeance but not enough to afford it. Jails Are uniformly understaffed and overflowing. History shows Well go on working ourselves into lather about publicized horrors and doing nothing to attack the real problem. Revenge is Sweet and hideously expensive. Cox news service