European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 2, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday september 2, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 13 commentary . Rosentha prison survivors waited in vain for Gorbachev Mikhail Gorbachev had a dozen chances since his release from House arrest to redeem himself in the minds of millions of men and women particularly important in the history and life of the soviet Union. Those three Days As a political prisoner were written on his face As he talked of the Shock of sudden Captivity the terror of his family the collapse of his wife. No Man could have faked the emotional Impact of those three Days. But few would have been so callous As to fail to utter the words that other political prisoners waited to hear. A they Are the millions of survivors of the soviet gulag they Are also the wives and children who themselves became prisoners a condemned to spend their lives praying that one Day one year the men would return or weeping for those who did not. For three Days while the world witnessed and fought for him Gorbachev a prison was his Home he was surrounded by his family and his Loyal guards. Nonetheless it was an ordeal. But political prisoners of the communist system through which Gorbachev Rose of Power were snatched from the streets or at night from their Homes. The world never knew. All Contact with families was Cut. They were kept for months in Kab interrogation cells. After closed trials for displaying opposition to the soviet system they were incarcerated not for three Days but for years often decades and not in Dachau but in mean Distant prisons of the urals and Siberia. Many of them spent years in isolation cells years. They did see their families a once or twice a year. Mikhail Kazachkova a political prisoner in the ural prison 1 visited was allowed to touch his Mother three times in 15 years. But not once in All his speeches and news conferences since his release did Mikhail Gorbachev say words the survivors were waiting to hear a now i understand what crimes this system committed now i understand How the terror that was the very basis of our National control bites into a prisoners soul How his family suffers. A although i did not know the fearful loneliness the hunger and the cold of those who fought the system under which i prospered i extend my gratitude to them. And although i cannot give Back the lost decades or raise the dead from prison Graves at least i now  four years into his Rule Gorbachev released political prisoners. For All liberating things he did Gorbachev deserves great Praise. But he could not speak words of contrition or understanding because even after his release he would not move against the interwoven communist party Kab system until he was forced to do so. The reason is a mystery Only to followers of Gorbachev blinded by self interest. Without the party Kab nothing would stand Between him and Public hatred of the system. So in Power he did not try to destroy Kab strength a its terror battalions its army of police interrogators and informers its officers in the armed forces factories universities press and embassies its workaday ties to the soviet judiciary prosecution and prisons. Only recently Gorbachev gave it authority to March into offices of those engaged in private Enterprise. Now he fires his Kab men who a a betrayed him. The truth is that the Only Kab men who a a betrayed their oaths and training were those who refused to carry out the orders of the very men Gorbachev had named to command them. When Kab chiefs go on trial will they be asked Only How they a a betrayed Gorbachev or will soviet citizens and foreign nations exert pressure that they also be asked what they know of the universe of political terror and imprisonment that the Kab directed a and who else in and out of the Kab also knew and took part through act or silence this is not a time to a a Reform the Kab nor to create a separate russian Kab under Boris Yeltsin a command As he has suggested. The Opportunity now is before Yeltsin and the soviet democratic movements to wipe out National police control altogether. A that would be Reward and tribute to All who have suffered for Freedom particularly the soviet political prisoners the men and women Gorbachev forgot to mention. C new York Timos Anthony Lewis fall of communism something to celebrate exulting in another a defeat has its dangers. Military triumphs have a Way of turning out hollow. Exultation leaves a bitter taste. But the disintegration of soviet communism is something else. Tyranny fell not to arms but to an idea. And it is our idea americans the West a. Whatever difficulties follow now a and they will be profound a we Are entitled to this moment of Celebration. James Madison put the idea in a sentence in 1798 a in this country the people not the government possess the absolute  europeans going Back to the Barons at Runnymede had challenged the limitless authority of the state. But it was americans in the Constitution and then the Bill of rights who first built a working system based on the idea of self government. Self government it must be added buttressed by guarantees of individual rights guarantees added to the american Constitution in 1791 in the Bill of rights. Their enforcement by judges has made All the difference in american Freedom. There Are ironies for americans in the Victory of democracy Over soviet communism. During the years of the cold War the United states often seemed to Lack Faith in the Power of its idea. Washington consistently undervalued the attraction to people elsewhere of the american system of constitutional government and individual rights. We relied on weapons to win what was essentially an ideological struggle. And in the third world we repeatedly embraced tyrants in the name of anti communism. Moreover we compromised our libertarian ideals at Home in order we were told to fight communism. We Traduce the first amendments Promise of free speech and association in order to stamp out anything that certain politicians said was tainted with communism. Mccarthyism has never looked More shameful or More self defeating than it does now. The America of fear and blacklists did not inspire soviet democrats. The America of Jefferson and Madison and the Bill of rights did. Most american presidents have seemed to feel constrained in talking about democracy and human rights abroad. Up to a Point that is understandable we have to Deal with some Nasty governments in the world As it is. But still it is possible to express our ideals. President Carter did so against the usual advice when he wrote to Andrei Sakharov in 1977. It was a moment of american Honor a and effectiveness when the plotters first struck president Bush at first avoided criticism of the coup. A a we la follow the events very carefully As they unfold a he said a in order to determine the appropriate  his National Security adviser Brent scowcroft called it a an internal development. Not something that we Are directly engaged  but by the end of the first Day Bush was calling for restoration of the constitutional order in the soviet Union. His forceful refusal to Deal with the leaders of the coup made a great difference in stiffening the Defiance of Boris Yeltsin and others. What puzzles Many is Why Bush does not do the same with China. His own explanations have been defensive and unconvincing it is True As he says that . Trade and diplomatic relations May help reformist elements in China. But that docs not exclude speaking honestly about the cruelties of the chinese regime. What is happening in the soviet Union now gives reason for some concern along with Celebration at the end of tyranny. The closing of pravda and the suspension of the communist party Are not consistent with the idea of an open society. Of course we understand the hate and fear Felt by soviet citizens for the party that oppressed them. We understand that in an unstable time repression looks like the Safe course. But it is in difficult times that a society must show its commitment to Freedom. When Madison spoke for democracy the new United states was gripped by fear of revolutionary France of plots. But when Jefferson became president in 1801, he said in his inaugural address a if there be any among us who wish to dissolve this Union or to change its Republican form let them stand undisturbed As monuments of the safety with which error of opinion May be tolerated where reason is left free to combat  Catho now York times