Speech of the Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek on the Occasion of the 60th Anniversary of February Events 1948 given on 25th February 2008

Sixty years have passed today since a shade descended on this country again; the shade of captivity. And here, in this square, in this palace, on this balcony is the right place to ask together with you. What was communism like? The answer sounds frosty and clearly. Communism was a history of a single great lie; lie from the very beginning to the end. It was not the balcony of the Kinski's Palace, on which Gottwald said those famous words: "I have just come from the castle ...". And it was not on 25th February when the communist storm troops crowded the Old Town Square. That was just the communist propaganda itself which began to falsify history. Communist always lied about their real intentions. They always told lies about their opponents. They always told lies about results of their governance. They were lying before February 1948, they were lying after February 1948 and they are lying nowadays, as well. Communists lied so consistently that one could not make a choice between the truth and the lie. One could just choose just between various forms and degrees of the lie. Communists did not only retouch opponents from photographs, but they also changed their Orwell-like dictionary. In the official communist newspeak there were not terms, which could express the truth. A culmination of such an art was the Marx´s statement: "Freedom is recognized necessity".

Through such a language falsification, communists stole our basic value: freedom. But that lie, unfortunately, was performing well. It offered comfortable and merciful reasoning of our own failures – communism was not our fault, it was a historical given fact. Communist lied to us. But do not let us lie to us ourselves. Communist could have been averted even in February 1948. But democratic politician failed. Some of them betrayed. Some of them were not far-sighted enough, other were cowardly. Mene, mene, tekel upharsin (It has been counted and counted weighed and divided).

It could have turned out quite differently. If so many people had not been betraying before February 1948, if democrats had not been so arguing if the general public had not allowed to be lead by the nose, if, if, if ... Bertrand Russell was right when he said that "history is an aggregate of events which could have been averted". This failure opened door to new lies. When communists said peace, they meant war. When they said right to work, they meant duty to work. When they said democracy, they meant hard centralism. Classless society was a society of castes; and what about elections? They fully complied with the Marx's imperative on the recognized necessity and according to a classic statement: even a trained dingo dog could manage them. The most horrid communistic lies concerned their victims. People who were murdered, tormented, and preyed on, were presented as murders, ruffians, and thefts. Finally, the proverb "lies have short leg" is applicable to communistic manipulations. The Empire of Evil suffered defeat, people began to learn the truth and we evoke memories of heroes´ life stories, while nothing rest from the mendacious fame of totalitarian rules. Heroes were sometime nameless, some of them have their names – and let us hope that also in schoolbooks. Some of them have also their faces of people who are still alive – still fighting prisoners of conscious, and victims of the communistic despotism. You need not believe politician, believe them! They are standing here with us. They have never been defeated by those lies, and they have never surrendered. Communistic lies were deadly. Let us to have it in our minds now when we enjoy freedom and democracy and when we think that there is no problem with some lies. However, thus we are sweeping the path to a new potential totality; totality which need not have a clearly defined colour. Some of us want to shut mouths those who have different opinions. They want to command the wind and the rain and the climate again. They want again to save the world, they want to do good and thus carry out their great dream of equality of all, always and everywhere. Millions of graves all over the world and wrinkled faces of eyewitnesses should warn them. I began with words that communism is one great lie. Yes, it became such a great and monstrous lie that words of our President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk were absolutely fulfilled: "Lie is a kind of violence". Do not let us allow such a violence to return and to seize our minds and hearts! This is my and your common responsibility. Thank you.