Communism and the Human Person
November 6, 2004
Prime Minister Mart Laar (Estonia)

Mart Laar has served twice as Prime Minister of Estonia, including serving as his countrys first Prime Minister after the fall of Communism. Trained as an historian, Prime Minister Laar authored the book, War in the Woods, about Estonian resistance fighters which was published in 1992. Rising to political prominence immediately after the break up of the Soviet Union, he made great advances in transforming the Estonian economy from a centralized system to the free market.

Dr. Laar was one of the most dynamic speakers at the conference entitled Human Dignity and the Failure of Communism sponsored by EICEE. He was able to provide a magnificent witness to hundreds of youth assembled from 35 different nations. He attested to the fact that the Estonian population was decimated by communist terror, and that, nonetheless, the resistance struggled valiantly into the 1970s. Both before and after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Dr. Laar was an advocate of truth and justice, resisting all involvement with the communist system.

Dr. Laar testified to the power of human dignity to bring even a mighty totalitarian system to ruin. Totalitarian regimes work to erode, attack and enchain human dignity, for it poses a real threat to their existence. This power cannot be calculated in numbers of weapons, bombs, or soldiers, but in the power of reflection and of the human spirit.

I learned that the common will of people always plays a major role in the decision making process. Democratic society can only be created by the people governed and those we teach to think in a democratic way.
Merim Kasumovic, Professor, PhD Economics, University of Tuzla
Bosnia & Herzegovina