Archive: History | Communism Communism
“Biggest of all is human freedom”: Jaroslav Hutka and the Velvet Revolution
Last week we heard how a song, Marta Kubišová’s “A Prayer for
Marta”, came to symbolize the period of the Velvet Revolution. But there
were other songs and singers who also captured the spirit of the time. One
of them was Jaroslav Hutka. After signing Charter 77, he had been bullied
into exile in 1978, and all his songs and recordings banned. As soon as the
revolution of November 1989 began, he came back home, and in one of the
most moving moments of the period, he appeared at the vast demonstration
held on Prague’s Letná Plain on November 25. More
A song becomes the symbol of the revolution
In last week’s From the Archives, we heard how Czechoslovak Radio
reported on the student demonstration that sparked the Velvet Revolution on
November 17 1989. Initially the radio toed the official line, defending the
violent police clampdown, but gradually the spirit of revolution spread
through the corridors of our headquarters here in Vinohradská Street.
Every day Wenceslas Square filled with tens of thousands of people, as it
became increasingly clear that the communists’ hold on power was
weakening. More
The revolution begins
November 17 1989 did not begin dramatically. It was the fiftieth
anniversary of the execution of nine Prague students who had led protests
in 1939 against the German occupation. Various officially sanctioned
commemorations were taking place and the centre of Prague was filled with
students. More
The US failed to counter communist threat in post-war Prague, says historian Igor Lukeš in his new book
Immediately after the end of the Second World War, Czechoslovakia became a
testing ground in the contest between democracy and communist one-party
rule. In Prague, the United States was hoping to challenge Stalin’s aim
of including the country within the Soviet empire by supporting Czech and
Slovak democrats in their uneven struggle against the communists. In his
new book entitled On the Edge of Cold War – American Diplomats and Spies
in Post-war Prague, Boston University professor of history Igor Lukeš
explores the US efforts to counter the communist offensive in
Czechoslovakia, and arrives at the conclusion that the half-hearted and
even amateurish attempts by US diplomats in Prague were doomed to fail. More
The East German refugees in Prague
For a few weeks in the late summer of 1989, Prague became the scene of a
bizarre – and now largely forgotten - refugee crisis. It had all begun in
the spring, when Hungary had declared its decision to take down the barbed
wire on its borders with Austria. A growing number of East Germans,
desperate at the suffocating lack of reform in their country, took
advantage of this new gap in the Iron Curtain as a way of fleeing to the
West. But smuggling themselves into Austria was an uncertain business, and
before long, they started seeking refuge at the West German embassy in
Budapest - and then in Prague. It was much closer to home than Hungary and
easier to get to, as East German citizens did not need a visa. More
The different worlds of Husák and Havel
If you tune in to Czech Radio on New Year’s Day, at some point you will
hear the stirring tones of the presidential fanfare, introducing the
president’s annual address to the nation. It was Czechoslovakia’s first
head of state, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, who established the tradition,
when he spoke to listeners on the Czechoslovakia’s tenth birthday in
1928. Here is a short extract from his address, which also happens to be
one the oldest recordings in our archives: More
Jiřina Šiklová - from sociologist to dissident smuggler to pre-emancipated feminist
My guest today is Jiřina Šiklová, a noted sociologist and author. Born
in 1935 in Prague, Šiklová studied history and philosophy at Charles
University. As a member of the Czech Communist Party, she became a key
voice in the reform efforts that culminated in the Prague Spring. She left
the party after the Soviet invasion of August 1968, severely limited in her
official career opportunities as a result. As a dissident, she often
published under an assumed name, and assisted in the smuggling of
literature both to and from the country, for which she was ultimately
briefly imprisoned in 1981. Today, she continues in her work as a
sociologist, giving university lectures and writing books and articles and
often having heated debates with the powers-that-be. Jiřina Šiklová,
welcome to the studio. More
Jakeš stands alone like a fencepost
The expression “jako kůl v plotě” – “like a fencepost” -
entered Czech folklore in the summer of 1989. The date was July 17 and
Czechoslovakia’s Communist Party chief Miloš Jakeš was meeting local
party activists in the small West Bohemian town of Červený Hrádek. The
authority of the party was being increasingly challenged, and thousands had
signed Charter 77's appeal for democratic reform, "Několik vět"
(a few sentences). Not realizing that he was being recorded, Jakeš
complained bitterly that he felt he was standing on his own and unsupported
“like a fencepost”. Soon the recording had circulated around the
country and abroad, and Jakeš, who was already famous for his malapropisms
– he once mixed up the words “boiler” and “broiler” - found his
authority shaken still more. More
December 1988: Mitterrand meets dissidents in Prague
In the second half of the 1980s the sweeping reforms in the Soviet Union
were being echoed in several of the country’s Eastern Bloc satellites.
But in Czechoslovakia there were few signs of change, despite growing
diplomatic pressure from abroad. A key moment came in December 1988, when
President Francois Mitterrand made the first ever official trip to
Czechoslovakia by a French head of state. This was part of a broader
attempt to improve dialogue with communist countries, but Mitterrand also
came with clear human rights agenda. Just before his trip he was
interviewed by Czechoslovak Radio: More
Perestroika passes Czechoslovakia by
When Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union, it heralded a
revolution in Soviet-American relations. At a series of high-profile
summits, beginning in Geneva in 1985, a growing personal trust developed
between the Soviet and American leaders. Here is President Reagan – from
the Czech Radio archives - in Moscow on June 1 1988: More
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