# Parallel societies in communist dictatorship - Describe what was life like in 1970s - Main difference between czechoslovakia and soviet union - Dictatorship - different from other modern dictatorships: it commands an incomparably more precise, logically structured, generally comprehensible and, in essence, extremely flexible ideology that, in its elaborateness and completeness, is almost a secularized religion. - Freedom of expression - Charter 77 - january 1977 - Until velvet revolution had 1900 signataries - Several means of retaliation were used against the signatories, including dismissal from work, denial of educational opportunities for their children, suspension of drivers' licenses, forced exile, loss of citizenship, and detention, trial, and imprisonment. Many members were forced to collaborate with the communist secret service. - Political limits to power in the form of laws and constitution was more of a propaganda than real guarantee - Political system was de facto "what is not allowed is forbidden" - Charter 77 moved this discussion from political to moral stance. The narrative of politics was highly controlled, but more people could make moral judgements - But - the moral stance was too abstract. - The abstractness of moral stance led to creation of a practical strategy - Several groups - Reformists - Radicals - Vaclav Benda considered this a naive approach, as it is always, when you try to infer politics from morality - Charter 77 was a document that tried to defend a parallel structure - "Second Culture" - Wage central planning - Are you a teacher? - What school? - Artists - Share per play if you were officially distributed - No income if you were not - Second culture - Parallel culture was already dominating - it was qualitatively better - If anyone wanted any kind of art that made sense - literature, music, visual arts - they had to get it from the "second culture" or parallel culture. The official happy songs and odes to the system were absolutely unbearable - Parallel Polis - It begins from Moral stance - Paralelni Polis is based on a particular moral opinion, which unites people - politics divides, morality unites those who are immorally oppressed - Turning moral stance into a positive program - Going into conflict with power is suicidal - Do not rely on the fact, that the power will listen to moral arguments - The plan was to create parallel societal structures and "humanize" them - This plan kind of united reformists and radicals - What were the parts of parallel polis - Benda viewed Parallel economy, based on black markets, but also on corruption the core of all functioning economic relations - Second culture - Was being used as a model for Parallel Polis and it was being developed - Parallel educational system - State security agents knew Benda's children by name, so he had no illusion about their options to be properly educated, he realized he needed to find a parallel solution for them - Full focus and maximalist program, it was the most important part to develop - Parallel information (communication) system - In the beginning of Charter 77 consisted of tens of thousands of people, then degraded - They also used foreign radio stations, but he is talking about direct communication - Spreading of texts and other dissent material is as important as creating them - Stop prioritizing "important" people with information, spread through where it reaches most people first - Create autonomous (decentralized) information hubs, especially outside of Prague and create connections among them - Documents, essays and other materials should be SUBJECTIVE and not try to look like diplomatic protocols - without content and without dissenting opinions - Parallel economy - Especially required because economic pressure was the first attack, on artists, but also on intellectuals - Yes, you studied mathematics, but you will now work as a miner - Parallel political structures - International relations - Some parallel structures need monetary help from abroad - Letting people from abroad know what happening is a very important step for letting domestic population know - because people listen to foreign radio stations, such as Voice of America (Hlas Ameriky) that do Czech and/or Slovak broadcasts - Cooperation of people inside the eastern bloc - Discussions about politics - Making sure that all local problems are known internationally might not always help, but it won't hurt - Broader parallel structures - It should include everything else that can be built in parallel - not thought about by Benda or original authors of Charter 77 - Otherwise we're not building Parallel Polis, but a ghetto - People should share the origin point (a moral stance), but not outer frontiers or limits of what should be done - When criticising political power, it is a good idea to propose parallel voluntary solution in the same critique - Can parallel societies function only in democracy / free world? - Similarities with other concepts - Minorities - Tong - Taz