Anatomy of the End of Charter 77 (1990–1992): Between Politics, Morality, Business and Coming to Terms with the Past
Anatomy of the End of Charter 77 (1990–1992): Between Politics, Morality, Business and Coming to Terms with the Past

Summary/Abstract: The public appearance of Charter 77 (Charta 77) as the most significant independent civic initiative in communist Czechoslovakia in January 1977 represents a pivotal moment in the heroicizing narrative of the struggle for freedom and democracy in the Czech lands. However, its activities after the fall of the old regime receded under democratic conditions into the background and were overshadowed by the dynamic events of that era. Nevertheless, a considerable proportion of the post-1989 political and cultural elite originated from the Charter milieu, and a number of Charter activists in prominent positions played a significant role in shaping the country’s circumstances, most notably Václav Havel as Czechoslovak and subsequently Czech president. In his study, Jiří Suk presents a systematic account of the final three years of Charter 77’s existence (1990–1992), a period characterized by the struggle to redefine the purpose of its activities and an internal division within the pluralistic community, which had previously drawn its cohesion from solidarity in resisting autocratic government and ideology. In the author’s view, following the Velvet Revolution, the Charter served as both a catalyst for political and social change and a symbol of the dissidents’ seemingly Don Quixote-like efforts and their ultimate satisfaction. The crucial dilemmas for the Chartists arose, on the one hand, from the tension between politics and morality – which can be understood as the conflict between active involvement in the activities of nascent political movements and parties and the tendency to occupy the position of a sovereign moral arbiter over politics – and, on the other hand, from internal divisions within the soon-to-be polarized political scene. The author traces the ways in which, alongside the disappearance of liberal, conservative and radical tendencies among the members of the Charter 77 movement, the relationship to anti-communism and the process of coming to terms with the communist past (including disputes over the lustration law and the publication of lists of State Security (Státní bezpečnost) collaborators) became a significant point of contention. He pays particular attention to the conflicts associated with the Charter 77 Foundation (Nadace Charty 77), which was established in exile by the nuclear physicist František Janouch (1931–2024). Following the events of 1989, the Hungarian-American financier George Soros became a significant financial contributor to the Foundation, thus supporting his Central European business and philanthropic interests. The Soros-linked project to privatize the Foundation, however, was opposed by some Chartists, who perceived it as an attempt to capitalize on the Charter’s “brand”. In conclusion, the author demonstrates how this divergence of opinion was reflected in the discussions at the meetings of the Charter’s signatories, and how it translated into different ideas about its future role and activities. The inability to achieve a consensus resulted in a non-consensual decision to terminate the Charter in the autumn of 1992.

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