PREMYSL DVORAK
597
in his calm, unassuming way replied: .. Someone had to be here who will
say no.
Jiri Muller was only twenty-five then, but he thought and acted in a way
that we appreciate more and more as time goes on. He was convicted in July,
1972, for' 'subversion of the republic" and sentenced to five-and-a-half years
imprisonment. By "subversion" the prosecutor and the judge meant the dis–
tribution of thousands of leaflets explaining to citizens their constitutional
right not to vote for the government 's candidates and the distribution of
clandestinely produced information broadsheets and some literature smug–
gled from abroad . He was also alleged to have handled the most dangerous
weapon of all-a duplicator.
When Soviet troops with the aid of the armies of the five so-called allied
states occupied Czechoslovakia, the very existence of our country appeared to
be threatened. Today this danger seems to have passed. Today it is simply our
soul, our culture, and our honor which are at stake. The fundamental issue is a
moral issue , a question of conscience; Jiri's fate and attitude embody the
answer to this question . His response, his ethical standpoint, is of inestimable
value and is sharply focused against the prevailing social pressure, humilia–
tion , and injustice .
The Prague Spring of 1968 represented political liberalization "from
above " matched by an awakening of the population's desire for a free,
humane , democratic, and socially just society. For twenty years this longing
had been suppressed; when the chance came, it burst forth in a spontaneous
cathartic wave.
This brief season of freedom gave us insight into ourselves and moral
strength . Citizens thus armed are not easily dictated to. The leaders who were
installed by the occupying power, and who are now trying to rule us, are com–
pelled to govern by force; they have to break us morally. Their system of
reward and punishment is back to front: immoral behavior is rewarded ,
loyalty to conscience is punished- and so is mere silence .
The system works like this: rewards are given for demonstrating loyalty
to the regime, for dissociating oneself from protestors, or alleged protestors ,
for criticizing one 's previous attitudes-that is, publicly recanting one 's con–
victions-for joining the Communist Party, the Youth Union, or the Society
of Friends of the Soviet Union. One would like to say that punishments are
given for the opposite : for protesting in public, for joining the opposition
party ; but can one do anything like that in Czechoslovakia? Not only have we
no opposition party , we have no organization at all with the status of a politi–
cal party. And how can one mount a public protest? No protest would get
through
to
the newspapers . One could make an outcry to a few dozen people
in the street or at a meeting , but that would be the end of it, and the end of
