Charter 77, its struggle, problems and accomplishments

Abstract

The thesis describes the struggles, problems and accomplishments of Charter 77 since its founding in 1977 until its final days in 1992. The main premise is that Charter 77 was a coalition of different individuals with different political beliefs. The main focus is on Charter 77 signatories' interactions and the problems that arose from their multi-political orientations. The thesis outlines the reasons for Charter 77's anti-political policy and dialogue approach when dealing with the Czechoslovak Communist Government. Furthermore, it deals with Charter 77 during the Velvet Revolution and its involvement in the Civic Forum. In the end the thesis discusses the reasons why Charter 77 is not active in the post-Communist Czech Republic. The research and conclusions are mostly based on interviews with Charter 77 signatories. The interviews were conducted by the author, Richard Pesik, during his visit of the Czech Republic in 1996. In addition, some information is based on questionnaires designed and distributed by the author to the Charter 77 signatories and printed materials collected during his visit. The thesis confirms that there were some problems among Charter 77 signatories during the decision making process due to their political orientations. There were disagreements among some ex-Communist signatories and the non-Communist signatories. The ex-Communists' presence in Charter 77 became a source for attacks against Charter 77 after the Communist downfall. The establishment of political pluralism was the main reason why Charter 77 could not survive in the present Czech Republic.