The Declaration of the Civic Forum by Representative Vaclav Havel on Wenceslas Square
Annotation
Anti-state demonstrations have traditionally taken place in the heart of Prague on Wenceslas Square. After the November 17 police crackdown, it was no accident that the Square became the central point for people to get information, meet others and, from November 21 on, to attend the daily "meetings" when opposition groups addressed citizens from the balcony of the Melantrich publishing house. At the third such "meeting" on November 23, over 300,000 people listened as Civic Forum leader Vaclav Havel presented this declaration on the movement's current program. The text contains familiar statements: support for the November 27 general strike, calls for non-violence, and claims to represent the whole society. There are also new elements, in particular the assertion that the Forum had obtained the necessary resources to be a credible negotiating partner with the regime. This referred to the previous day's announcement by economists at the state-sponsored Prognostic Institute, which indicated their willingness to join Civic Forum and create an economic program to replace state socialism. The declaration thus portrayed Civic Forum to the crowds as increasingly capable of representing their interests against the communist state and demonstrated the movement's growing confidence as the legitimate leader of the popular uprisings.
Text
The Declaration of Civic Forum Representative Vaclav Havel on Wenceslas Square,
Prague, 23 November 1989, 4 p.m.
The Declaration of The Civic Forum
After twenty years Czechoslovakia once again finds itself at a historical
intersection thanks to the people’s movement, to which all generations and segments of
the population and the majority of the still existing social organizations are quickly
adding themselves. This movement is a movement of both of our nations. Its mouthpiece
has spontaneously become the Civic Forum, which today is the real representative of the
will of the people. Its natural component has become the well-organized student
movement, which, through its protest demonstration, gave us the impulse for dramatic
social movement. Within it work all the current independent initiatives, artistic unions
headed by the theater—the first to be in solidarity with the students—and the renewed
currents in the National Front, including many former and current members of the CPCz.
The Catholic Church supported the Civic Forum through the words of the cardinal, and
other churches in Czechoslovakia. Anyone who agrees with its demands is joining, and
may join, the Civic Forum.
The Civic Forum is prepared to secure a dialogue between the public and the
present leadership immediately and has at its disposal qualified forces [from] all areas of
society, capable of carrying out a free and objective dialogue about real paths toward a
change in the political and economic conditions in our country.
The situation is open now, there are many opportunities before us, and we have
only two certainties.
The first is the certainty that there is no return to the previous totalitarian system
of government, which led our country to the brink of an absolute spiritual, moral,
political, economic and ecological crisis.
Our second certainty is that we want to live in a free, democratic and prosperous
Czechoslovakia, which must return to Europe, and that we will never abandon this ideal,
no matter what transpires in these next few days.
The Civic Forum calls on all citizens of Czechoslovakia to support its
fundamental demands by the demonstration of a general strike declared for Monday, 27
November 1989, at noon. Whether our country sets out in a peaceful way on the road to a
democratic social order, or whether an isolated group of Stalinists, who want at any price
to preserve their power and their privileges disguised as empty phrases about
reconstruction will conquer, may depend upon the success of this strike.
We challenge the leadership of this country to grasp the gravity of this situation,
rid themselves of compromised individuals and prevent all eventual efforts for a violent
revolution.
We call on all the members of the ruling party to join the citizenry and respect its
will.
We challenge all the members of the People’s Militias to not come out violently
against their comrade workers and thus spit upon all the traditions of worker solidarity.
We challenge all the members of the Police to realize that they are first and
foremost human beings and citizens of this country and only second subordinate to their
superiors.
We challenge the Czechoslovak People’s Army to stand on the side of the people
and, if necessary, to come out in its defense for the first time.
We call on the public and the governments of all countries to realize that our
homeland is from time immemorial the place where European and world confrontations
have begun and ended, and that in our country it is not only its fate which is at stake, but
the future of all of Europe. We therefore demand that they support in every way the
people’s movement and the Civic Forum.
We are opponents of violence; we do not want revenge; we want to live as
dignified and free people, who have the right to speak for the fate of their homeland and
who also think of future generations.
The Civic Forum
23 November 1989
[Source:USD AV CR, KC OF Archive, file Dokumenty OF—copy of the computer print. Translated by Caroline Kovtun.]
Credits
Vaclav Havel, "The Declaration of the Civic Forum," speech, Wenceslas Square, Prague, November 23, 1989, trans. Caroline Kovtun, Cold War International History Project, Documents and Papers, CWIHP (accessed May 14, 2008).