Prague Embassy cable, November 21 Morning Demonstration At Wenceslas Square: Overheard Conversations

Just a week before the Velvet Revolution began, it was smarter to look for public opinion in a family kitchen rather than on a city sidewalk. People still monitored what they said outside their homes. By November 21, the squares in Prague were becoming open forums. This embassy report described the "word on the streets" overheard by an American official's spouse that day on Wenceslas Square. One of the topics discussed (out loud) was the proposed general strike on November 27. The amount of public support for the strike remained unknown until the very last minute. The conversation recounted indicated some reasons why. The regime controlled workplace unrest through heavy punishments for potential strikers and it was unclear to the speakers whether November 27 would prove any different. Their debate featured arguments for and against participation. In response to one speaker's claim that strikers faced serious consequences, others asserted that if enough people participated, it would be impossible to penalize them all. Another speaker expressed disgust with the blatant corruption in a government claiming to represent working-class interests. The argument for strength in numbers proved correct: between one-half and three-fourths of the adult population supported the November 27 strike, dealing a major blow to the government's position. Public discussions such as these reflect the growing openness within Czechoslovakia in these last days of communist rule as well as the decreasing fear of the populace of the regime's authority.