Conversations across the Prison Wall. Islands of Freedom and the Dawn of Democracy

Abstract

Reflections on the issue whether a certain limited type of freedom may coexist with totality. The focus is on the unofficial or semiofficial "islands of intellectual freedom" in former Czechoslovakia during the last years before the communist regime collapsed.

The general issue of the role of intellectuals in politics is also discussed.

Keywords

• Czechoslovakia
• intellectuals
• freedom
• communist regime