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International Socialism, February 1977

 

The One Hundred Points

 

From International Socialism (1st series), No.95, February 1977, pp.25-27.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.

 

The One Hundred Points is one of the toughest statements yet from the popular opposition in Czechoslovakia. It was written by a member of the Plastic People Underground. The Plastic People are a Czech rock band who have consistently refused to toe the line of official culture and made enormous sacrifices to continue expressing their own views. In the face of official harassment their work has become increasingly social and political in content. It attracted renewed hostility from the authorities when it became clear that the Plastic People had around them a whole range of song writers, musicians and other supporters in the ‘Plastic People Underground.’ Some members of the band were jailed in July and September last year for continuing to sing and perform their music, poems and songs. They were Karel Havelka, Miroslav Skalicky, Frantisek Starek, Ivan Jirous, Vratislav Brabenec, and Pavel Zajicek. Each got sentences ranging from 4 to 18 months. As the February issue of International Socialism was going to press six more members of the Plastic People Underground were due to go on trial in Prague. They are Milan Hlavsa, Jaroslav Vozniak, Josef Janicek, Karel Soukup, Jaroslav Kukal and Jiri Kabes. The Socialist Workers Party (formerly IS) extends warmest fraternal greetings to them all. Translation of the One Hundred Points is by Jan Desivy, © copyright Plastic People Defence Fund.

  1. They are afraid of the old for their memory.
  2. They are afraid of the young for their innocence.
  3. They are afraid even of schoolchildren.
  4. They are afraid of the dead and their funerals.
  5. They are afraid of graves and the flowers people put on them.
  6. They are afraid of churches, priests and nuns.
  7. They are afraid of workers.
  8. They are afraid of party members.
  9. They are afraid of those who are not in the party.
  10. They are afraid of science.
  11. They are afraid of art.
  12. They are afraid of books and poems.
  13. They are afraid of theatres and films.
  14. They are afraid of records and tapes.
  15. They are afraid of writers and poets.
  16. They are afraid of journalists.
  17. They are afraid of actors.
  18. They are afraid of painters and sculptors.
  19. They are afraid of musicians and singers.
  20. They are afraid of radio stations.
  21. They are afraid of TV satellites.
  22. They are afraid of free flow of information.
  23. They are afraid of foreign literature and papers.
  24. They are afraid of technological progress.
  25. They are afraid of printing presses,duplicators and xeroxes.
  26. They are afraid of typewriters.
  27. They are afraid of phototelegraphs and telexes.
  28. They are afraid of automatic telecommunications with abroad.
  29. They are afraid of letters.
  30. They are afraid of telephones.
  31. They are afraid to let people out.
  32. They are afraid to let people in.
  33. They are afraid of the left.
  34. They are afraid of the right.
  35. They are afraid of departure of the Soviet troops.
  36. They are afraid of changes of the ruling clique in Moscow.
  37. They are afraid of détente.
  38. [This line is missing in the printed version.]
  39. They are afraid of treaties have signed.
  40. They are afraid for the treaties have signed.
  41. They are afraid of their own police.
  42. They are afraid of the spies.
  43. They are afraid for their spies.
  44. They are afraid of chess-players.
  45. They are afraid of tennis-players.
  46. They are afraid of hockey-players
  47. They are afraid of gymnast girls.
  48. They are afraid of St. Venceslas.
  49. They are afraid of Master Jan Hus.
  50. They are afraid of all the saints.
  51. They are afraid of gifts to the kids on St Nicholas.
  52. They are afraid of Santa Claus.
  53. They are afraid of knapsacks being put on the statues of Lenin.
  54. They are afraid of archives.
  55. They are afraid of historians.
  56. They are afraid of economists.
  57. They are afraid of sociologists.
  58. They are afraid of philosophers.
  59. They are afraid of physicists.
  60. They are afraid of physicians.
  61. They are afraid of political prisoners.
  62. They are afraid of the families of prisoners.
  63. They are afraid of today’s evening.
  64. They are afraid of tomorrow’s morning.
  65. They are afraid of each and every day.
  66. They are afraid of the future.
  67. They are afraid of old age.
  68. They are afraid of heart attacks and cirrhosis.
  69. They are afraid even of that tiny trace of conscience that may still be left in them.
  70. They are afraid out in the streets.
  71. They are afraid inside their castle ghettoes.
  72. They are afraid of their families.
  73. They are afraid of their relatives.
  74. They are afraid of their former friends and comrades.
  75. They are afraid of their present friends and comrades.
  76. They are afraid of each other.
  77. They are afraid of what they have said.
  78. They are afraid for their position.
  79. [This line is missing in the printed version.]
  80. They are afraid of water and fire.
  81. They are afraid of wet and dry.
  82. They are afraid of snow.
  83. They are afraid of wind.
  84. They are afraid of frost and heat.
  85. They are afraid of noise and peace.
  86. They are afraid of light and darkness.
  87. They are afraid of joy and sadness.
  88. They are afraid of jokes.
  89. They are afraid of the upright.
  90. They are afraid of the honest.
  91. They are afraid of the educated.
  92. They are afraid of the talented.
  93. They are afraid of Marx.
  94. They are afraid of Lenin.
  95. They are afraid of all our dead presidents.
  96. They are afraid of truth.
  97. They are afraid of freedom.
  98. They are afraid of democracy.
  99. They are afraid of Human Rights’ Charter.
  100. They are afraid of socialism.

    So why the hell are WE afraid of THEM?

 
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