Voice of Political Prisoners (Portal of Prague)

Some historians are of the opinion that the events of the Prague Spring 1968 were just an attempt to reform the socialism of that time, which was something that couldn’t be reformed. Others think that it wasn’t just a revival of the “only true party” but a revival of the whole society. The events of March 1968 confirm that there were voices in society that had nothing in common with the Communist Party. The Club 231 is proof.

The relaxed atmosphere at the beginning of 1968 inspired political prisoners to start to organise themselves. After few previous meetings on Wednesday 27 ^th March the preparatory committee of the Club 231 was founded. The aim of the Club was established as the promotion of former political prisoners and achieving their fastest possible rehabilitation.

The name of the club was derived from the Act n. 231/1948 Coll. (Act on Protection of the Republic) according to which most of those prisoners were sentenced. Prof. Karel Nigrín became chairman of the committee, Jaroslav Brodský was secretary. Other members included Josef Čech, Ota Rambousek, Radovan Procházka, Václav Paleček, Zdeněk Mráz amongst others.

On the day of the club’s foundation, 27th March, its members informed about it to the Communist Party central committee secretariat. They also visited the Ministry of Internal Affairs where they didn’t meet with any objections (!). All these institutions asked for was a fast presentation of a code of rules that are subject to an approval procedure. Afterwards the ČTK (Czech News Agency) and Czechoslovakian television were informed and members of the club were promised that the information about the foundation meeting will be published. The meeting was planned to be held on 31 ^st March 1968 at 8 o’clock a.m. in the big hall of the community centre at Slovanský Island.

Two days later, on 29 ^th March, the very first mention of K231 appeared in press. The Rudé právo paper published a ČTK announcement informing about the foundation meeting of the organisation of people afflicted by the abuse of the judicial code.

Foundation meeting

On Sunday, 31 ^st March, their founding meeting was held in the community centre at Slovanský Island. Attendance was high with as many as 2000, according to some sources even 2500 people. The hall capacity was too small for such a big quantity of people. The preparatory central committee (PÚV) of K 231 announced the foundation of the club, a few speeches were made and letters read (such as the one from Eduarda Goldstücker or Prokop Drtina). Afterwards the central committee was entrusted with drawing up the code of rules in preparation for the National Congress to be completed by June. Members were asked to found branches of the club in individual regions and all main daily papers were informed about the meeting.

Communists got scared of a possible opposition party

Communists portrayed the Club of former political prisoners K 231 as one of the main contra revolutionary and treasonous organisations whose main aim was the liquidation of the socialistic regime. The Club K 231, the Club of Committed Non-Party Members (KAN) and the resurrected Social Democratic Party were mentioned in every study dedicated to the so called crisis development in 1968.

From the sources it is however apparent that the Club during the short period of its activity didn’t pursue much of a treasonous activity and its main aim was the fastest possible rehabilitation of former political prisoners. Hardly any activity was possible before the official approval of the Club’s code of rules. The leaders of the Club also realised that each of their opposition actions would be immediately abused by the conservative parts of the Communist party. Communists were also worried about the potential of the Club that had in so short a time gained ten thousands of members. In theory the Club could, together with other independent groups founded during the Spring 68, become a seed of opposition that could result in the foundation of a real opposition party.

Therefore in summer 1968 the Communist’s press started with sharp criticism of the Club. Some parts of the STB (State Security Service) also focused on the Club’s activities. After the occupation and the beginning of the so called normalisation era, the K 231 became a part of normalisation propaganda. It is this campaign which was lead by party and state authorities against the K 231, which I chose too become the topic of my article.

In 1990 the Confederation of Political Prisoners of Czechoslovakia currently Confederation of Political Prisoners of the Czech Republic undertook the running of Club 231.

The Club of Committed Non-Party Members

Members of the K 231 in the time of its origination didn’t look to a transformation into a political party. Another organisation, which was brought into existence also in March 1968, had such ambitions. We mean KAN, The Club of Committed Non-Party Members

Apparently at the beginning was an article called Activity of unnamed. It was published in Literární listy (a magazine about literature) on 14 ^th March and was written by A.Kliment. Among others the article was supposed to appeal to a group of university students around Ludvíka Rybáček. Most of them were chemistry and biology students from the Charles University’s Faculty of Science. A few of them met in the second part of March in the Prague restaurant Na Šumavě and allegedly it was there where they decided on the foundation of the organisation and named it KAN, The Club of Committed Non-Party Members.

The foundation meeting of KAN was held in April 1968 and so we will be dealing with that event later.

Source: Wikipedae, K231, KAN etc

František Sládek