Ludvík Vaculík

Ludvík Vaculík (1926) is a Czech writer. His manifesto Two thousand words manifesto captured the spirit of the Prague Spring and in 1971, after its crushing by the invasion by the Warsaw Pact armies he founded the Padlock samizdat publishing house. His books include The Axe, The Guinea Pigs and The Czech Dreambook.

Our Success Story

  I was in Žilina the other day at the opening of the 5th Literature Festival. During a discussion someone asked me how I see the splitting up of Czechoslovakia today. I said I regard the birth of an independent Slovakia as a success story of Czech policies. My joke make the audience smile. But really, it has only just dawned on me. It was definitely the result of Czech policies – and what is wrong with that? Nothing, meaning it is a success story. Back in 1992, when I first heard talk of the split, it made me very […]