Petr Kadaník

“We were tasked with persuading the members of the city national committee [city council - trans.] to resign from their functions. And that would then further mean that when they resign, the law allows the seats to be filled using what is called co-option, and we could simply propose the people we want to have there. That’s a so-called co-opted body. Well, and there I’d say, there’s where the decisions were made. It wasn’t out in the streets, it was there, it was calm like this, but I’d see that as more tense, because one after the other we spoke to those impassive faces, so much so that they seemed like poker faces, so to say. Just completely lethargic, utterly. And they made no move when we told them that the situation is such and such, that it was necessary to solve it somehow, and so on - it was like throwing gravel at a wall. Well, and there was this tension there for about an hour, we all tried to outdo ourselves, we who sat up there on the stage. Until suddenly - I guess the people in the plenum felt it get awkward, or just too long or boring - and one hand was raised, another hand over there, and another, and suddenly there was a whole sea of hands raised up, so this body practically dissolved itself.”

“My father certainly wasn’t what you’d call an ardent Communist. My father really was [in the Party - trans.] for these pragmatic reasons, which I had to acknowledge. And I can say, something of a life experience... They say that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, but I’d say that examples lead. But examples also lead in the negative sense of the word, when you have an example in a person you respect who had to - I’ll use the word - betray his beliefs just to sacrifice himself for his children, then I reckon that that’s a kind of example, or anti-example, that leads in such a way that from that time whenever someone told me... or when the topic was the Communist Party, I had a very clear and unambiguous opinion, which I’d never change.”