Prague’s Marxism-Lennonism

Press, 9 January 1986, Page 14

Prague’s Marxism-Lennonism

From “The Economist,’ London

It was Lennon’s day, not Lenin’s day, in Prague early in December. A crowd of several thousand young Czechoslovaks gathered in a square near the Charles Bridge to commemorate the fifth anniversary of John Lennon’s death. There they chanted a mixture of Lennon’s ballads and old Moravian folk songs. They also shouted “No missiles are peaceful”, a pointed parody of a slogan — “Our missiles are peaceful” — put out by the Czechoslovak Government when Soviet missiles began to be deployed in Czechoslovakia in 1983.

A small number of policemen looked on, waiting. The crowd surged across the Charles Bridge and marched into Wenceslas Square before crossing the Vltava River once again and climbing the steep hill to President Gustav

Husak’s official residence in Prague Castle. There the young people handed in a petition which called for human rights and the removal of Soviet missiles from Czechoslovak soil. They then dispersed quietly, though not before they had thanked policemen for their patience and restraint. The scene on December 8 made a sharp contrast with the same occasion a year ago, when a smaller number of Lennonists and a larger number of policemen clashed on the Charles Bridge as the teenagers chanted Lennon’s lyrics. Many of them were arrested that day, and several were injured. But this time there were no arrests and no violence. The police simply looked on. Why the change of police tac-

tics? The authorities are in a quandary. “Lennonism” has become a popular cult among Czechoslovakia’s disaffected youth.

Every evening for the last month the police have been painting over the anti-Government and pro-Lennon graffiti which decorate some of Prague’s old walls — but the slogans seem to reappear as fast as they are covered over.

The alternative culture of the country’s youth continues to gain strength. As one Czechoslovak dissident put it: “The regime has no idea how to manage them. Force will only alienate the young even further.”

Have the police themselves been listening to one of Lennon’s bestknown songs, and decided to give peace a chance? Copyright — The Economist.