Word of the Editor

May 1st at Letna The last time I was there was on November 23, 1989 and the speakers on the tribunal were the dissidents Vaclav Havel, the spiritual leader Vaclav Maly and the singer Jaroslav Hutka who rather dramatically crossed the Czech border from his exile. However, there spoke also the Chairman of the Communist Party, Adamec. There were 250,000 of us there on that frigid November day. We were all longing for a change of regime, for freedom in our lives. What a wonderful experience! Spontaneous joy, thankfulness for a possible change, emotions, weeping, applause, joyful shouts, hope, However, it must have been far too "velvety".

The Letna Plain was soon taken over by the Communists. Well, maybe not right away. The first few years after their power in government had been taken away they were a little afraid, since they did not know what might happen next. After a few years when it became clear that nobody was going to hang them from a lamp- post, and that it was actually possible to implant themselves like cancer into the new government, they took the Letna Plain over May 1st, on a regular basis. Not so this year! The Confederation of Political Prisoners stood in line to reserve the place on that date and thus beat the Communists in reserving the Letna Plain. They even invited their supporters. They did well to get together with the young organizers of the "Tee-shirt against Communism " drive. What really took place was that different generations joined forces, as many young people were drawn in, by an interesting music program later on in the day, as well as by the trendy anti-communist T-shirts. The got a chance to meet with those who had experienced Communism in the very worst way. 10,000 young and old supporters of the opposition of the Red Ideology showed up.

First there were speeches by different speakers. They for example pointed out the recent resolution in Brussels, that condemned Communism It has 14 points and shows that the Communists have murdered more than 94 million people in the world. Many representatives of different political parties also came to show that they wanted to have nothing in common with the Communists. Topolanek from ODS, Kalousek from KDU-CSL, Nemec from US-DEU, Kasl from SND-ED - who by the way pointed out that the past should not be forgotten and that "Communists should not be talked to". Ing Nemec representing the Association of Czech Agriculturists talked very nicely and emphasized that the Czech farmer does not vote for the Bolshevics. The Chairman of the Milada Horakova Club had pointed out its legacy. Representatives of Sokol, Orel, and other organizations also had their say. At the end spoke from his wheelchair the actor Jan Potmesil who had been seriously injured in November 1989 in his mission for freedom.

A Reverend said a prayer and a short speech.

Jan Marhoul had organized the whole event. The afternoon and evening were dedicated to music. Many popular groups and artists known for their anti-communist stand had a performance. (Ivan Hlas, Laura a jeji Tigri" Group, the Buh Vi Group, and others. The performance of one of the youngest and most popular singers Aneta Langerova finished off a successful evening.)

After the past few cool days the sun again warmed us up and so the atmosphere at Letna was very friendly and pleasant. A lot of good people met each other there, for example Martin Jan Stransky, Karel Swarzenberg, Jirina Siklova, Alexandr Vondra, Jiri Gruntorad, Katka Volkova, Jiri Hanak with his wife, Vera Dvorakova, Lilie Komjacka, Vladimir Janik, and Marek Strizovsky with Marinka..and many, many others, many in colorful T-shirts with the witty anti-communist decoration. Even I got one for myself the same as Fialkova, so to be in!

What a wonderful 1st of May day it was!