Charter 77 and the Baltic Sea Union – two good examples of “resistance the Czech way”
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PhD, Baltic Sea Union member, founding member of the Czech-Estonian Club
A number of resistance groups arose in 1970s Czechoslovakia. Two of the groups contributed in one way or another to the restoration of Estonian independence.
The internationally best-known group was Charter 77, the political goal of which was to restore civic society, democracy and the rule of law. The emergence of Charter 77 on the political horizon was a radical challenge to the totalitarian communist regime and marked a new beginning in the development of Czechoslovakia after the quashing of the 1968 reform movement. The other opposition group worth mentioning was the Baltic Sea Union in Prague, which started out as a strictly illegal organization. It is special for the support this small organization gave to the people of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Thanks to the activity of the Baltic Sea Union, the publication of books translated from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in Prague gained momentum and as a result these nations became better known in Czechoslovakia. Today both these organizations have lost their importance they had, but most of the members of both groups are still active to the present day in various areas. In the case of the Baltic Sea Union members, this first and foremost concerns all things Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian.