Although enshrined in the constitution of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic as a citizen’s right, travel abroad was nothing of the sort. Between 1948 – the early 1960’s, the only people who travelled across the heavily guarded border were selected journalist (always with a secret police – STB* – escort), politicians (also with an STB escort, though who reported to whom and on whom, was a mystery), movies stars, and perhaps the odd citizen with an unblemished record. In the 50’s and 60’s, an unblemished record would have been defined as devotion to the party, a solid working -class background and possibly willingness to co-operate. In the mid-60’s, the government decided to make travel to “fraternal” countries visa-free, though one still needed an exit visa. Called a “departure insert”, it was a piece of paper folded in your passport, specifying your permitted time of absence from the CSSR**. Once in possession of your “departure insert”, you were able to obtain currency of the country you were planning to visit. Then you could just present yourself at the border and cross to Hungary, Poland, or East Germany as desired. Provided you didn’t overstay your allotted time, you could travel as many times a year as you wished. While this was not a huge concession on the part of the state – after all, in most commercial and political respects, Budapest, Warsaw and East Berlin were not that different from Prague – it was nevertheless a healthy valve to ease the citizenry’s accumulated frustrations.
In the moid-60’s, supermarket shelves had gradually filled up, wait time for a new Skoda MB sedan – a huge improvement over the East German Wartburg and the pathetic Trabant – was perhaps a year (less if the right palms were greased) and traffic volume increased substantially. Most people’s dream was to buy a small cottage in the woods. We had one and everyone we knew did, as well. On weekends, families would pack children, dogs and provisions into their MB’s and head out to the country to spend a couple of days picking mushrooms, barbecuing sausages, drinking copious amounts of beer, and breathing in fresh forest air between puffs of their cheap Lipa cigarettes. Since we had access to a bit more foreign currency than most on account of having relatives in the USA, we drove a Fiat 600. A tiny little red thing but with the unbeatable cache of being Italian made.
All in all, life was quite good. You couldn’t travel to the west, you definitely couldn’t express your opinions freely in public or in print, and certain authors were only available in “samizdat” photocopied editions, but the daily flow of life was pleasant. People no longer went to jail on trumped up charges, new, more daring films were being made and plays produced. By daring I mean numerous jokes and hints about the inadequacies of the Socialist system got past the censors. I owned a couple of Beatle albums and teachers no longer sent you home if your hair covered your ears.
Still, we were living in a communist country, under the yoke of the Soviet Union, and nothing substantial could be achieved politically without Comrade Brezhnev’s say-so. The dark cloud of fear of the 1950’s had passed, but we did not enjoy even a fraction of the political and market freedom of, say, neighboring Austria. Vienna is 250 miles to the EAST of Prague, but it had the good fortune of not remaining stuck in the Soviet sector under the boot of the Red Army behemoth. Nevertheless, twenty years after the end of WW2, life in Czechoslovakia was bearable and slowly improving.
So, why am I waxing nostalgic about that period just now? Because I find myself comparing my daily life in 2021 United States of America to that period of the 60’s. Insane, right? I mean, we don’t have a Soviet style overlord telling us how to vote (do we?) We can write and say anything we want without fear of reprisal (can’t we?) We can travel freely anywhere in the world (can’t we?) People respect each other’s views, and the government isn’t trying to coerce everyone to toe the same line (is it?)
You can see where I’m going with this. There are millions of citizens in the United States who either fail, or refuse to understand the scale of the liberty theft we are experiencing. Over the last 18 months, there has been a gradual erosion of freedoms; freedoms the government stealthily sells back to us if we accept its concessions and limitations. Travel is difficult to impossible (unless you’re willing to jump through hoops more elaborate than the Communist “departure insert”) Free speech and free exchange of ideas – impossible unless you couch your language in ways that will fool the censor (like those movies and plays in the Communist block used to do). Public gatherings – impossible in many states unless you yield to government dictates. For months on end, Governors governed by fiat, like the Communist apparatchiks of old (and the current ones in China and North Korea). And all of it is possible for similar reasons it was possible in the 1960’s Czechoslovakia: supermarket shelves are full, people can boat and fish and buy consumer goods galore, and despite “minor” inconveniences like masks, life is bearable.
Life is not supposed to be just bearable. We are allowing governments to steal precious time from us, like my parents’ time that had been stolen by Communists and fascists. Life may not be always joyful, but the liberty millions fought and died for should mean that WE determine how joyful it is – no one else. I shudder when I hear people say: “Now we’re allowed to leave the house” “Now we’re allowed to take our masks off”. The government is never elected to ALLOW you anything. As long as you act within the law, it’s YOU who allow the government to govern, not the government that allows YOU to live according to your best conscience. Let’s not fool ourselves by purchasing material goods or celebrating small “victories”, like being able to attend a football game by showing a vaccination card. Needing a vaccination card (like a “departure insert”) is a DEFEAT, not a victory. Your freedom is God-given, your natural birthright. Having enough to eat, Amazon packages arriving on time and ability to travel masked to see a relative overseas after passing through tests and flashing vaccination cards in front of obnoxious government tyrants is not freedom. It’s just an inconvenient way to live to get you used to greater and greater slavery.
Life isn't but the expression of free will, one without the other it's just entropy and decay, with the Universe giving us a choice and History showing us the way.