Soviet-east European Survey, 1986-1987 by Vojtech Mastny

Author:Vojtech Mastny [Mastny, Vojtech]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General
ISBN: 9781000312768
Google: yHCdDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-06-12T03:02:26+00:00

36

The Trial of the Jazz Fans

Vladimir Sobell

On September 3, 1986, Western media reported the arrests of seven leading members of the Prague-based Jazz Section of the Czech Union of Musicians after searches of their homes.1 The seven were charged with illegal commercial activity, illegal publication and distribution of printed material. The section's offices, library, and art gallery were padlocked by the police.

On September 7, the wives of five of those arrested protested the police action and questioned its legality in a letter addressed to President Gustáv Husák. Subsequently, a declaration of protest was issued by an ad hoc "Committee of Activists of the Jazz Section."

This dramatic flare-up of the long-standing dispute between the regime and the Jazz Section of the Musicians' Union raised the question of why the Czechoslovak authorities found it necessary to come down so heavily on this seemingly innocuous group of music enthusiasts. The answer can be traced back to the origins of the "normalization" regime in Czechoslovakia.

The saga of the Jazz Section began in 1971 when a group of jazz enthusiasts submitted an application to the Ministry of the Interior for permission to form a Union of Czech Jazz Musicians. The application was turned down, but the ministry recommended that jazz musicians join the newly established Czech Musicians' Union.2 Apparently, the functionaries of the union misinterpreted the instructions from the ministry; rather than merely allowing jazz musicians to join the union on an individual basis, the Czech Musicians' Union allowed the jazz musicians to set up their own independent section. The section was established before the ministry could intervene; once set up, it could be disbanded only by the union itself.

Another oversight that posed a problem was that, although a limit of 3,000 members had been set for the section, no provision had been made to ensure that its chairman was appointed by the ministry.

One of the few privileges that groups such as the Jazz Section enjoyed in the "normalized" state was the right to publish periodicals and newsletters or specialized monographs for their members which, although submitted for inspection, did not go through the rigorous censorship procedures. The regime permitted these publications because the subjects they covered were judged to be esoteric and their circulation limited.

Leaders of the Jazz Section were quick to take full advantage of this loophole, however. At first the section published only one bulletin, Jazz, but in the mid-nineteen-seventies it started to issue a paperback series called Jazzpetit and a series of art monographs called Situace. The publications became a haven for nonconformist authors unable to find other channels for expression. These included artists and art theorists interested in a variety of genres and schools, and the subjects covered ranged well beyond the confines of jazz.3 The publications became much sought after. In the nineteen-eighties, membership of the section was reported to have increased to 7,000, and its publications were circulated widely among nonmembers, too. The young were particularly eager to lay hands on these rare specimens of unofficial culture. According

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