This is a critical study of the philosophy and political practice of the Czech dissident movement Charter 77. Aviezer Tucker examines how the political philosophy of Jan Patocka (197-77), founder of Charter 77, influenced the thinking and political leadership of Vaclav Havel as dissident and president. It is a serious treatment of Havel as philospher and Patocka as a political thinker. Through the Charter 77 dissident movement in Czechoslovakia, opponents of communism based their civil struggle for human rights on philosophic foundations, and members of the Charter 77 movement later led the Velvet Revolution. After Patockas self-sacrifice in 1977, Vaclav Havel emerged a strong philosophical and political force, and he continued to apply Patockas philosophy in order to understand the human condition under communism and the meaning of dissidence. However, the political/philosophical orientation of the Charter 77 movement failed to provide President Havel with an adequate basis for comprehending and responding to the extraordinary political and economic problems of the postcommunist period. In his discussion of Havels presidency and the eventual corruption of the Velvet Revolution, Tucker demonstrates that the weaknesses in Charter 77 members understanding of modernity, which did not matter while they were dissidents, seriously harmed their ability to function in a modern democratic system. Within this context, Tucker also examines Havels recent attempt to topple the democratic but corrupt government in 1997-1998.

About the Author

Aviezer Tucker is editor of the East European Constitutional Review at New York University. During the 1998-1999 academic year, Tucker was a Mellon postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Political Science at Columbia University. Previously he taught in the department of Politics and European Studies at Palacky University in the Czech Republic and conducted resepringer will be must reading for labor historians and aficionados of overseas intelligence operations.Paul Buhle, Brown University

Ma document and analyze the central role played by Springer in international affairs, particularly in the formation of AFL-CIOs African policy during the Cold War and African independence movements.

Richards explores the ways in which pan-Africanism, racism, sexism and anti-Communism affected Springers political development, her labor activism, and her relationship with labor leaders in the AFL-CIO, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), and in African unions. Springers life experiences and work reveal the complex nature of black struggles for equality and justice. A strong supporter of both the AFL-CIhe International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), and in African unions. Springers life experiences and work reveal the complex nature of black struggles for equality and justice. A strong supporter of both the AFL-CIO and the ICFTU, Springer nonetheless recognized that both organizations were fraught with racism, sexism, and ethnocentrism. She also understood that charges of Communism were often used as a way to thwart African American demands for social justice. As an African-American, she found herself in the unenviable position of promoting to Africans the ideals of American democracy from which she was excluded from fully enjoying.