Uncaptive Minds

Uncaptive Minds, published from 1988 to 1997, is IDEE’s most notable publication. It is the most comprehensive journal from this period about the transition from communism in Eastern Europe written by those in the region bringing about democratic change. It remains important for its historical content — one can find the full range of opposition and democratic voices in the region during one of the most important periods of political transformation in world history — but also for understanding the current situation in the region. Indeed, much of what today is considered accepted knowledge about the region was first identified, predicted, or analyzed in Uncaptive Minds years earlier. (See also description at IDEE’s original web site. Indexes are available by issue, author, and country.)

Digital Archives: Selected Issues

IDEE hopes to post the full nine volumes of IDEE in digitalized format. Initially, the first three issues of Volume 1, from 1988, are being posted at this time (see below). The first volume offers a window on the wide range of democratic opposition in Eastern Europe as it arose and grew in the late 1980s. While often the period of 1988-91 is presented monochromatically — a united opposition against the communist state — there were important discussions and debates about the nature of democratic change, how change should be achieved, and what was necessary for any transition from communism. In the first three issues (and indeed throughout the period of 1988–89), debate centered around whether to make changes within the communist system or to press for changes to transform the communist system. Such debates affected how change took place in the next two years and subsequently during the transition period. The participants in the seminar “25 Years After 1989” return to these themes from a new perspective and make clear how these debates had a profound influence on the different outcomes to the transition.

Print Editions

Print editions of Uncaptive Minds may be ordered from IDEE either in a full set (at $300 plus postage and handling) or individually (at $10 per issue plus postage and handling). Requests or inquiries may be made at [email protected]. For orders, please make checks payable to IDEE and send to the address below or use this web site’s PayPal link. The publication is also available at many major university and public libraries in the U.S. and parts of Western and Eastern Europe.

Digital Archives: Contents

April-May 1988, vol. 1, no. 1 (full issue)

Hungary
Introduction
“What Do We Want?”: The Demokrata Program
“Crisis Requires Action”: Beszelo‘s Social Contract Program
“Remarks on The Social Contract” by A Flower Lover
Human Rights Is Not Enough:  An Interview with Gaspar Miklos Tamas
It Is Not Hopeless If You Demand:  An Interview with Miklos Haraszti
Inconnu: The Fighting Artists
Czechoslovakia
Introduction: Out of 1968
December 10 Demonstration: On UN Human Rights Day
The 31 Demands: The Church Speaks Out
Letter From Cardinal Tomasek
The Only Catholic Seminary
Ivan Polanski Imprisoned
Situation of Political Prisoners
Pavel Wonka
Solidarity With the Romanian People
Charter 77 Forum
Poland
Introduction: The Next Stage
Breaking Out into Normality  An Interview with Wladyslaw Frasyniuk
Statement of the Mazowsze Region
Price Increases Ahead of Us…
The Laughing Oppositionists: Orange Alternative
March 1968: 20 Years Later
1968: We Grew Up in a Hurry  An Interview with Jakub Karpinski
The Official Press on March ‘68

June-July-August 1988, vol. 1, no. 2 (full issue)

Poland
The Gdansk Shipyard Strike
Solidarity and Social Agreements. An Interview with Bronislaw Geremek
Jaruzelski Doesn’t Need Us. An Interview with Leopolita
Letter to a Solidarity Activist by Jacek Trznadel
The Strategy Is to Keep Pressing. An Interview with Wiktor Kulerski
Romania
Stalinism in One Country An Interview with Mihai Botez
Czechoslovakia
Skepticism and Hope by Vaclav Havel
Czechoslovak Underground Culture
Making Problems for the State. An Interview with Jan Urban
Beyond the Dissident Ghetto
The Death of Pavel Wonka
Hungary:
Independent Publishing. An Interview with Gabor Demszky
March 15 Speeches
Estonia
Not Waiting for Gorbachev. (Estonia) An Interview with Tiit Madisson
Soviet Union
Struggle for Change, Reaction to Change (Soviet Union)

September-October 1988, vol. 1, no. 3 (full issue)

Region
Teheran, Warsaw, Praque by Jakub Karpinski
Czechoslovakia
Civil Society During the “Praque Spring” by Vilem Precan
Charter 77 and Political Change by Vaclav Benda
Barter and Theft
Polansky Sentenced
Navratil Ordered to Psychiatric Hospital
Ukraine:
Ukraine under Gorbachev by Taraz Kuzio
To Save a Culture. An Interview with Mykola Rudenko
Baltic Republics
Between Anti-Stalinism and Anti-Communism by Josef Darski
Opposition as Self-Defense. An Interview with Heiki Ahoen
Poland
Polish Independent Culture by Jacek Federowicz
Romanian Appeal to Polish Society
Against Everything That Surrounds Him. An Interview with Janusz Szpotanski
Why the Spring Strikes Didn’t Succeed
Hungary
Interview with Gyorgy Konrad (Hungary)