Networking Through the Iron Fences: Transnational Solidarities in Central Europe from 1956 to 1989

Visegrad Lecture Series

Networking Through the Iron Fences: Transnational Solidarities in Central Europe from 1956 to 1989

by Michał Gęsiarz, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

Despite its active participation in international solidarity campaigns during the Cold War, the Soviet bloc allowed little to no space for independent, grassroots political cooperation among its own citizens. As a result, major Western civil society movements—such as the anti–Vietnam War protests—were mirrored in the East primarily as state-led propaganda initiatives. By contrast, authentic forms of transnational political solidarity in the East are much harder to trace. They are most clearly visible, however, in the networks formed by opposition movements and dissidents.

Drawing on the records of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and other collections at the Blinken OSA Archivum, this presentation examines Central European solidarity networks that developed below the level of the state. It traces these connections from the mass mobilization of Polish citizens in support of Hungary in 1956 to dissident cooperation in the 1980s, which helped shape the future relations among the Visegrád Four countries. While the focus is primarily on Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary, the study also points to an emerging Romanian dimension in the late 1980s.

The presentation may be followed online on Zoom:

https://ceu-edu.zoom.us/j/91299097034?pwd=GuYK1oqUT8ZZRLA3amgQNQQ1KLmeE9.1

Meeting ID: 912 9909 7034 Passcode: 315067