PARALLEL POLIS: TEXTS BY VÁCLAV BENDA

Discover the collection of texts by Václav Benda, one of the most prominent Czech political thinkers of the 20th century. Immerse yourself in his fascinating reflections on freedom, independence, and the need to care for tradition in adverse circumstances. His concept of the "parallel polis" became an inspiration for opposition movements in Central Europe, and his writings continue to resonate in today's world.

• Inspiring reading for those interested in political philosophy
• Collection of texts by one of the most important Czech thinkers
• Reflections on freedom, independence, and tradition
• Concept of the "parallel polis" as a contribution to Western political thought
• Analysis of the nature and practice of communism
• Inspiration to care for faith and tradition in difficult times
• Discovery in American conservative circles

Václav Benda (1946-1999) was, alongside Václav Havel and Jan Patočka, the most famous thinker of the Czech anti-communist opposition. A philosopher who became a cyberneticist to avoid joining the Party, a conservative Catholic who created the Czech dissident movement, and a politician who built the foundations of Czech democracy after 1989. His writings are a valuable source of knowledge about the history and present of Central Europe.

Benda's concept of the "parallel polis," alongside Havel's "power of the powerless" and Polish "Solidarity," became the most frequently cited contribution of the opposition movements of Central Europe to Western political thought. The texts contained in this volume can inspire reflection not only on the nature and practice of communism but also on freedom, independence of thought, and the need and ways to care for tradition and faith in adverse circumstances, which makes them a very useful read even today.

This publication allows us to understand the current tasks of the parallel polis, which include: piercing or corroding miniature iron curtains, breaking the information and social blockade, converting to truth, justice, a sensible order of values, rediscovering the inalienability of human dignity, and the indispensability of a community of people based on mutual love and responsibility. Specifically, this means: occupying for the needs of the parallel polis every space that the government has temporarily abandoned or has not thought of occupying; acquiring for the support of common goals everything that is alive in society and its culture in the broadest sense of the word, everything that has somehow survived the adversities of time (e.g., churches) or that has managed to be born despite unfavorable times.