Abstract
Karel Kosík, a young Marxist philosopher, played an important role in the intellectual ferment which led to the abortive attempt to liberalise the Czechoslovak political system in 1968. Since the invasion in August that year he has been prevented from working in his field and from publishing his work. June 1967 Kosík celebrated his 50th birthday. His friend, Ludvík Vaculík, marked the occasion by writing a feuilleton which was included in ‘Padlock Publications’, a typescript literary collection circulated among proscribed intellectuals.
Though no doubt unpopular with the authorities, Padlock has so far been tolerated by them, with the result that while people found copying these texts might get into trouble, the authors themselves have remained unscathed, though subject to frequent harassment, house searches and police interrogation. The arrest of the poet Jiři Gruša in June (see entry in Index/Index, p. 65) is an ominous sign that after five years of relatively untroubled existence, Padlock may be facing a more difficult future.