HAVEL AT COLUMBIA:

The Core Lecture

By Mark Krotov

Columbia University

 

Having sponsored lectures by some of the world’s major intellectual heavyweights, Columbia’s Core Curriculum invited Václav Havel to speak at the semiannual Coursewide Lecture. The first political figure to speak at a forum that generally hosts academics who discuss Core texts, Havel spoke about the history of Soviet occupation and Czech independence and his own contribution to events that had one “extremely important result: the division of the world collapsed.”

 

Havel described the Soviet Union’s dominance over Czechoslovakia in strictly human terms, suggesting that the effects of a political regime can not only lead to an absence of basic freedoms, but also “a profound inner crisis.” Havel’s disdain for the Soviet regime, a system that transcended politics and penetrated into the hearts and minds of Czechoslovakians, was poignantly evident when he responded to a question about whether he feels any nostalgia for life under Communism. Havel starkly replied: “I’m not nostalgic of anything that built this regime … this regime was not built on any values—it was built on blah blah blah.”

The notion of a value-less ideology clearly haunts Havel, but he made clear that he condemned any and all ideology, regardless of its rhetorical heights. He noted that even truth is susceptible to ideological influence, given that people build truth “into structures and ideologies to oppress those who believe different truths,” and that the only antidote is morality.

 

A strong belief in morality defines Havel’s worldview, and he believes that it represents the only consistent antidote to ideology. He said that “moral order, law, and principles are the only possible basis of legislation.” Though he did not seek to deconstruct individualized moralities, it is clear that Havel believes that notions that are often viewed as nothing more than relative concepts such as truth, justice, and morality, represent a tangible personal opposition to the misuse of power, and the only real defense against oppression.

 

Having described the incursion of ideology into human life, Havel promoted art’s ability to effect change with equal vigor: “I think every good piece of art has some direct or indirect political dimension or impact—good or bad, strong or not strong,” he noted. Havel’s notion of art is a truly noble one and is deeply rooted in his own experience and that of other dissidents throughout Communist Europe, including Solzhenitsyn, whose Gulag Archipelago has “more power than two Soviet divisions.”

 

As someone who has “been in politics too long,” Havel assigns art and artists great power, but he is concerned with the increasing influence of corporatism. He warned about the danger of tabloid media and corporate ownership, stating that “in the field of culture … the invisible hand sometimes plays a visible role.” Given his belief in the world-changing power of art, this seems like an especially worrisome development, but it has not detracted from Havel from his own artistic field. After his stint as a major political leader, the former President is energized by the prospect of playwriting.

 

But what seemed to truly please Havel was the opportunity to speak to a group that was far younger than his traditional audiences. Ultimately, the man whose striving for freedom was as great as his perseverance in the process relished the chance to impart some advice based on his own experience. At the end of his lecture, he argued that the only possible opposition to any oppressive regime, whether totalitarian or simply ideological are “truth and morality, [which] have a stronger power than weapons.”