Vokno
Complete digital version of the samizdat magazine
From 1979, the samizdat journal Vokno published by František Stárek and his friends was the main magazine of the cultural underground (from Issue 7 onwards the cover included the subtitle ‘magazine for a second, as well as different, culture’). Members of the Committee for the Defence of the Unjustly Persecuted, such as Ivan Jirous and Dana Němcová, also contributed to the magazine.
Soon after its establishment, the editors of the magazine also published books in a samizdat edition of the same name. In connection with the publication of Vokno (during the preparation of Issue 6 which its editors were unable to finish), František Stárek, Ivan Jirous, Michal Hýbek and Jiří Frič were arrested and subsequently given unconditional prison sentences in 1981. Following the release of František Stárek, the magazine was revived and in time more publications were produced, including an information bulletin entitled Voknoviny and a ‘video-magazine’. The editors also organised exhibitions, lectures and concerts. In 1989 František Stárek was again arrested (together with his wife Iva Vojtková) and sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment. After 1989, Vokno continued to be published after 1989, turning from a samizdat into a regular publication.
This website makes available all fourteen samizdat issues of Vokno magazine. Their digital versions were prepared together with the Libri prohibiti library, which holds originals of the magazine. A bibliography / index of the magazine (1979–1989) was prepared by Jana Růžková, the website also features an interview with the publishers of Vokno and Revolver Revue from 1992.
1979
Vokno - No. 1
Vokno - No. 2
1980
Vokno - No. 3
1981
Vokno - No. 4
Vokno - No. 5
1985
Vokno - No. 7
Vokno - No. 8
Vokno - No. 9
1986
Vokno - No. 10
Vokno - No. 11
1987
Vokno - No. 12
Vokno - No. 13
1988
Vokno - No. 14
1989
Vokno - No. 15