Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - A cikin makon farko na Warsaw Pact mamaye Czechoslovakia
a watan Agusta na 1968, Havel ya taimaka wa juriya ta hanyar ba da labari a kan iska ta hanyar tashar Radio Free Czechoslovakia (a Liberec). Bayan murkushe Prague Spring a 1968, an dakatar da shi daga gidan wasan kwaikwayo kuma ya zama mai siyasa sosai. Ya ɗauki aiki a gidan giya na Krakonoš a Trutnov, kwarewar da ya rubuta game da wasan kwaikwayon "Audience". Wannan wasan kwaikwayon, tare da wasu wasannin "Vaněk" guda biyu (wanda ake kira saboda halin da ake ciki Ferdinand Vaněk, mai tsayawa ga Havel), an rarraba shi a cikin samizdat form a duk faɗin Czechoslovakia, kuma ya kara da cewa Havel ya zama babban mai rabuwa (wasu sauran marubutan Czech daga baya sun rubuta nasu wasan kwaikwayon da ke nuna Vaněk). An tabbatar da wannan suna tare da buga "Charter 77" manifesto, wanda aka rubuta a wani bangare don mayar da martani ga ɗaurin membobin ƙungiyar Czech psychedelic rock The Plastic People of the Universe; Havel ya halarci shari'arsu, wanda ya ta'allaka ne da rashin yarda da ƙungiyar a cikin dogon gashi, ta amfani da batsa a cikin kiɗan su, da kuma shigar da su gaba ɗaya a cikin motsi na Prague. Havel ya kafa kwamitin kare wadanda ake zargi ba daidai ba a shekarar 1979. Ayyukansa na siyasa sun haifar da ɗaurin kurkuku da yawa daga hukumomi, da kuma sa ido na gwamnati da kuma yin tambayoyi ta hanyar 'yan sanda (Státní bezpečnost). Tsawon lokacin da yake cikin kurkuku, daga Mayu 1979 zuwa Fabrairu 1983, an rubuta shi a cikin wasiƙu zuwa ga matarsa wanda daga baya aka buga a matsayin "Haruffa zuwa Olga".