European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 29, 1968, Darmstadt, Hesse the stars and stripes Page 9Am p. Fuck by or. The end of the Czechoslovakia dream concerning the end of the dream in Curcho Slovakia a comments 1 although p 0" ure to be taken from the Barra sment of the ideologue of appeasement it ii at Vanto note that the soviet Union i intercession in Cocho Slovakia blows info piece the sentimentalist dream of the end of monolithic communism. Dor ing the years since the show Down in Coba the theologians of appeasement have softly whispered at us that there i no such thing As one a few venturesome Studeni of the world situation repeatedly pointed out that the worldwide undertakings of the soviet Union were inexplicable other than on he hypothesis that Russia continues to be seized by a re de Matist vision of world communism. The Savage assault on czechoslovakian f Epa racism Means one of two things a that the economic and Geo political usefulness of Czecho Slovakia is something that great Russia dares not be without in which Case it can merely be charged that Russia is in the worst tradition of imperialist countries or b that the separatist impulses of Czechoslovakia frightened the soviet Union which viewed them As a har Binger of the effective dissolution of the communist ideological Enterprise. Let us assume 2that it is the first of these that Russia is merely imperialist in the sense that say Napoleon was or the czars. Question How is it in an age of anti imperialism indeed in an age when the religion of anti imperialism is primarily preached by the communists that the soviet Union should undertake such a Brazen act of imperialism 3it remains so that the so Viet Union unlike the United states is humor Lessly Adamant in its purposes. When it chooses to move for strategic reasons it moves. And before Long the forces of opposition somehow seem to sound tedious repetitious irrelevant. It was Only a matter of months Between the soviet Union s dispatch of tanks to run Over the bodies of students in Budapest and the promulgation of the spirit of Camp David by a mollify ing american presi Dent. Who would dare to say now that history will not repeat itself that soviet representatives on the heels of the most flagrant repression of the most modest Appeal for Freedom in postwar history will not in due course resume their chummy Dia Logue with Western progressives about peace and Freedom you watch. When the communists moved on Korea the English writer Law rence Durrell wrote from Belgrade to the american writer Henry Miller american and British left wingers arrive in this Center of barbarism comparable Only to the darkest of the dark Ages to inform these stinking communists How decadent we Are and How to Are about to collapse. While our milk and water Liberal crypts Are wavering and while the european artist is disgracing himself irretrievably by his sup port for something one Hundred times worse than Caligula at least the goddamn old Yankees have Woken up with a Start to what this really you watch. 4the czechs will not be saved by the West. One observer already has remarked that if is unlikely that a nation incapable of rescuing the Pueblo is Cap Able of rescuing Czechoslovakia. We not Only will do nothing we have virtually promised that we will do nothing. Indeed or. James Burnham has perfectly stroked the ironic key by com menting acidly that no doubt the West s response to the end of the dream in Czechoslovakia will be to recommend the bombing of Rhodesia. Even so 5there is Hope. Nothing for which the West is responsible. But the quiet Revo Lution in Czechoslovakia which led to the flowering of Dubcek is just possibly something which cannot be dealt with by stalinist repression. Of let us not say that too easily. We know that Lidice Type Assa uus on human Freedom do in fact work and we need to go no further Back than to Vichy France 25 Ottars ago to remember How docile a people can be in subjugation. Still there is in Czechoslovakia a spirit which conjoined with the Dilu Tion of ideology not among the leadership of the oppressors but among the oppressors execution ers leads of cautious Hope. Why did the soviet Union let it go so far so fast or. John Dos passes a fortnight ago caught up in the excitement of it All wondered out loud maybe they can t count on the red army to suppress this thus far they have succeeded. Thus far. But it still could be that the forces of liberalization will overtake the absolutism of communism. I c w a. Inc. Czech crisis shows that world thaw is still far off at the time of the hungarian revolution and the polish upheaval of 1956, there was a Story that people swore was True. It was about the conversation of a czech and a pole who met in the West at a Congress of architects a professional non Polit ical occasion which brought them the then special privilege of travelling Bey Ond the Iron curtain. But architects Are people too caught up like others in the matter of human Liberty. What s the matter with you czechs asked the pole. Are you going to leave it to the hungarians and us to make All the Effort you Don t understand said the czech. In our country it is forbidden to that was a bad year for the czechs and the slovaks and just because it was a year in which nothing much happened in Czechoslovakia. Prague held its breath in agony while it watched first the poles and then More despairingly the hungarians struggle for some Basic freedoms. But the people said nothing and Tho government gave soviet troops passage across Czecho slovak territory to descend on Hungary. It was t because the czechs did not care. But they Are a disciplined practical people deeply conscious of history and careful to weigh the effect of impulse. Why they asked each other should they offer them selves for sacrifice in 1956 when they had t fought the German invasions of 1938 and 1939? the Reward was survival but in bitterness and a certain shame. The misery of mute submission had brought nothing. Many ele ments converged to reverse the National behaviour. One was the new generation Lively eager to a part of the modern world or a a column of the " p a a and run a 8d n la Star United Sute. Uninhibited by the deep old awareness that survival itself was a stake. Another was the intellectuals scraping Elbow room for expression which is their Point and purpose. Another was slovak nationalism pressing in a world where nationalism is stir ring All neglected people for a Chance to urge their own immediate interests. So changes were made. They set off a Heady Chain of de mands but not an explosive Chain reaction because the czechs Are practical and care Ful and they weren t out for glory or romantic rebellion they were out for solid decency is of the spirit and the body. The new Leader Alexander Dubcek appeared in Public and strolled among the people. For the first time in Eastern Europe a communist Leader could show the world that he was popular in his country by showing himself easily and spontaneously among his people. The important thing about Dubcek is that hand the reformist communists who backed him really were trying to find o Way to make communism Woik in Czechoslovakia not to Dis card communism. That was their starting Point. Beyond that they were perfectly Well aware of soviet strategic interests and soviet conviction that Czechoslovakia s Western Border is Russia s line of defense. They never had the slightest intention of quitting the Warsaw pact the drastic move which finally decided Moscow to occupy Hungary. But they wanted to Experiment with some free Doms inside their own country and some flexibility in their for eign Trade so As to revive Czechoslovakia s Pride. Moscow was clearly of two minds about it. To begin with there was the serious embarrassment of czechs starting of reveal what russians still in Power had done to them in the stalinist period. Much More important there was the effect of the czech Experiment on restive russian intellectuals who have been pressing Simitar demands. The rest of the world May never know How the debate went on in the Kremlin. It was Long and probably fierce. Dubcek held out against the most intense pres i think i Over ate sure and finally the russians accepted a Compromise. It was too Good to be True. As things turned out and yet nothing visible happened be tween the Bratislava declaration on aug. 3 in which the czechs the russians and four other communist countries endorsed this Compromise and the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the other five on aug. 21. Why the reversal with Hindsight it is Clear that Moscow and its allies were Dubi Ous about czech intentions from the Start. Russian troops left Czechoslovakia but overwhelm ing forces were massed just beyond its Borders in a position to occupy and crush the country at any moment. It is also Clear that at least a considerable part of the soviet leadership did not want to pay the Price that use of Force would mean in East West relations in efforts to re store communist Unity and inside Russia itself. What swept aside those coun Sels of restraint Moscow does seem to have shown the vital Point or at least to have hinted at it after the invasions pravda the party newspaper told i t 5 the. Or readers of a yugoslav report that the czechoslovak communist party Congress scheduled for september would oust 75 per cent of the party s Central com Mittee the seat of communist authority. Obviously the Mem Bers Likely to survive such an electoral purge would be the ones supporting Reform septem Ber that meant would bring the reformers total unchallenged control of Czechoslovakia. Would they All be As cautious and skilled. Evidently the balance of judg ment in Moscow was that these questions for the future held an intolerable risk. The night they invaded the russians sent ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin to the White House an extraordinary gesture. His task was to Tell pres ident Johnson that Russia did t want to revive the cold War did t intend to offend America did t wish of endanger past or future soviet american agree ments. One High administration source said Dobrynin even begged the president to under stand Moscow s problem. In a certain spiritless sense it is Good news for America that the men in the Kremlin still feel the pressure of their dilemma and Don t want to pay any More than they must in Western relations for their unrestrained Uia of might in the East but it is spiritless to be con Soled by Moscos s wish of have the Best of All worlds. It is the concentration on survival which Prague once practice and found wanting. It is understandable but sad. Some Day the men who sit in the Kremlin May yet re solve their dilemma in favor of letting people live As they choose and it is As Well that they have not gone Back to their old idea of forcing everybody everywhere outside their orbit As Well As in Side to obey them their Deci Sion now on Czechoslovakia Means that Day is a Good Deal further away than the last few months gave reason to Hope it does t mean the cold War is on again full Force. It does mean a real thaw is still a Long Way off
