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In 'risk, hdwever, ies the only hope of escape fromdeep
troublesthe risk of humane response to humanea h or even, the risk
of unilateral initiatives, This is notpossible, however, when a
nation has forgotten its pro-fessed valucs and is instead obsessed
with political ad-vxutage as an ultimate objective, when i t has
adogited asa universal criterion for all its actions that of
ColonelCathcart fi Catch-22, who measured 'everything in theworld
by a simple test: ''Will it give me a black eyG,pr put a feather in
my cap?'' Our sickness is even worse~ M Q that, because our single
est is (and ,we are ready
to blew- up the, world 'on the results) will it give /a black
eye, or a feather in their aap?
This obswsive fear, that if the next point' is bonlost, the
game, the world, and all. t h e galaxies are lo(those deadly
darninoes again), leads to disregard nonly of the lives of the
enemy children but of oneown. When the American people discover
this-that ogavernment is not only indifferent to whelther the
Viet-namese 'live or die but also t o whether Americans livecr d i
e t h e n we shall have a great commotion throughthe lhd , and the
war will come to a grinding halt,
JIRI MUCIIA.Mr. Mucha One o Czcchosbaru?kia s m m t
distirlgltislied,wrr'teers, is the author Q Q S ~ recently of
Livibg and PartlyLivhg, an a c c o m of his m y in a Czech prison
dtailzg r e' S t a h e r a He W Q S sentenced t s ix years , spent
ome time insalitary canfinernerrf, and lrater wor.ka2 in a cqal
mine.1
PrclgueAs the winter wears on toward sprirzg, a bopef~
nvigor-ating atmosphere cdn be sensed in this old wistful wn.Mter a
dangerous December (b6anQther ungary?,7y skedthe Frankfurter
Allgemeine, a usually well-informedpaper) things seem to be
settling down. A new patternslowly emerges, and with it new people.
No doubt theunyielding stand of the writers, following their much
pub-licized Summer meeting, was what riggered the events.The
undcrlying malaise, till then carefully camouflaged,was farced q t
o the apen, and progressive elements' witbinthe party were able t o
judge on whose side the rnajoTity
of the population stood. The outcame is knowe; the ~ l dguard
was outvoted, a new first secretary was electcd in asecret ballot,
and the road became open ta sweepingchangcs. I
A preliminary draft for the future policy of the party,issued on
the 19th of February, opened to discussion. sub-jects that hitherto
have been presented as doctrine, andmade no hazy excuses for
failures of the past. Among thesubjects brought up for debQte was
tho dominant role oft h e party itself, a crucial problem of
Socialist structure.The assumption of party supremacy, applied
igorouslyand without exception, has led ta results that might
bec~rnparcd o the tri'als of a distalace runner, obliged t oabey
the orders of his coach at every step; Now it seemstlmt a more
subtle approach will be sclught, a more ramatecontrol giving some
discretion both to iudividuals and tovarious forms of
enterprise.
Anequally important paragraph deals with personalliberties, If,
as it claims, the draft wants to SOCUTO greater'freedom for the
individual than exists in fact in capitalistsocicty, then it must
face the 'need ta abolish at least thoserestrictism tbat do not
exist ig the other system, NP lessbtwesting is the stress thG
document lay8 on buildiong upthe mthority' of the Parliament and
the constitutim,hi@erLoendowed only with symbolis power, InteUect-
s toTHE NATQN/AApPil- , 6968
i
be the governing consideration, and socialism will thcatch up
with the requirements sf the technical revolutian.
The act that while hese principles were being prclaimed,, radio
an4 television were being given almcomplete frcedom for the
'expression ~f opbians, indicateat last a readiness to match astion
to theory. It seems to'me that never, since Stalin's dethronement,
has there beenso much frank public criticism. The difference s
th'after Sta1,b comment smacked of bitter disillusion, whilew w hew
is good will and people are ready o end ahand. After years of stock
phrases and resigned lassitudone hears words waxth thinking
about.
U this sounds surprisingly cheerful, given the Czechingrained
skepticism, but it is the feeling that prevails hetoday. A t ~ o t
hhat stope aching praduces euphoria, evthough one knows the. hole s
still there and must be filleeventually. And in any case, I do not
thislk a qeturn to
@ ' o l dmethods s passible. The p c ~ p k ow at the toknow
that they can succeed onlyi
they attract widepapular support. Should they fail the' public,
the cow trywould revert to morose indifference and t would be
almostimpossible to, rause it again, Every new society mustclaim
all tbe freedoms that had 'been attained in the pabut were then
lost in the process of gaining others.
As i x tho writers wba have played such an iportant part in
these events, they have seen most of theirwrsngs made good. They
got back their weekly papewhich as pvnishawnt had been handed
over'to the ministryof culture, and the man who agreed to be its
officiall
.appointsd editor in chicf carned gcntx-al scorn, Moreover,a
camplaint that has been ladgizd with the journalists'
-rnioe dcnqads w invcstigatios sf thc whole'matter. Thand the
way in which the paper was restored to twxiters are good examples
of the new approach to politicissues. Despite 'the government's new
plcdge, ,the ministrysf culture was reluctant to vacate the papcr's
premisesand delayed the registration of the new weakly. Not h nago,
tbis sort of cantest ~ ; o p l d ,ave been waged behiclosed doors,
the public boing hformad onlyof its resulBwt this time the Writers'
Union sent a complaint ta tgovernment and handed the full text to
the press, whipqblished it; nder big beadlines. The ministry was
Qbliged
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to make a statement, defending tself as best it could,and
shortly thereafter it gave way. The procedure wouldhave been
unthinkable even two months ago.
Preliminary censorship of films has either been or is inthe
process of being abolished. AU film scripts awaitingdecision for
the last ten months or more have been passedfor production-a
relaxation vital for the survival of theCzech, Wave. Books waiting
years for publication havegone to press. The whole question of
censorship-thefocus of the writers concentrated attack-is being
exam-ined anew.
-As a matter of fact, I am not an unconditional enemyof
censorship. Paradoxically, it is a tangible proof of thewriters
impact on the public-even though, I fear, theeffect is not as great
as the censor likes to imagine. I t isa tribute, a grim tribute, to
the writer from someone whorather dislikes him As long as there is
a censor, the writeris never alone, he knows he will have at least
one attentivereader, and his feeling of importance is in direct
propor-tion to the number of sentences deleted.
However, few writers here share my views on thismatter. At
present, they are wary, waiting to see whetherthe present
benevolence will be permanent. For the pres-ent, hey feel a strong
attraction to the new regime andare willing to support it
wholeheartedly, knowing that if itmeans serious business it will
sooner or later run intotrouble. There will be much opposition to
its program,much iU wiU. The stagnant, unproductive part of the
popu-lation, which was the main support of the old guard, wiU
.be shocked to find that it can no longer fatten on
egdi-tarianism, that mediocrity can no longer defend itselfagainst
wit by accusing active minds of anti-social individ-ualism. There
will be no work for loafers and no moneywithout work. It is an
obvious economic principle, butalas not, so obvious in a Socialist
state.
If truly =democratic relations are re-established in the
country, the writers will no doubt be on the governmentsside. I
hope, however, that as in the past they will keepone or two steps
ahead, mobilizing public opinion againstthe temptation to
compromise, and enjoying, at least forsome time to come the honor
of being censored.
O n the morning of March 18, The Nation receivedjrbm M r.
M&ha the following postscript to his article:
Events that were galloping n Czechoslovakia seem ohave reached a
moment of marking ime. Tomorrow orthe day after will probably bring
more big news, but as ofnow the new forces are consolidating their
gains and prob-ing the ground for a further thrust. Radio and TV
areflooding the country with harangues, discussions, commen-taries
and attacks on top f i w e s of state so vehement thatmany ordinary
people are frightened by the unaccustomedfreedom. It is difficult
to say exactly what worries them.When I ask the question they
shrug, remarking that Itcan? be good, or that There must be some
limit. Prob-ably hey fear that an atmosphere so suddenly
permis-sive w produce a reaction of strict and severe control.They
agree wholeheartedly with the issues, but smell -thebonfires.
And they want their peace-a mediocre, slightly sordid
448
and unostentatious peace of body and mind. I t took themtwenty
years to attain a degree of const iktional sekurity.Private
property is once more guaranteed, the laws nowoffer a fair amount
of protection, it is even possiblemake money-not much, but enough
to aanoy the neigh-bors. So why, in a world bristling with rockets
and gallows,nm unnecessary risks for moral principles?
According to a recent poll, however, 55 per cent of
thepopulation has declared itself emphatically in supportthe new
way, the rest being either indifferent or withoutan opinion. Only 1
per cent is against change. But-andthis I think is the crux of the
situation now developing-what exactly is this new way; where does i
t lead? No on
Plcha (Belgium): Ben Roth- .
The De-Stalinization o Czechoslovakia
should suppose that what is taking place in Prague is
somCastroism, Maoism, Titoism, or whatever variant ismof Communist
rule. If the road goes on, i t will lead-forthe first time in
history-to a free, nontotalitarian state,
testing, with the general consent of the population andunder
conditions of true democratic freedom, new patternsof a working
Socialist order.
This, 1. agree, sounds somewhat less plausible than thepromise
that a wolf will change into a sheep. But fromhere, and when one
looks back into Czech history, thprospect is credible enough.
Czechoslovakia is the onlycountry of the whole Socialist bloc that
has the advantageof a serious democratic experience and
background.apologize i this sounds rude to our Polish or
Hungarianneighbors.) The countrys xperience in the ,1930s obeing a
working democracy surrounded by totalitarianstates cannot be
forgotten-the more so since it was livingup in those years to .the
whole history of the country. Fomore than 1,000 years the region
had been an outpost oprogressive ideas.
Prewar Czechoslovakia, led by the philosopher, Mzsaryk, trusted
more in its ideas than in its industry andweapons, even though it
had become an industrial powersupplying or smuggling weapons to the
muble spots offive continents. The fact that Czech democracy was
beatenat Munich, means only that the ardent but frail idealismof
the Czechs was incongruous in a world rushing towardwar. Now-and
this is where Czechoslovakia links uwith its history-the country
will try again. In a ~wod
m N ~ T I O N ~ A ~ I, 1 968
