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fe Of them are marked by free-wheel-
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ately. attacked the bureaucracy and
een in high places and have

Orsed the decisions of the Decem-
fr and January plenums.

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The battle (because that’s what it ©

ety no means over yet. The “con-
been elements are resisting the
i ideas. Many of them are still in
heen posts. But, in keeping with
are Whole new democratic spirit, they
omic being “removed” (as non-con-
If e's Would have been in the past).
will wi do not resign voluntarily they
Blatt changed at the next scheduled
ions or electoral meetings of the
€S they head.
b There are, of course, extremists on
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eae using demagogy — “conserva-
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Ist the intellectuals and “liberals”
,_0 Bive cause for anxiety by advanc-
aie Sorts of hair-brained schemes,
as ng the idea that Czechoslovakia
cen’. “neutral”. But these are ex-
Dtions, not the rule.
ane of the most evident expressions
press” hew atmosphere is the way the
Of th. tadio and TV have been freed
und € rigid restrictions of conformism
€r which they worked until now.
© Pravo, the Communist Party or-

an, devotes two or three pages daily:

fee reports, articles and letters,
ists Communists and non-Commun-

alike, giving views and opinions
nuh the decisions of the two ple-
Dart and subsequent decisions of the
tae leadership. The decisions and
thee of. every meeting of the
tees lum and all other party commit-
day are now made public the next

ee articles and letters cover the
Tange diverse views on the widest
Work, Of topics: the problems of the
Bhi and the intellectuals; the
tong ines in the system of elec-
Suncie: parliament and municipal
ne “lls; examples of bureaucracy, etc.
* Jurist wrote on the problems of
A Sa the courts and suggested
Bes ie other things that it’s time jud-
as t €re not advised from, on high
“i What the verdict should be.
mane in the past, the papers carry
Wes, More reports about what the
Scie Press has to say about the
Comme, countries, including their
ments on the current events here.
‘nd it’s not only Rude Pravo. All
Ban are in the thick of it. It’s
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ee up as soon as they hit the
bets ws and read avidly as never

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‘20cm

ty fople are glued to the radio and

News €se days—more for the political
entert and commentary than for the

ainment programs. When the
Cet Party branch in a north
Meet; Mining town held a four-hour

Ing the other day, with a member
tieq , Presidium present, the TV car-
thriltin \Yhour report of it. It was
Passio & to see and hear with what
Sok N and enthusiasm the miners

© about the party’s new approach.

Another example: The other day the

“TV carried a fascinating and excellent-

ly-executed two-hour documentary .on
the problems of the young and old
generations, in which the youth spoke
out frankly and boldly about how they
saw the problems of the country. The
interesting thing is that this program
was produced two years ago to be
presented in two two-hour parts. After
the first was shown at that time it
raised so many conservative eyebrows
that on order from above the second
part was cancelled. This time both
parts were shown. ;

Last November, the student demon-
stration was all “hush-hush”. Three
weeks ago the TV and movie news-
reels carried film clips of it, showing
how the students were attacked by
the police. .

Political discussions are being held
everywhere and by everyone. Intellec-
tuals are invited to come to factories
to give their views to the workers. The
latter send representatives to discuss
problems with students and writers.
Many of these meetings are carried on
the TV and radio.

Students particularly are active in

_all these discussions. And the hearten-

ing thing is that whereas until recent-

'

ly there was a cynicism and even hos-

tility among the young people toward

the party and the “establishment”, to-
day there is rapidly developing a
wholesome rapport and identity be-
tween them. :
The other day university and high
school students organized a kind of
“Youth Quiz-In’”.to which they invited
leading Communists to answer their
questions. Among those who spoke
were M. Svermova and Josef Smrkov-
sky, both of them veteran Communist
leaders who at one time had been
jailed and subsequently rehabilitated.
The meeting was scheduled for 8.00
p.m. and the auditorium where it was
held holds 2,000 persons. By 6.00 p.m.
far beyond that number were already
lined up at the entrance. About 1,000
had to stand outside and listen via the
p.a. system. And the meeting did ‘not

end until 1.00 a.m.—five hours later! .

More than 1,000 questions were sub-
mitted, only a part of which could be
answered of course. The debate was
heated and—as with students every-
where—nothing was “out of bounds”.
Even the question of Brezhnev’s Dec-
ember visit to Prague was raised,
whereas .two months ago nobody
would have dared discuss the matter
at a public meeting, much less put it
over the radio. |

(Contrary to what the Western press
implied, Brezhnev did not come to ‘‘do
a job” here. He was invited, came,
found out about the differences, said
it was not for him to judge or advise,
that he was sure the Czechoslovak

party could very well cope with its
problems—and left. Why he was in-
vited and who invited him was raised
by some members at the plenum as
one of the wrong methods of work.
But that’s another story). :

The student meeting passed a reso-
lution enthusiastically supporting the
decisions of the party. Other resolu-
tions demanded: guarantees for basic
democratic freedoms, freedom of
speech, press and assembly; more
energetic measures in proceeding with
the economic reforms; more rapid re-
habilitation of all persons who had
been wrongfully sentenced or denoun-
ced; enactment of laws allowing all
citizens the right to travel freely and
to stay without any time limits in
foreign countries; and many others.

At another meeting of university stu-
dents, Prof. Otakar Sik, one of Czecho-
slovakia’s leading economists and a
member of the central committee of
the party, made an important speech
in which, among other things, he said:

“There had been serious distortions
of the democratic principle and forms,
both inside the party and in our social-
ist society. As a result, the activity and
initiative of the people in recent years
had fallen, their interest in public and
political affairs had dwindled and
there had developed among them a dis-
trust of all public, and particularly the
highest political, organs and represen-
tatives.”

At the end of his speech he told the
students:

“We can create such a model of a

socialist society as will truly become
attractive to working people in all
capitalist countries and which, as one
British journalist visiting us recently
said, will immeasurably influence the
development of the entire left-wing
movement in the Western countries.”
It’s a perspective that’s worth fighting
for.” ;
Amid all this enthusiasm and acti-
vity, a pall of gloom, concern and
anger was cast over the country by
the flight to the West of Jan Sejna, a
major-general, along with his mistress,
his son and important military infor-
mation. The case, however, is not un-
connected: with all the other recent
events here. Circumstantial evidence
points to the fact that the general had
friends in very high places and that
his flight may have been prompted by
the sudden insecurity of the latter.

AUNT

_ Meanwhile, members of the party
and the general public have been ask-
ing some pointed questions: How did
Sejna manage to rise from lieutenant
to a major-general in five years? Why,
when the shady side of his moral life
was known, was he allowed to retain
his high security position? Who allow-
ed him to have a diplomatic passport?
Why, if he “had been suspected of
larceny for about a month before, was
he allowed to slip across the border
in his own car?

To investigate the entire affair tho-
roughly, the party has appointed a
commission which should be bringing
in a report soon. (Whether, and if so
how, the recent suicide of General
Vladimir Janko, deputy minister of
national defense, is connected with the
case will no doubt also be revealed).

The press here has been giving full
coverage to the Sejna case, including
the comments of the Western press.

_ Although there has been no “chop-

ping off of heads” in the battle be-
tween the “conservatives” and the
“liberals”, a process of early “spring
cleaning” from below has already
claimed a few victims.

In Slovakia, the chairman of. the
Slovak National Assembly, M. Chudik,
handed in his resignation but the as-
sembly didn’t accept it;-it decided to
remove him instead.

The chairman of the Central Council
of Trade Unions and two other officers
also resigned their positions but their
colleagues: likewise decided instead to
ask for their removal. The next ple-
nary meeting of trade union represen-
tatives will likely do so.

0

The National Assembly (parliament)
the other day expressed its lack of
confidence in the minister of interior,
Dr. Josef Kurdnov, and the state pro-
secutor, Dr. Jan Bartuskov, and re-
moved them from their posts.

_ A number of party meetings openly
called on Novotny to resign from his
position as president.

With rumors still circulating, with
the top leadership still divided and
the next central committee still to take
place, there is an odd mixture of in-
terest, confusion and anxiety as to
exactly what the next developments
will be.. This confusion and anxiety is
particularly noticeable among Com-
munists outside Czechoslovakia. The
press in most of the socialist countries,
for example, has to date published
little or nothing about the events and
developments here since the two ple-
nums. On the other hand, the Italian
Communist paper, L’Unita, is publish-
ing in detail all available news.

But inside Czechoslovakia, with
each day that goes by there is less
confusion and less anxiety, as the

‘party shows that it has the process

of democratization in hand. Skepticism

and doubt are giving way to confidence .

and enthusiasm as more and more
people are swept up by the new in-
terest and new initiatives that have
been unleashed.

It is not surprising, of course, that
it is the Czechoslovak party that has
embarked on this new path of develop-
ment. As many of the participants in
the discussion—leaders and rank and
file—keep pointing out, the Czech and
Slovak people have long-established
democratic traditions which go back
not only to the founding of the first
Czechoslovak republic 50 years ago
but to their struggles against their

“oppressors and would-be’ oppressors

for centuries back. Many of these tra-
ditions in recent years have not been
given the opportunity of fully blos-
soming out. Now they will be be able
to do so. ;

Much of this process of democrati-
zation is still in the discussion stage,
although a number of lesser measures
have been taken here and there. How
it is to be carried through practically
will be summarized in the decisions
that will be taken at the next plenum

of the central committee scheduled to

begin March 28. The draft of: the
Action Program, in particular, which
the plenum will discuss, will be a kind
of credo or charter, mapping out the
new course the Czechoslovak Com-
munists have set out for themselves
and their country. :

Czechoslovakia will most certainly
be worth watching and studying in ‘the
days and months ahead.

MARCH 29, 1968—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 7

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