On the other hand, the East German press continues to support the repression in Czechoslovakia — Havel was described by the party daily Neues Deutschland as a provocateur - fuelling talk about an emergent Prague/Berlin/Bucharest axis against perestroika. Certainly the Czechoslovak
CZECHOSLOVAKIA authorities have felt free to censor or halt the sale of Soviet publications when they have touched on the subject of the Prague Spring. What is clear is that Jakes has found a friend in the person of Igor Ligachev, leader of the neo-Brezhnevite sectors of the Soviet communist party. Ligachev recently held up Czechoslovakia as the model to follow in the reform of Soviet agriculture.
The Prague leadership's strongest argument against change is the issue of the living standards of the Czechoslovak working class, which remain relatively high. Jakes and company can point to the awful examples of Poland and Hungary, with their growing poverty and vast foreign debts, which hold out the prospect of further attacks on the both the individual and social wage.
On the other hand, the situation of Czechoslovak workers is only relatively better than those in the surrounding countries; in absolute terms it is low and stagnating. Furthermore, the poor quality of Czechoslovak industrial production means that its exports of these goods are directed mainly to the other so-called socialist countries, but most of these countries are now trying to raise the technological standard of their own industry and are less and less ready to accept poor quality goods purely for political reasons.
Impact of glasnost in Czechoslovakia
An enterprise reform was introduced in 1987, followed in 1988 by a new labour code that was intended to "reinforce discipline", but these have had little discernible effect. This is only to be expected, since the basic problem is the complete lack of any involvement or interest on the part of the working population in the planning process.
The other big difference with the situaMay 1, 1989 • #162 International Viewpoint
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7
"Others are still in prison - don't forget
CZECHOSLOVAKIA • PERU tion in the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s is, of course, the ferment in progress in the Soviet Union and in the countries surrounding Czechoslovakia, and its impact inside Czechoslovakia itself. Over the last few years a whole range of new independent groups have appeared, such as the Independent Peace Association, the John Lennon Peace Club, and the Children of Bohemia, mostly involving young people with no direct memory of 1968.
Over 1,000 protested
THE REVOLUTIONARY Peruvian peasant leader Hugo against Havel trial
Blanco, just released from prison, has begun a tour of
Europe. His first port of call is Sweden, where he lived in
Young people formed the bulk of those exile for some time. The following article on his arrival who demonstrated in August and October of last year and who defied savage police there is from Internationalen, the paper of the Swedish assaults every day for a week in January.
section of the Fourth International.
Religious believers, in particular Roman procession
Catholics, held a massive demanding freedom of religion in March
1988, while a petition for the restoration of religious rights was signed by 500,000 people.
At the same time the longer-established opposition circles have become more outspoken, and have started to discuss quite openly how and with what to replace the present system (see /V 160). An especially significant event in the Czechoslovak context, where the party has enforced strict political vetting procedures for all positions involving influence over or contact with the population, was a protest by more than 1,000 prominent cultural personalities over the Havel trial. It is also reported that some branches of the official Socialist
Union of Youth expressed their dismay at the suppression of the January demonstrations.
Jakes is a transitional figure. But who will replace him, and what policies will they pursue? There have been repeated signs of doubts and dissension within the leading circles about the repression and the lack of an economic policy.
On February 20, for example, both Prime
Minister Ladislav Adamec and another CC
Presidium member, Josef Lenart, offered a dialogue to critics, while on the same day
Jakes defended the resolute actions of his police forces. There is an important generation gap within the party, while the decline in the number of leading members of Slovak nationality may also be a source of tension, as it was in the mid 1960s.
Commentaries on the inner party struggle, however, remain highly speculative.