* Czech Republic Some 100,000 people gathered on Prague's Old Town Square on 8 November, in the largest demonstration since the democratic upsurge in November 1989. Unlike the trade union leaders who spoke from the platform, most of those in the cold and wet considered themselves to be in an anti-government demonstration. Zdenek Prasil The mood in the crowd was much more radical than on the stage. When trade union president Richard Falbr began his traditional vague calls for dialogue and consensus, he was nearly whistled off the platform. "We are not against the liberalisation, but in favour of it," Falbr told an outraged audience. "The problem," he tried to explain, "is that this government has shown itself incapable of its successful implementation. This is what has led to the economic calamity." As the slogans from the demonstrators grew louder, Falbr realised his mistake, and began to harden the tone of his speech. Departing from his carefully prepared notes, he even called for the resignation of the conservative government and urged trade unionists to vote for the opposition parties, to the horror of the mainly right-wing media.
Falbr persuaded the demonstrators to support his vague call for a change in social policy. which did not include any threats for further protest action, or any indication of what the trade unions might do if the government followed its usual practice and ignored the protest.
The warmest applause went to the representative of Slovakia's trade union conThe left radicals federation, promising solidarity if Czech unions took more radical action. Despite the separation of Czecho-Slovakia into two republics in 1992, there are still close economic ties between the two countries.
Although the demonstration was the CMKOS trade union confederation, the entire route of the march was lined by members of the fascist Republikani (SPR-RS), distributing free copies of their newspaper Republika.
Despite this massive presence, the crowd did not seem particularly interested in the Republicans' propaganda. Prague's much smaller anarchist and Trotskyist groups also distributed unusually large amounts of literature:
The anarcho-sindicalists and sellers of the Trotskyist magazine Budoucnost tried, without great success, to spread slogans calling for a general strike. Meanwhile. members of Socialisticka Solidarita sold their magazine, and distributed posters and stickers with slogans like "Tax the
[According to one paperseller, "only a year ago, this kind of left agitation would have met with hostility from demonstrators. The receptiveness of the crowd suggest the possibility of a shift from propaganda work towards intervention in the labour movement." Though this viewpoint is probably not shared by the leaders of the various revolutionary well as underestimating number of participants, the official and pro-government media later claimed that participants were paid 200 Kc ($6, or about three hours wages). This correspondent travelled to Prague on the bus carrying workers from the SkodaVolkswagen plant in Mlada Boleslav, and all we got was a packet of sandwiches. Other participants probably got the same.
These journalists think this is enough to bring people half way across the country to stand in the December rain for a few hours. I envy their deep knowledge of
Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus dismissed the demonstration as "a couple of trade unionists on the Old Town Square," unable to change anything. More forwardlooking members of the ruling class took the event, the largest demonstration since the 1989 events which brought down the Stalinist regime, rather more seriously.
A further sign of this social radicalisation came in mid-November, with an unusually large turnout for anti-racist demonstrations called to protest the murder of a Sudanese student by skinheads.
These signs of a new mood in the class struggle, together with the worsening economic situation, led a large faction of the parliamentary right to remove Prime Minister Klaus from office, using the excuse of a two-year old scandal about pay-backs during the privatisation prog-
The small revolutionary left is concent- the small anti-racist movement.
rated in the capital. No group has more than 25 members. All are based in the youth and student milieu, and are overwhelmingly male in composition.
The anarcho-syndicalist group Federace socialnich anarchistu (Federation of Social
Anarchists) produces a magazine called
Hlas prime akce (Voice of Direct Action).
At the moment they are slightly more successful than supporters of Britain's Socialist Party (formerly Militant). That group briefly had considerable influence within the youth section of the Czech Communist Party (KSM), the largest radical youth group.
At the end of that entryist period, the ramme.
Since the currency devaluation in May, Klaus had already expelled six ministers from his cabinet as sacrificial offerings. By turning Klaus himself into the scapegoat for everything that working people might be unhappy about, the regime has managed to reduce the social tension in the country. A large number of workers
There is also an anarchosyndicalist group had some 50 members, and a
"union," Solidarita, about as large as the presence outside Prague other far left groups.
The supporters of the British SWP about 20 members, who sell their
Socialisticka Solidarita, and intervening in
12 International Viewpoint #296
The group has since declined to run a Campaign for Youth Rights. [ZP] * clearly expect that a new government, either from the existing centre-right coalition, or after Spring elections, will somehow implement a significant improvement in our standard of living.
This has reduced, in the short term, the likelihood of larger strikes which, given
...but not in Zagreb
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the relatively weak social structure of Czech society, could easily change the balance of forces between the classes.
If the right-wing coalition remains in power, this calm will not last until the Spring. But if there are new elections, and the opposition Social Democrats (CSSD) come to power for the first time, this will invitably increase people's belief in the regime's capacity to make reforms, giving the system a longer breathing space.
Those who have illusions that such a government would make radical changes in favour of all the victims of the "Klaus medicine" should not forget that CSSD leader Milos Zeman has repeatedly called for a Bohemian version of the "Austrian model" — a virtually permanent coalition between Social and Christian Democrats.
As part of Vaclav Klaus' administration, the Czech Christian Democratic Union (KDU-CSL) agreed to every asocial suggestion of the father of the Czech miracle. As Minister of Agriculture, Christian democrat leader Josef Lux achieved the virtual destruction of the country's relatively efficient agriculture, through dissolving the collective farms without consulting their members, restoring anything that had been nationalised since the middle ages, and a range of other examples of "Christian generosity." *
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION