THE PHILOSOPHICAL BATTLEFIELD
253
freedom versus despotism. Socialist Britain as well as other semi–
SOCIaliSt nations in Europe are threatened far more by the Soviet
Union than by the United States. Genuine socialism, even more than
capitalism, requires democracy.
The presence of a handful of delegates from Soviet satellite
countries, headed by
J.
L. Hromadka, Professor of Theology at
Charles University, Prague, was another factor which induced the
men of God at Amsterdam to adopt this report pledging themselves,
in effect if not in words, to steer a straight course between cultural
tolerance and intolerance, between societies with a functioning Bill of
Rights and those with concentration camps and an omnipotent secret
police. It was construed as in part a gesture of conciliation. The Coun–
cil heard Hromadka's attack on the West with respectful attention.
It
was a slick Agit-prop speech, flavored with piety, admitting some
Communist mistakes only to dismiss them as unimportant. Its main
point was
to
portray the minority Communist Party dictatorships
in
the Eastern Countries as spontaneous, democratic mass movements
of the overwhelming majority of the population.
Hromadka was gently treated lest he and
his
friends be alienated.
And yc::t it was common knowledge that Hromadka was one of the
leading members of the Communist Action Committee which ruthless- /
ly purged the faculty and the student body of Charles University last
March. Even as he spoke the "uncooperative professors" in all the
arts and sciences were being dismissed, and the leaders of the "unre–
liable students" were being dragged off to jail. In countries like Bul–
garia, Roumania and Hungary, Hromadka's friends had already
proceeded to the stage of executions. But no one called Hromadka
to account. Everyone seemed grateful for his presence and felt he
deserved some concessions.
It should be noted, however, that the Council adopted a state–
ment in behalf of freedom of religious belief and worship, an act
which is all the more significant because of what transpired at the
Congress of philosophers.
II
Since the sessions of the Tenth International Congress of Phi–
losophy were hardly noticed, except for isolated episodes, and since
the few accounts that have until now been given are fragmentary
