42
PRAGUE
This resolution was not addressed to the student's ranks, for only
those ignorant of the facts could suspect Czechoslovak youth of anti–
socialist motives; they were addressed to people abroad, both East and
West. During the past year the powers-that-be in the East and their
fanatical followers in Czechoslovakia have shown very little understand–
ing or even attempts at understanding what the youth really wants.
They have preferred instead to seek arguments with which to prove a
prefabricated theory about the existence of anti-socialist, Right Wing,
counter-revolutionary forces. On this level discussion ceases to be dis–
cussion, and any kind of dialogue is an insult to the maturity of the
Czech youth, who now ignore similar provocations from whichever side
they have come.
Strangely enough many Western analyses concurred with those of
the August 21 invaders. In London, Washington, New York - just as
in Moscow - some people thought that the Right would prevail in
Czechoslovakia, and despite the leaders' assurances, believed that they
were looking for a way out of the friendly embraces of the socialist
camp. Some journalists, after a while, saw that they had been mistaken.
I'm sure Western Governments always had access to exact information
and never doubted that Czechoslovakia was trying to create a new
model of socialism. They realized that the more attractive it was, the
more dangerous it would be - it would probably be the first system
which could truthfully claim to represent the will of the people.
The U.S.A. would very likely be relucant to tolerate a Dubcek regime,
should one appear in its sphere of interest, say in Latin America, any
longer than the Russians tolerated it in Czechoslovakia.
Here it should be stressed that while the majority of Czechoslovak
young people have for a long time drawn a distinction between social–
ism and the regime in Soviet Union, the invasion made the nature of
an imperialist state painfully clear to them. Many admitted that the
presence of Russian tanks in Prague brought home to them the injustice
of the war in Vietnam. The American Government's wishy-washy atti–
tude
to
the invasion of Czechoslovakia - which gave rise to the un–
pleasant suspicion that an unwritten agreement existed between the
two biggest imperialist Great Powers - coupled with the Chicago events
that so clearly discredited the American electoral system, could not evoke
a favorable response among Czech and Slovak youth.
The feeling of isolation during this summer's events can
be
com–
pared to that experienced by the older generation during Munich.
In the socialist camp Yugoslavia and Rumania condemned the inva–
sion, but both, particularly the latter made it very plain that although
