PARTISAN REVIEW
559
Husak has not taken a principled stand against arrests, but he
does not see eye to eye with the STB on scope. Nor are all the mem–
bers of the STB convinced of the correctness or expediency of what
they are doing. The fate of some of their predecessors in the fifties or
a possible repetition of 1968 are ch illing thoughts. Treatment of de–
tainees, therefore, varies. In the hands of ruthless men they are sub–
jected
to
twelve-hour interrogations daily and are deprived of food,
sleep and medical treatment; in the hands of reasonable interrogators
they are better off.
Pachman was a physical and mental wreck when first released and
had not recovered when he was rearrested and then finally released on
health grounds. Sku tina is dangerously ill from a diseased pancreas
but remission of sentence has been refused. Frolik, sentenced with the
Revolutionary Socialists, is nearly blind after two years' imprisonment.
Jiri Hochman suffers from tuberculosis and asthma. He had a stroke
in jail which left him partially paralyzed for a time. Karel Kyncl has
a stomach ulcer.
As a compensation for lost freedoms, Husak attempted to boost the
economy. After eighteen months of optimism, a gloomier note began
to creep in. Kosygin's attack on the Czechoslovak economy was echoed
by Husak at the February CC plenum. He admitted that Czecho–
slovakia's economic "miracle" was a mirage, and that the plan had
not been fulfilled in some sectors; above all, the old illness - quantity
at the expense of quality - had not been cured.
While striving to make good his promises, Husak has introduced
some of Sik's reforms, drained, of course, of their political content. He
has been forced to propose "elimination of obsolete enterprises which
tie up manpower and raise costs" - previously labeled by the conser–
\"ati\'es as a wicked attemp t on the part of the 1968 economists to
create unemployment. Enterprises are encouraged to make credit ar–
rangemen ts wi th
\,y
estern exporters and banks to modernize industries.
The consumer has not benefited to any marked degree from
Husak's economic policy. The import of luxury goods from the West,
sold at exorbitant prices, does not alleviate the scarcity of necessities.
IJldeed, the widening gap between luxuries and necessities serves only
as an added incentive to the collaborators.
As the trials approached, efforts were stepped up to improve the
standard of living by wage increases.
Rude pravo,
however, complained
that some people had received unjustified raises. To cover their failures
the leaders are spreading the myth that the Party does not direct the
economy and thus cannot be held responsible for deficiencies.
Recent developments raise a number of questions. Is Husak an
