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an alliance, although I am not sure whether such an alliance is a
conscious or (as I feel it to be) an unconscious one- the result of
misreading certain facts . From the place where I stand, I can
clearly see an unholy alliance between the Western establishment
and the state structures in the East, that is, with the Eastern
European establishment. But coming back to your question, I
think if the West European parties that argue that they will make
Prague Spring in Paris or Rome were consistent and actually
managed to recreate Prague Spring in Rome, Paris, London, or
New York, then I'd be very glad. But I suspect that they are not
only perpetrating a myth of Prague Spring, but are themselves the
victims of their own myth. I think that they do not perceive
Prague Spring in its entirety. Prague Spring was not just the
attempt of the reformist communists to reintroduce socialism with
a human face; it wasn't just the attempt of a Czechoslovakian type
of Euro-communist party to put into effect its policies (that was
only part of Prague Spring, although, by the way, a very
important part, especially in the first few months of 1968). The
Prague Spring actually followed as a result of a series of mistakes,
such as lifting censorship entirely in March 1968. The sort of free
press which we experienced from the beginning of April 1968 was
a sort of freedom not yet in existence anywhere in the world. This
led to the creation of a mechanism outside the Party composed of
political clubs and organizations which, backed by the free press,
were able to create a process of change which the Party had no
intention of creating when it started its policies. In that sense, in
the summer of 1968, the Party was no longer fully in control of
what was happening; it was reacting to the movement.
If
I were to
summarize what Prague was in one sentence, I would say it was a
nationwide discussion about what socialism is, and about how to
achieve it. What you saw that summer when the clubs and
organizations mushroomed was a type of the countercultural
activity you were referring to in your question, but
countercultural activity which was very political in its impact.
This relates to what I said earlier, that in this type of society you
cannot have any independent action which is apolitical. All such
activity has a distinct political impact and, therefore, if I may
jump from 1968 back to today, the widespread parallel cultures of
the alternative communities which exist now have as their direct
historical antecedents the organizations of the Prague Spring
movement. They are not simply a copy; they reproduce not only
