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From Socialist Worker, No. 98, 11 November 1968, p. 4.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’ Callaghan for the Encyclopaedia of Trotskyism On-Line (ETOL).
AS 60,000 students begin a three-day strike in Czechoslovakia the pattern of domination established since the Russian occupation in August becomes clear. The last vestiges of resistance to the Russian demands are crumbling.
The ‘liberalisation’ of the regime emerged as the conflict within the ruling elite forced both sides to try to gather support tor their positions from the mass of the Czechoslovak population. For a brief moment a section of the ruling class, led by Dubcek, fought For freedoms and ‘reform’.
One does not have to question Dubcek’s sincerity, but the fight tor press freedom and free speech is no longer part of the ruling class’s material interest. So, unhappily no doubt, they have finally given in completely to the Russian demands. After all, it is easier to exploit workers if they are not allowed to organise or to voice their protest.
Unfortunately for the rulers, they gave rise to hopes and aspirations among other sections of the population which can’t so easily be quashed. The Union of University Students in Bohemia and Moravia have rebelled especially against three aspects of Dubcek’s sell-out: the censorship of the press and television, the curbs on foreign travel and the curb on freedom of assembly. They are still courageously supported by 1,000 Prague journalists.
What will be of great importance to the future of this resistance is the extent to which the student protest, still restrained and confined, can go beyond the ‘intellectuals’. Can it fuse with the radical sentiments of the Czechoslovak workers?
For only then can their demands be realised – when they cease to be abstract aspirations and emerge as the expression of a genuine working-class alternative to the present state-capitalist regime – that is, when they cease to be mere liberal demands.
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Last updated: 22 October 2020