Czechoslovakia: Look Who's Destalinizing

Communist Czechoslovakia, always a bastion of harsh Stalinism while most of Eastern Europe was busy destalinizing, is liberalizing a little. The huge statue of the dead dictator that overlooked Prague is now finally demolished; writers have begun to talk about "an enlarged horizon of freedom"; in Prague's Lucerna Hall dance palace recently, teen-agers rocked the rafters with the Oliver Twist and Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik in Twist tempo.

Last week Old Stalinist Antonin Novotny, President and first secretary of the Communist Party, bowed to mounting pressure from younger party leaders for further liberalization, announced the purge of two oldtime comrades-in-arms. Served...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!