Czechoslovakia: Joy & Guilt

The orgy of breast-beating confessions was reminiscent of the old days, but the roles were curiously reversed. At Prague’s Hradčany castle last week, deposed Party Boss Antonín Novotný led members of his old guard in recanting past mistakes before the Communist Party’s Central Committee. He had, Novotný admitted, been guilty of “serious errors and aberrations” that had left “a dark stain” on the country. The reformers, many of whom had been humiliated by worse rituals in the past, did not linger long over their triumphal moment. After days of debate and amendment, they pushed through Party Boss Alexander Dubček’s “action program” for the democratic reform of Czechoslovakia (TIME cover, April 5). Then they nominated Economist Oldřich Černík, 46, as the new Premier to organize a government that will carry out “a renaissance of socialism.”

Wine at His Feet. The whirlwind liberalization continued to buffet the country, bringing joy to most people but guilt and grief to others. Defense Minister Bohumir Lomský was among many who were forced to resign in disgrace; he denied having had a role in an attempted coup to prevent Dubček’s takeover last January, but admitted that others had “misused” units of the army for that purpose. Josef Břešγtanský, 42, deputy president of the Czechoslovak Supreme Court and the man in charge of reviewing the trials of the Stalinist purge victims of the 1950s, apparently took his own life after learning of a newspaper article denouncing his role in a rigged trial during that decade. His body was found hanging from a hornbeam tree in the woods south of Prague, an empty bottle of cheap wine at his feet. On an island in the Vltava River, more than 3,000 people imprisoned and tortured when the Communists first came to power met to praise Dubček and unfurl a white banner that read: “Never let it happen again.”

As a result of mounting public pressure, the state prosecutor launched an investigation into the 1948 death of Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk. The official explanation of Masaryk’s death was that he had committed suicide by jumping to the pavement from his third-floor bathroom window. Researchers in recent years have collected considerable evidence indicating that the Communists shoved Masaryk to his death. The liberals are determined to examine all available details of the case.

Thorough Housecleaning. The choice of Ćerník as the new Premier came as part of a thorough housecleaning of government and party. Dubček consolidated his control of the ruling Presidium by naming eight more of his men to that body. The entire Cabinet resigned, including Premier Jozef Lenárt, who was uncomfortably identified with Novotný’s regime and had the added disadvantage of being a Slovak like Dubček in a land where ethnic balance among the leaders counts. As chairman of the State Planning Commission, Ćerník is highly suited to the task of supervising the top-priority overhaul of the economy envisioned by Dubček, even though some liberals feel that he has dragged his feet on past reforms. Ćerník accepts the prospect of democratic procedures, said after his nomination that he fully expects that the Czechoslovak National Assembly “will sometimes make it hot for the government.” The Assembly must now approve Ćerník’s new government as well as the entire action program.

The reforms were moving so fast that at week’s end the party felt obliged to sound a note of caution. Conscious of the apprehension of the Soviet Union and other Communist neighbors, the Central Committee passed a resolution warning of the dangers of two extremes. On the one hand, the resolution declared the party’s firm intention of preventing a return to the era before Dubček’s takeover; on the other, it cautioned the people against trying to go back to the days before Communism.