Czech Party Power Struggle Hinted : Hesitation, Indecision Seen in Crackdown on Dissidents

The Communist authorities here have filed charges of “incitement” against Vaclav Havel, a prominent playwright who was arrested during a Jan. 16 street demonstration, thereby resolving, at least temporarily, an internal stalemate over the handling of the case.

But the evident hesitation and indecision in the Communist leadership suggested a party power struggle may be building as officials grapple with mounting international pressure to relax their hard-line stance against dissidents.

Havel was arrested with 15 other activists in Prague’s central Wenceslas Square when he tried to lay flowers to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the death of Jan Palach, a student. Palach set himself on fire Jan. 16, 1969, to protest the Soviet-led invasion that ended the “Prague Spring” reforms of 1968. Most of those arrested were released, although 10 activists of the Charter 77 human rights organization were charged with “hooliganism.”

Havel, however, as the most prominent of the dissidents, has been kept in Ruzyne Prison while the authorities have attempted to work out a strategy to deal with an arrest--and now perhaps a highly publicized trial--that many of them wish had been avoided altogether.

Havel, whose works have long been banned, was also charged with obstructing police. The incitement charge carries a maximum penalty of two years in jail, and the obstruction charge a maximum of six months. No date was set for the trial, which is expected to be conducted behind closed doors.

Criticism from Conference

Havel’s arrest, and the harsh police action that met the demonstrators last month, brought sharp criticism from the international human rights conference in Vienna, where Czechoslovakia was one of 35 nations agreeing to a broad package of rights and freedoms set down by the conference. The criticism came only days after Czechoslovakia joined in signing the rights document.

The memorial observances for Palach began the day before Havel’s arrest and continued for three days afterward, spurred on in part, activists say, by the forceful police action, which seemed to have been planned well in advance.

The riot police used water cannon, tear gas, dogs and truncheons to break up the demonstrations, the most sustained series of street protests in the country for nearly 20 years.

Police rounded up hundreds of demonstrators, including some bystanders who were not participants, and herded them into police vans and buses. Those not singled out for interrogation were driven miles outside of Prague, where they were let out of the buses and told to walk home.

Most of the other activists arrested with Havel were charged with hooliganism, which could bring maximum penalties of two years in jail.

In the aftermath of the protests, no party official has stood up to claim responsibility for the heavy-handed police action, a silence that is taken by some diplomats and other observers as an indication of the shock that was registered over the events even inside the government and the party.

Party leader Milos Jakes, the hard-nosed apparatchik who presided over the post-1968 party purges, has remained silent on the issue, along with the rest of the party leadership, allowing the official parliamentary committees to characterize the dissidents as “hooligans” who “only disrupt the economic and social rhythm in the center town.”

Many Prague observers believe the heavy police action was ordered by Miroslav Stepan, the Prague party leader, often mentioned as a potential successor to Jakes, who has held the job for just over a year and could be ousted in a party congress next year if the oddly muffled turbulence within the party continues.

“It is very hard to know what they are doing,” said Jiri Dienstbier, a prominent dissident and journalist, “but it is obvious there is confusion and consternation.

“In fact, they have nothing to do--they have come to the limits of their possibilities. Now they have Havel in jail for nearly one month. If they go ahead with a trial, they can be sure there will be more demonstrations. And if he continues to be in jail, it will bring a continuing flood of petitions and protests, and it may win for Havel the Nobel Prize--he has been mentioned as a serious candidate.”

‘It’s Preposterous’

“I think they are lost, bankrupt,” says Martin Palous, who was arrested a day after Havel and has been charged with hooliganism. “It’s preposterous. They charged Havel with incitement because he lays flowers in the street! What they are doing has nothing in common with reality. It is the style of the 1950s. They speak about more democracy and openness, but they do not accept the consequences.”

The spectacle of police arrayed in massive numbers around Wenceslas Square for seven days in a row shocked many Prague residents, who had assumed that such pointed displays of state force had passed out of favor.

“I cannot understand it,” said a woman who works as a cashier in a shop on the square. “There was no necessity for the police, for their water hoses and the dogs. People were completely peaceful.”

A petition has circulated among Prague’s leading movie and television actors, protesting Havel’s arrest. The petition has continued to gather the signatures of Czechoslovakia’s performers, writers and intellectuals, significantly including those who have not been active before in dissident circles.

Perhaps more important than the public reaction was the dismay felt by some government bureaucrats and middle-level officials, who told some Czechoslovak friends that the police action was uncalled for and that the government had made a tactical error in arresting Havel.

The government could have backed down by releasing Havel after a 48-hour detention period--a measure frequently employed against dissidents here--but its decision to hold onto him is viewed by diplomats as a sign of serious disarray in the party.

“They have to decide soon which why they are going to move,” said an East European diplomat. “Jakes will always follow Moscow--but what does Moscow want? He’ll always be a loyal party man--but what does the party want? These things are no longer so clear to the Czech leadership, and they are going to have to be sorted out soon.”

A Central Committee meeting of the party in March may be pivotal for the leadership as it tries to find the answers to those questions and apportion the blame for the trouble brought by Havel’s arrest.

“We have no idea which way it is going to go,” fellow dissident Palous said. “You think they have to change, but it is not sure. I have been caught up in this machinery. It is like a blind force going forward, and it is hard to stop it when it gets moving.”