Czech Regime Meets With Foes for 1st Time : East Bloc: The concession is seen as a step toward political dialogue, then reform. Protests continue.

Under mounting pressure from the streets for sweeping political change, the beleaguered Communist government Tuesday met for the first time with representatives of a newly emerging opposition.

A small group of government opponents, including a member of the newly formed Civic Forum, met with Prime Minister Ladislav Adamec in what was viewed as the first tentative step toward a political dialogue that could accelerate reform in one of Eastern Europe’s last hard-line Communist regimes. Both sides agreed to meet again.

The meeting constitutes a major concession on the part of the hard-pressed regime. It took place shortly before an estimated 150,000 Czechoslovaks massed in Prague’s main Wenceslas Square for a fourth straight day of street protests demanding political reform.

News of the meeting--unprecedented in more than 20 years of hard-line rule--was announced to the cheering crowd by the country’s leading dissident, playwright Vaclav Havel.

“I have one piece of good news for you,” he told the crowd. “A delegation of Civic Forum met today with Adamec. He promised us there will be no aggression or beating people.”

While Western diplomats agreed the move was a considerable concession by the regime, they believe it would not come close to dissipating the emotional wave of protest for change that has rolled through the capital in recent days.

“It’s a first step, but it’s not a result,” a respected Western diplomat summed up.

(The Associated Press reported that Adamec told opposition leaders he favored a role for non-Communists in the government. Quoting two participants in Tuesday’s meeting, journalist Michael Horacek and composer Michael Kocab, the news agency said Adamec told the delegation he is in favor of a “different concept of the leading role of the party.” The CTK state news agency did not report the statement.)

As Czechoslovakia appeared poised for a transformation, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev on Tuesday urged that Eastern Europe in general undertake “a more rapid pace of change” to make up for “lost time.” He spoke at a meeting with Canadian Prime Minster Brian Mulroney.

At the same time, Gorbachev also emphasized the need for political stability, while pursuing the reforms. Tass quoted Gorbachev as telling Mulroney that “the (excessive) speeding up of events is tantamount to attempting to feed Europeans with unripe fruit and poison everyone.”

In announcing the creation of Civic Forum last Sunday as a loose coalition of opposition interests, Havel offered the group as a vehicle to negotiate political change with the government. But he also listed a series of demands that included the resignation of most senior members of the regime.

Havel also said Adamec on Tuesday had pledged to have the state prosecutor investigate last Friday’s violence, when police brutally attacked a peaceful anti-government student demonstration.

According to Czechoslovak Television, Adamec told the group that the government is willing to discuss political change, but that socialism as such could not be put into question.

The meeting included students, a miner, a musician and an actress--all from vocations that are either already on strike or have talked of joining a general strike planned for next Monday to press for political reform.

Adamec’s meeting with the regime’s opponents was the most recent of a series of signs that he is attempting to carve out a role for himself as a more liberal alternative to Communist Party leader Milos Jakes, whose regime has been largely discredited by recent events.

Party sources Tuesday said Jakes had offered to resign earlier this month in the wake of a major street protest Oct. 28. But because no successor could be agreed to, according to these sources, he had decided to remain until a party congress scheduled for next year.

However, this source added that the current wave of demonstrations made his early departure a virtual certainty.

These sources speculated that if anti-government protests continued, a party general committee meeting planned for Dec. 15 would probably be moved up to deal with the crisis.

Tuesday’s meeting was part of a significant softening of the government’s stance Monday, when it condemned the strikes and backed the police violence of last Friday.

In a hastily arranged nationally televised speech Tuesday evening, Jakes spoke of a society at a crossroads and said he welcomed dialogue.

“We welcome dialogue with all who are for socialism, even when they express critical attitudes toward abuses and shortcomings,” he said.

Jakes personally noted the need to “clarify (events), not only of these days but our entire past to date. . . .”

It marked the first time Jakes had personally implied a readiness to review the turbulent period of 1968, when a Soviet-led invasion toppled reform-minded Communist Czechoslovak leader Alexander Dubcek and replaced him with hard-liners, including Jakes.

In both tone and content, Jakes’ remarks appeared far more conciliatory than those made to a party meeting Monday, where he warned that protests and strikes could lead to what he termed “ominous consequences.” That statement had stirred fears Tuesday of a possible military crackdown or martial law to end the protests.

Diplomats attributed the softer line to signs of growing support for next Monday’s call for a general strike.

Czechoslovakia’s political opposition, long limited to a handful of intellectuals, already has spread rapidly through the country’s student population in recent days. Prague Radio reported 80,000 college and secondary school students were now on strike nationwide.

There also have been calls for miners and factory workers to join the strike, but student strike organizers admit they have met only a lukewarm response.

“They are still being misled by the authorities,” said one discouraged student at the Academy of Performing Arts, who had visited two Prague factories. If workers should join the protest, Jakes’ already shaky grip on power would be further jeopardized.

Meanwhile, opposition to the regime seemed to intensify. Roman Catholic Cardinal Frantisek Tomasek, known for his conservative views and reluctance to enter the political debate, delivered a stinging criticism of the regime in the form of a pastoral letter read out at the demonstration.

“There can be no confidence in the leadership of a state that refuses to tell the people the truth and gives them the rights and freedoms that are common even in Third World countries,” he said.

Also in Prague, the popular Sparta ice hockey team announced its solidarity with striking students before an evening game Tuesday and was greeted with thunderous applause from spectators.

For the first time, a semblance of organization also appeared on the streets, with speakers addressing the huge crowd through a loudspeaker system.

For the fifth consecutive day, shouts of “Freedom, freedom” echoed through the streets of Prague. Workers in offices along the square waved and applauded from windows, and a huge national flag hung from the majestic National Museum in one corner of the square.

Many protesters wore small red, white and blue ribbons, the national Czechoslovak colors. That the national colors have become a symbol of anti-government defiance is a measure of how estranged the regime has become from its people.

The number of posters and banners with anti-government slogans also increased in the city, while the first graffiti also appeared. One such bit of graffiti declared, “Czechoslovaks, Straighten Your Backs.”

At Prague Radio and official Czech Television, they did just that. A grass-roots revolt by journalists and other office staff that brought the first open news reporting in more than 20 years to the country Monday held up Tuesday.

There were hourly reports on the anti-government demonstration and the strike situation, as well as extensive coverage of the opposition’s meeting with Adamec.

Concluding the evening news, a proud Czechoslovak television announcer said, “Throughout the day we’ve been trying to tell you objectively what has been happening in our country. You don’t have to switch over to other, foreign stations. You won’t learn anything more from them.”