Don’t Throw Caution to the Winds

Czechoslovakia’s long night of repression seems to be ending as its embattled Communist Party, shaken by the general strike last Monday that saw as many as half of the country’s 15 million people take to the streets, watches its authority and control ooze away. The official concessions and promises tumble out one after another, as astonishing in their substance as in their suddenness: A new coalition government by the weekend. An end to the Communist Party’s monopoly on power. No more obligatory university courses in Marxism-Leninism. Free elections within a year.

This at least is how things appear after 10 remarkable days of protest and challenge. Certainly it is what the mass of Czechoslovaks want. Maybe the appearance will in fact quickly prove to be the reality as a demoralized Communist leadership, finally forced to acknowledge its miserably minuscule popular appeal, gets ready for genuine power sharing--and for the elections that will almost certainly see it rejected.

But a sense of caution is not out of place. Drastic changes have been promised; they have yet to be nailed down. The party, especially those top leaders who rode into office in 1968 almost literally atop invading Soviet tanks, might yet fight to hold on to what it has.

Amid all the euphoria, several disturbing signs stand out. The 250,000-man army, opposition leaders say, has been confined to barracks since the anti-regime protests began, reportedly cut off from news of what has been going on and subjected to indoctrination from political officers. To what end?

At the same time the 60,000 members of the People’s Militia, the party’s paramilitary armed guard, remains in service--and under the command of the party’s top leaders. As professionals serving the state, the army might refuse orders to fire on protesting Czechoslovaks; the militia might have no such scruples because if the party leadership goes down, the militia goes down, too.

These concerns may well be unfounded. The move toward political pluralism and freedom could roll on unimpeded. The party’s retreat may in fact be the rout that it appears to be, rather than a tactical withdrawal to a stronger defensive posi- tion. All who cherish freedom and respect what the people of Czechoslovakia have had to endure must hope so. But all must be alert to other possibilities.