The Hindu : dated November 29, 1952: Control by Terror in Czechoslovakia

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Friday, Nov 29, 2002

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dated November 29, 1952: Control by Terror in Czechoslovakia

Editorial: "Communist countries of Eastern Europe execute rather than dismiss Ministers and high officials regarded as unsatisfactory. Messrs. Vladimir Clementis and Rudolf Slansky, former Foreign Minister and former head of the Czech Communist Party respectively, and nine top officials, have been sentenced to death for high treason at a `trial'. All the accused pleaded guilty to charges such as treason, sabotage, Zionism, Titoism, and Trotskyism. It is improbable that veteran Communists like Slansky and Clementis plotted treason, they being leaders in the 1948 revolution which brought Czechoslovakia into the Communist fold. Nor is it possible to make sense of charges like Trotskyism and Zionism — though Slansky happens to be a Jew. What are the real reasons for the blood-letting? Prime Minister Zapotocky has more than once revealed the discontent of the regime with the slow economic progress. The country trades mostly with Russia, supplying coal, machinery and finished goods, in return for grain and foodstuffs. Unlike other Eastern European countries, the nation had a strong trade union movement. Therefore, Czech workers and farmers are not used to being slave-driven for long hours and low wages. The targets of the 5-Year Plan are thus not being fulfilled, and Moscow has expressed dissatisfaction. At the same time, the Czechs are close enough to non-Communist areas such as Austria and West Germany to come within range of Allied propaganda. Czechslovakia lies on the frontiers of the Cold War and is exposed to influence from both sides. Czech Communist leaders feel they are living on a volcano, and are acting to keep the people in control by terror. The Minister for National Security recently warned workers `who were captives of bourgeois ideologies in the past, and are still subject to them' that they would have to be `re-educated' if they did not do better. We may surmise that men like Clementis and Slansky were opposed to draconian measures and believed that workers should not be over-driven merely because Moscow was critical of Czech achievements. Such a view could be interpreted as Titoism or sabotage. It is not likely that executing the leaders will change the situation much; in the end, the present leaders of the Communist Party might be forced to adopt the very policy for which they executed the dissidents."

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dated November 29, 1952: Control by Terror in Czechoslovakia

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