Czechoslovakia: Outcry in Purgatory

Suddenly, Czechs in Prague and other cities have been snatching up news papers as if they were priceless manu scripts. The normally routine and propagandistic Rudé Právo is usually sold out by midmorning; people regularly besiege kiosks for the livelier afternoon papers. Others have taken to telephoning government agencies, radio and TV stations for information. Cafes are packed as customers argue over their foamy beer. The cause of the excitement is the transformation that is occurring in Czechoslovakia under Alexander Dubček, 46, who only in January ousted Antonín Novotný as boss of the country's Communist Party. Last week Czechoslovakia's 14,300,000 people were reading news that was as unfamiliar as it was welcome.

Banishing the Censors. Dubček is swiftly putting into action a program that his supporters promise will shrink the role of the Communist Party and bring a semblance of democracy to Czechoslovak public life. Among the reforms currently being debated in the party Presidium is one that would make the Czechoslovak National Assembly a representative body rather than a party rubber stamp. Dubček, who has heavy backing among white-collar workers and young technicians, is also expected to further free the economy from bureaucratic controls.

As proof of his intentions, Dubček has removed almost every restraint on the press and other media. He has banished the party censors from the Central Publications Administration, which oversees the printing of everything from books to streetcar tickets. He has released for production four movie scripts that had been gathering dust in the censors' office, even allowed TV newsmen into—of all places—a meeting of the Presidium. As reassurance to Czechoslovakia's writers and intellectuals, whose clamor for change led to his takeover, Dubček has approved publication of a new liberal journal entitled Literární Listy. Last week he fired the man who was widely despised for making writers toe the party line, Jiři Hendrych, 55. Replacing Hendrych as Party Secretary for Ideology, Dubček appointed Josef Spaček, 41, who immediately announced that the party "cannot set the tasks for art."