World: END OF THE DUB

ALL week long Czechoslovakia had braced itself for major political changes, and now an announcement was expected on TV. While waiting, Czechoslovaks were forced to watch the first Soviet film shown since the invasion, a potboiler entitled The Man Without a Passport. Finally, the familiar visage of Czechoslovakia's white-haired President Ludvík Svoboda flashed onto the screen. In an emotion-laden voice, the old general told his countrymen what most of them had been grimly expecting to hear for months. Alexander Dubček, who last year led his country into its shortlived "Springtime of Freedom," had been removed from office under pressure from the Russians.

After imploring the people to remain calm, Svoboda introduced the Central Committee's choice to take over Dubček's post as Party First Secretary: Gustav Husák, 56. In a short speech, Husák promised that Czechoslovakia would not return to the Stalinist repression of the 1950s, but he also stressed that he would allow no recurrence of the recent anti-Soviet riots that brought the Russians once more to the verge of crushing the country by force. "Some people imagine that freedom has no limits, no restrictions," he said. "But in every orderly state, there must be some rules of the game. Laws must be kept, social, Party, and civil discipline observed." There was little doubt that Husák, a canny, strong willed man, had the temperament for enforcing the rules.

Careful Balance. As part of a major overhaul of Czechoslovakia's governing apparatus, the 190-man Central Committee also abolished Dubček's old 21-man Presidium. It was replaced by a new eleven-man Presidium, whose membership reflected the careful balance of the new political arrangement. Only two outspoken liberals remained, Svoboda and Dubček, who was given the largely honorary position of President of the new federal National Assembly. The hero of the liberals, former National Assembly President Josef Smrkovský, was dropped from the ruling group after his own admission of errors, which was published in the Party newspaper.

The Presidium also contains two conservatives, who were among ten Czechoslovaks absolved by Party decree last week of any treachery in collaborating with the Soviets after the invasion. But the majority of the members, including Husák, are drawn from the ranks of the so-called realists who, while they may be liberals in theory, regard cooperation with their Soviet overlords as the only practical course for the country. Clearly, the Russians had sought to install a new government that would do their bidding while still retaining the broad if grudging support of the Czechoslovak people.

No Demonstration. Just as if his emissaries had not aided the changes, Soviet Party Boss Leonid Brezhnev sent his warm congratulations to Husák. So did most of the other East Bloc leaders. Predictable protests came from the West, the loudest of them voiced by the West European Communists, who had seen in Dubček's liberal form of Communism an opportunity to enhance their own appeal to voters in their own countries.