Letters: Aug. 30, 1968

Again to the Mat

Sir: With only 18 years of real independence, Czechoslovakia must be more a spirit than a nation. But what a spirit! Again these gallant peoples have gone to the mat for the cause of a freedom they may never enjoy. Dubcek must have known that the Soviets would never allow him to succeed. But he must have known also that they would be forced to use the only powers they can be sure of—deceit, murder, and subjugation—to keep their empire from crumbling at their feet. Perhaps now the "peace at any price" people will see Munich revisited, and come to realize that America must stand firm at the frontiers of freedom.

HUGH L. MYERS Springfield, Pa.

Sir: I have listened with increasing distress over the past several months to the pollyannish placidity of the pronouncements by our government leaders and members of the "intellectual" establishment to the effect that the nature of Communism has changed and mellowed, that the Soviets wouldn't dare interfere in the Czechoslovak experiment with freedom.

To suppose that the Soviet Union would idly sit by and watch the dissolution of their power monopoly is and was an absurdity. All that has changed in the world situation is the escapist willingness of American leadership to believe that the nature of Communism could be anything but Communist, i.e., aggressive, imperialist, and monopolists of "the truth." It has been basically the same people who have been engaging in wishful thinking about Eastern Europe who have been opposed to our Viet Nam commitment to defend a beleaguered people from just such Communist tyranny. They have been unwilling to see the logical extensions of our commitments, and they foster the illusion that the Soviet Union has an interest in a peaceful settlement of the Viet Nam conflict, rather than being its progenitor.

BRUCE KESLER Brooklyn, N.Y.

Sir: As a member of the so-called "New Left," I am dismayed and severely stunned by its failure to speak out against the Soviet bloc during the Czech crisis. Despite their loud and somewhat successful denunciation and protest against the Vietnamese war, the vast majority of the members of the Democratic left maintained a stony silence in the aftermath of the tragedy in Prague. A truly democratic left should bring its weight to bear equally against the wrongs of the right and the extreme left. Perhaps it is surprising to learn that the Soviet Union, which represents itself as free, can commit the same acts of aggression in Czechoslovakia as the U.S., which also claims it is free, does in Asia. I can only hope that Czechoslovakia's progress toward realizing a blend of Communist economics with humanist politics will not perish. Long live a free Czechoslovakia!

JOSHUA S. ZANDER Manhattan

Tragedy in Biafra

Sir: Your article on the plight of Biafra [Aug. 23] was timely. There have been far too many Nigerian propaganda articles, and far too few truthful ones on the subject. I find a ghastly parallel be tween the murder of 6,000,000 Jews by Germany, and the attempt by Nigeria to destroy Biafra, which will ultimately result in the death of 8,000,000 Ibos if nothing is done.