Czechoslovakia: Into Unexplored Terrain

CZECHOSLOVAKIA

(See Cover)

Up the winding road to Hradčany Castle, which broods above Prague's Baroque towers and its wide, grey Vltava River, came a steady stream of Tatra limousines. As they had many times before, they bore the rulers of Communist Czechoslovakia to a meeting of the Central Committee, usually the most remote and tightly guarded of affairs. On this spring morning, however, the atmosphere on Hradčany Hill was more like the opening of a fair. The usual security guards were absent, and crowds of people wandered unhindered through the castle's many courtyards. As the Communist leaders arrived, they...