Czechoslovakia: Prague's Sullen Winter

The economy slows, cheating increases and weekends get longer

In Czechoslovakia, a country haunted by its past, one event in particular lingers in the national mind: the Soviet-led invasion by some 600,000 Warsaw Pact troops in August 1968. That show of force quickly snuffed out the budding reforms that came to be known as the "Prague Spring" and led to the replacement in April 1969 of Communist Chief Alexander Dubcek by Gustav Husak, a party official loyal to Moscow. Since then, Husak has sought to "normalize" life by striking an unwritten deal with his 15 million countrymen: do not stir up political trouble and, in exchange, enjoy a steadily improving standard of living. But as the country's economy has faltered, the nation has become apprehensive. This week, as Prague plays host to the annual summit meeting of the seven-member Warsaw Pact, Soviet Leader Yuri Andropov is expected to go to Czechoslovakia for his first trip outside the Soviet Union since taking over from Leonid Brezhnev. To assess the current mood, Bonn Correspondent John Moody traveled through Czechoslovakia. His report:

By 4 p.m., the winter night has stolen the shine from the Vltava River and turned the ornate sculptures on the venerable Charles Bridge into spooky, weather scarred night stalkers. On Na Prikope Street, a major artery, every third street lamp emits a ghostly glow, for most of the rest are turned off. Some side streets are completely dark.

The scene is not from Kafka but from contemporary Prague, where the Good King Wenceslas ruled in the 10th century, where Mozart first performed Don Giovanni, and where, on Aug. 20, 1968, Soviet tanks rumbled through the streets. It is a measure of the country's reliance on the Soviet Union that something as basic as the street lights in the country's capital are affected by Moscow's policies: two of three are dark because the Soviet Union last year cut oil deliveries to Czechoslovakia by 12%.

Gustav Husak, 69, had developed such close relations with Leonid Brezhnev that among East European leaders he alone was allowed to address the late Soviet leader in the familiar "tuy" form of Russian. Husak in effect has stifled political unrest partly by offering Czechs what is one of the highest standards of living in Eastern Europe. A similar bargain was struck in Hungary by Janos Kadar, who took over after the abortive revolution there in 1956. As a senior Western diplomat in Prague puts it: "Husak told Czechs, 'Keep your heads down politically or you'll get them knocked off again, like in '68. In return, we'll look the other way when you steal from factories to feather your own nests."

Until the late 1970s, the bargain held.