East-West: Our Time Has Come

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"Dubcek! Dubcek!" Who ever expected to see the day when Alexander Dubcek, the man who first tried to give East European Communism a "human face," would return to Prague so triumphantly, or be welcomed so deliriously? Yet day after day, as the leaden skies of late autumn began turning to dusk, the crowds beneath the statue of St. Wenceslas in downtown Prague kept growing, in size and in confidence. By late last week they had swelled into the largest protests in Czechoslovakia's history: a half million chanting, shouting, horn- honking people, all bent on ousting the repressive rule of Communist Party leader Milos Jakes. They achieved their primary objective in just eight days.

On Friday, Jakes and all 13 other members of the ruling Politburo resigned en masse, admitting that they had taken insufficient measures to bring about democratic reform in the country. Within hours Jakes was replaced by Karel Urbanek, 48, party leader of the Czech republic. Urbanek played no role whatsoever in the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, the principal condition set by opposition forces for the choice of a new party leader. But his views on reform are far from clear, and some observers saw him as a - transition figure. Jubilation over Jakes' departure was further tempered by the reappointment of several hard-liners to a new nine-member Politburo and by the resignation of Prime Minister Ladislav Adamec, widely regarded as a moderate.

Political maneuvering will clearly go on for some time. A number of opposition leaders are already demanding the return of Adamec, whom they view as the key to bringing Czechoslovakia such reforms as interim power sharing with the opposition, creation of a multiparty system and curbs on police powers. By week's end Dubcek was calling for still more change. Addressing a vast throng on Saturday in Letna Plain, a parade area overlooking Prague, he said the Politburo shuffle alone "did not meet the demands of the people." The government, he added, is "telling us that the street is not the place for things to be solved, but I say the street was and is the place. The voice of the street must be heard."

Czechoslovakia now joins the astonishing avalanche of change that is overtaking Eastern Europe. Poland was the first to move, electing a non- Communist government in August. In the past six weeks, upheavals have taken place in the Hungarian, East German and Bulgarian Communist parties. Nor were events in Prague the only remarkable developments that took place last week.

In East Germany new party leader Egon Krenz mounted a campaign to live down his long association with his discredited predecessor, Erich Honecker, who is under investigation for suspected abuses of power. Struggling to hang on to his job as the party prepares for a seminal congress on Dec. 15, Krenz announced that he favored rescinding the country's constitutional guarantee of a "leading role" for the Communist Party, opening the possibility of multiparty rule.