Czech Exile Recalls Tensions Leading to 'Spring of Prague'

Jiri Pelikan, a former member of the deposed Dubcek government in Czechoslovakia, told a group of about 30 people in Cabot Hall last hight that contradictions between the ideals and the practice of socialism gave rise to the 1968 "Spring of Prague."

Pelikan, a leader of the exiled socialist opposition, said that students, intellectuals and workers in Czechoslovakia united to restore these ideals during the first six months of 1968 when Czeshoslovakia attempted to democratize its political system.

The major thrusts of these attempts were to democratize political decision, develop workers' councils modeled after those in Yugoslvia, and abolish censorship, Pelikan explained.

The Soviet Union repressed the "Spring of Prague' for fear that other countries would fellow the Czech example, Pelikan said.

"The Soviet leaders are cynical and believe in a type of 'Socialist goulash' where workers are encouraged to seek satisfaction from their cars and homes and to remain out of politics," Pelikan said.

Pelikan pointed to the unique cooperation between students, intellectuals and workers in the country in 1968 and attributed their solidarity to the dialogue among the group which clarified their common goals.

Rather than economic goals, the people were mostly concerned about their political freedoms, Pelikan explained.

Remnants of the "Spring of Prague" still exist in Czechoslovkia, Pelikan said.

But he said attempts at democracy are limited by the "systematic policy of destroying the great part of the Czech intelligentsia" Pelikan explained.

Former university professors of Marxism are now driving taxi-cabs, Pelikan said.

Pelikan expressed optimism that the current situation in his country would not be a permanent one. "I am convinced that someday there will be a new 'spring of Prague' offering an alternative program of socialist democracy," Pelikan said.