SOVIET AND CZECHS
By SHIELA GRANT DUFF Prague, October, 1945
THE question is not so much whether, as how far, Czecho- slovakia is under Soviet influence. That it is under such in- fluence nobody here would think of denying ; on the other hand, it I, equally true that the Czechoslovak Government has complete formal sovereignty. The Soviet Government neither exercises nor attempts to exercise any direct intervention in the affairs of State. A foreigner coming to this country comes at few points into direct contact with any Soviet authority. The majority of the Czechoslovak Government are non-Communist. And yet no one would deny that the influence of the Soviet is strong enough to raise the question whether Czechoslovakia will remain a free and democratic republic, or will simply become a further extension of the Soviet bloc in Eastern Europe.
The two organs of Soviet power in this country are, firstly, the • Red Army, which is present on Czechoslovak soil in great numbers ; and, secondly, the Czechoslovak Communist parties—for there are two now (not one as in the first Republic), one in Bohemia and one in Slovakia': The Red Army, like the Soviet Government, does not intervene directly in Czechoslovak affairs. It certainly requisitions what it wants with little regard to the economic needs either of the Czechoslovak State or of Czechs and Slovaks individually, but its intervention in the Czechoslovak administration is actually less than - the intervention of the American military authorities in their zone around Plzen. And yet no one would pretend for one minute that Czechoslovakia came in any way under American influence. What is it then that makes the influence of the Red Army so great?
Firstly, it is the sheer, weight of its numbers and the fact that the Red Army, unlike tht British and American armies, lives off the land rand here I would just add that the American army drains off a tremendous quantity of much-needed milk, eggs and butter into the American zone). Nobody can tell one just how many Soviet troops are still present on Czechoslovak soil. I was told by two equally competent authorities that the numbers were 200,000 and 403,030, and the truth probably is that neither the Czechs nor the Russians know exactly what the facts are. For to the regular units stationed in barracks under some sort of military discipline must be added the stray Russians in all parts of the country who find living on the soil of an aly a more agreeable occupation than either re- turning home or serving in the army. A joint Czecho-Soviet security police, armed with motor bicycles, is said to have been formed to deal with these, and their orders, which I gather they carry out quite literally, are to shoot.
The presence of a large and, it must be admitted, considerably dis- organised army on another country's soil is bound to be a disturb- ing factor in that country's political development. It affects the economic life by putting immense burdens on an economy which is working none too well as it is. It decreases the food supply ; it intensifies the transport shortage (the Czech Press has openly corn- pained that railway wagons used for the transport of Russian troops and war booty back to the Soviet Union never return). It also, - undoubtedly, makes for public discontent. There are bound to be incidents between the civil popuiation and foreign troops. On the Czech side these incidents are complicated by the fact that there really does exist a very profound fellow-feeling for the Russians, even though some of their habits and their general standard of civilisation have been found a little surprising and disillusioning.
In the days immediately following the liberation national com- mittees came to power all over the country, and for the most part these committees were dominated by the Communists, partly because such elements naturally come to the fore in times of revolution and partly because the people presumed that this was the desire of their Soviet --" liberators." These committees now play a dominating part in the life of the country. In many cases the huge Communist pre- ponderance has already been modified, but where the Communists are strong they exercise an influence which is not always entirely on the party line as established by the Communist members of the Govern-
mean in Prague. This Government was set up, for all intents and purposes, in Moscow shortly before the country was liberated. At that time the Soviet Government definitely underestimated the strength of Benes and of the democratic parties in Czechoslovakia. It looks as if the democratic Czechs, too, miscalculated and allowed the Communists to get hold of important posts quite incommensurate with their electoral position in the country. The Ministries of the Interior, of Culture and of Propaganda and of Social Welfare, are all in Communist hands. There is a Communist under-secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and strong Communist influences in the Ministry of Defence. And yet for all this, the party is not reckoned to have a following of more than 20-35 per cent, in the country.
It is difficult to say how far these Communist parties carry out a policy laid down in Moscow. They are certainly, with the exception of Clementis at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, all Moscow-trained. I have not heard it suggested that the Ministry of the Interior operates so as to foster the Communist Party at the expense of the others, and certainly there are many very high officials in the Ministry who are not Communist. On the other hand, the Ministries of Information (Propaganda) and Education are undoubtedly working for the orientation of the Czechs away from the West and towards the East.
• In the very first days after liberation, agreements were made with the Russians which gave them a large predominance in the cultural life of Czechoslovakia. Two-thirds of the Barandov film studios— now almost the largest in Europe—were put at their disposal. An agreement was signed by which 6o per cent. of the films to be shown in the country must be Russian—thus leaving only 40 per cent. for British, Czech, French and all other films. (There is as yet no American competition, because the American film industry is refusing to deal with a State organisation, and the Czechoslovak film industry has already been nationalised.) In actual fact, pretty well go per cent. of the Prague cinemas are now showing Soviet films, and there is an inexplicable delay (one Czech authority told me it was due to trans- port difficulties) in bringing British films to Prague. Soviet books, plays, &c., get a similar advantage over the Western Powers, and the only thing which at all mitigates this preponderance is the scarcity of good Soviet literature and plays. Every Czech bookshop, however, has Russian books in its window, and every Czech shop and office has pictures of Stalin in a prominent position. The Czechoslovak radio system has a Communist director and a Communist news editor. In the army, all the promotions are said to be going to officers from General Svoboda's Eastern Army, while officers from the Brigade from Britain tend either to be demobilised or despatched to odd and rather dull corners. The Communists occupy the majority of the leading positions in the new " non-party " Trade Union organisation —URO. And in the Youth Organisation, the free youth organisations of before the war have been replaced by a general, " non-party " organisation which is predominantly Communist.
The decisive question therefore is whether the Communist parties are simply the organs of Soviet control in the countries in which they operate or whether they are pursuing an independent policy. The Czechoslovak Communist Party has the reputation of being one of the least " Communist " parties in Europe, and its present activities undoubtedly distinguish it even from its pre-war self. It is strongly " activist " in character. Its Ministers in the Govern- ment are working as loyal and conscientious members of a team. And The party, as a whole, has assumed for the most part the duties, as well as the rights, of a democratic party, working within the framework of a party system. One should not assume that this democratic and co-operative attitude on the part of the Czechoslovak Communist party in any way precludes it from being the instrument of Soviet policy in Czechoslovakia. On the contrary, it seems in- creasingly possible that the Soviet Union may prefer to have a strong and rich Czechoslovakia even at the price of its remaining a political as well as an economic democracy. For, one thing is certain—that even the Clerical Party—the most Right wing of the parties now permitted in Czechoslovakia—is absolutely loyal to the Soviet Alliance, and no Czech or Slovak party would ever dream of doing anything to impair the alliance with the Soviet Union.'
This, in fact, is the crux of the whole question of Soviet influence in this country. Every man and woman not only knows that the Soviet alliance is inevitable but earnestly desires it, and the pre- dominating factor is not the Soviet will to impose but the Czecho- slovak will to please. Here and there voices are raised protesting against a too slavish interpretation of the desire to please, and these voices are gaining in strength and courage as it daily becomes more obvious that no one but the really fanatical Communists desires an exclusive orientation to the East.
ttut in the end, the really decisive factor for the Czechs is not their own desires but the relationship between the Soviet Union and the Western Powers. So long as this is good and the frame- work of European policy is the Anglo-Soviet alliance, there is no son of reason why Czechoslovakia should not remain an independent political democracy with strong ties both with Britain and the U.S.S.R. Failing that, she will have no choice but to throw in her lot with the Soviet Union.
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