Word: dubcek
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Dates: during 1968-1968
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...summed up in one word: isolation. Dependent on the presence of 20 Red army divisions for his survival, Ulbricht fears any diplomatic development that might leave his half of Germany stranded in Central Europe among countries that no longer practice his rigid, monolithic form of Communism. Alexander Dubcek's experiment in liberalizing Czechoslovakia thus represents a particular nightmare for the old East German boss. He fears that the Czecho slovaks will recognize West Germany in return for economic help. That, according to Ulbricht's domino theory, would lead to similar action by Hungary and the eventual isolation...
...skilled political infighter, Ulbricht has been doing all that he can to avoid such a chain of events. At first, he favored the overthrow of Dubcek's regime. But the Soviet accommodation at Cierna and Bratislava undoubtedly impressed upon Ulbricht the fact that his Eastern European neighbors no longer buckle under the way they used to. As a result, Ulbricht has embarked on a series of dramatic political maneuvers that have left diplomats in Europe wondering what he will do next...
That done, Ulbricht popped over to Czechoslovakia for his talk with Dubcek. He apparently now realizes as never before that many of the East European party bosses, including Dubcek, are impatient with the way Ulbricht has tried for years to block their efforts to normalize relations with Bonn. Nonetheless, he wants to force West Germany to come to some sort of understanding with East Germany before Bonn is allowed to make major diplomatic advances elsewhere in the East bloc. Thus, even though he made no progress at Karlovy Vary in trying to reverse Czechoslovakia's internal reforms, Ulbricht...
...begins to look as though no Communist leader in Eastern Europe is going to consider his summer complete without at least one visit to Czechoslovakia. First it was nearly the entire Soviet Politburo that dropped in, hoping to persuade Czechoslovak Party Chief Alexander Dubcek and his colleagues to mend their reforming ways. Next came Yugoslavia's Marshal Josip Broz Tito to congratulate Dubcek & Co. on standing firm against Moscow. Tito had scarcely departed Prague last week when another visitor arrived, this one again hostile: East Germany's Walter Ulbricht, who had led the propaganda barrage against the Dubcek...
Papousek claims the Czechs are mostly angry with themselves. They allowed Antonin Novotny, who was First Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party before the current reformer Dubcek, to exploit the socialist system for personal power. "We should have acted against the misuses of socialism a long time ago," he said...