Word: ek
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...advice that Dubček [April 25] and his countrymen should have taken from Joseph Stalin: "It is not for nothing that the proverb says, 'An obliging bear is more dangerous than an enemy.' " Perhaps we should take Stalin's words a little more seriously in dealing with the Russians...
Extra police, reinforced by Czechoslovak troops, were on duty in Prague and other cities to cope with demonstrations, but there were none. The students, unable to decide what to do, did nothing. Similarly, the workers staged no protests. Though they previously had threatened strikes if Dubček or Smrkovský should be demoted, union organizations issued an appeal for all Czechoslovaks to "avoid rash acts...
...riots that were touched off by the Czechoslovak team's victory over the Soviets in the international ice-hockey finals, the Russians had made it clear that, in the event of another major demonstration, they would send in their tanks. Another cause was the fact that Dubček no longer commanded the fierce loyalty that had united and inspired the Czechoslovak people six or eight months ago. Unnerved and physically exhausted, Dubček in recent weeks has withdrawn almost entirely from public life. Though sympathizing with his plight, many Czechoslovaks felt that his emotional make...
Even so, Dubček's ouster represented the culmination of a tragedy for Czechoslovakia. Dubcek had not sought to overthrow Communism; he wanted only, in his words, "to give it a human face" by removing needless abuses and brutalities. For a time, it seemed as if the tall, soft-spoken Slovak might succeed. Channeling a groundswell of discontent among both intellectuals and workers against the Stalinist regime of President and Party Boss Antonin Novotny, Dubček in early 1968 managed to overthrow the old order and institute the most far-ranging reforms and freedoms that had ever...
Under Dubček, Czechoslovaks experienced an exhilarating release from 20 years of police-state repression. New laws were enacted that granted rights ranging from freedom of the press and speech to the privilege of traveling abroad and emigrating. Artistic and political expression bloomed, and the country pulsed with hope and excitement. But Czechoslovakia's new ebullience frightened the Soviet and other East Bloc leaders, who feared that their own people would demand similar reforms. At a Warsaw Pact summit meeting in Dresden in March 1968, East German Boss Walter Ulbricht reportedly waved his arms ominously over the other...