Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 29, 1968, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press monday july 29, 1968 life goes on As usual despite revolution everybody s by Neal Atcherson Prague special owns everybody is peering at the czechs. The Prague hotels Are crammed with foreign journalists ready to set off for the in hired Skoda s. The streets Are full of German tourists East and West with buses from Bamberg and Karl Marx Stadt Munich and Dresden. Instructed by their party to explain to the czechoslovak workers that a West German imperialist plot is Over throwing social the East German tourists trudge nervously about the streets hoping not to find anyone Thev might have to talk to. And the West germans armed with cameras merely peer. But the czechs Are Viding no sensations. They Are anxious and tense but there is no panic. In this supreme moment of the czechoslovak crisis As the soviet leaders Are in Kosice in East Slovakia to face the czech reformist Alexander Dubcek and the columns of russian trucks crawl unwillingly across the land on their deliberately tortuous route toward the Frontier they Are avoiding drama As Only the czechs know How. In the factories work has slowed Down almost stopped everywhere on shop floor and in the offices men and women fluster around transistor sets and listen to the terrifying abuse of the Warsaw pact letter the Long and patient answer of the czechoslovak presidium the repeats of or. Dubcek s television speech and the proceedings of the Central committee e m e r gency meeting in Prague Castle which for the first time is being broadcast live to the people. In the Long Graceful rec tangle of Wenceslas the news vendors proclaim special editions in voices like cracked Bells. And the queues from quiet Sticky workmen in cheap Blue shirts Young girls with Glass jewelry and plastic macintoshes h u s. E old ladies with varicose veins who seem eternally to be ferrying giant tankards of Brown Beer from one of the Square to the other ancient whiskered men in ancient whiskered suits who remember an austrian Prague and a first Liberal Republic under Thomas Masaryk. They take away these Damp single sheets on which the minute Type the Blurry photographs the Jar gon of a communist press now speak the language of Freedom. Sometimes a few people gather and discuss. The crowds do not join in they Stop nearby and watch the argues with a sideways smite. A sort of dogged Confidence is growing that the nation will pull through. At the beginning there was cynicism and doubt the party would not admit the scale of the crisis and issued Only nervous and contradictory statements in Sooj Jaios Stefl Jnoes the country which played Down the danger. So they Are just another lot of a Man told me who do not know How to Tell the Ynith to the people. Whom can you be then in the Small hours of july 18, the five Warsaw pact Powers released the text of their letter. Private negotiations were now impossible. The full Dimen Sions of the menace were Plain. The soviet Union and its four closest allies dec Lared that the counter revolution was rampant in Czechoslovakia that this danger involved the whole Warsaw pact that they could not stand by indifferent. A wave of horror ran through the country less of fear than of scandalized anger. Untrue muttered the listeners As they clutched their radios and listened to the unwind ing catalogue of abuse. Now or. Dubcek moved to take the nation into his Confidence. Czech journalists were called to him and were read the text of the letter and the reply. Or. Dubcek did not warn them to be discreet or urge them to support him. Instead he asked what do you. Think have we acted correctly what is the feeling in the they talked and argued As among friends in time of trouble and then the journalists went away and set about publishing both Docu ments. At once the czechoslovak began to draw to Gether around their leaders. Everywhere people began to draft telegrams of sup port. In one office where there were Only three party members the staff wanted to Send a message of encouragement. The director Pale with anger said that Only communists could Send messages to or. Dubcek and anyway he and his two colleagues old Novotny place men hoped that the soviet Union would break this scandalous Experiment. Shut said the staff. They locked the director to his room and wrote their Telegram. Afterwards in the polite. Czech manner they let him out and went Back to their double column accounting. In one hotel the staff gathered for a party meet ing in the panty. Waiters maids to uniform Char women and receptionists listened to a Brief speech from their chairman and then agreed to a Telegram telling or. Dubcek that they were All behind him. Say we Are keeping our fingers crossed for a maid put in. Everybody was. Moved by or. Dubcek s television speech. Awkwardly fitting his spectacles onto his Long nose he told the nation that the party would stand firm by the new course hoping still for Friendship and co operation with the soviet Union and the Warsaw pact. Then he looked up his charming Duck billed face creased with special Gravity and humbly thanked the czech and slovak people for their expressions of support. With this he Laid a ghost. Since Munich when net Only the Western Powers but their own government capitulated to pressure and shattered patriotic innocence the czechs have been haunted by the fear of betrayal. I heard the last sound this people really said an intellectual. It was in 1938 the noise in my. House in Prague As the Young volunteers pulled on their reservists boots and went thundering Down the stairs past my door. Since then we have been now the Long silence is ending in the rising Heap of spontaneous telegrams and the delegations walking to Prague Castle to make sure that their or. Dubcek knows that they stand right behind him. Nobody has mobilized Public opinion there have been no demonstrations. There is no need for them. Support came in from the oddest quarters. The Young of the counter intelligence ser ice have written an open letter indignantly expressing full Solidarity and respect for prof. Edward Gold Stuecker. Reforming Leader of the writers Union who was attacked by Ajio Tymous anti semitic leaflets. The chairman of the Peoples militia the Para military organization of fac tory guards. Which seemed at one time to be a nest of old guard followers of sex president Novotny has also pledged his men to the new course without reservations. Significant of the new mood were the elections of delegates by party branches for the emergency Congress in september which have just ended. For the first time the workers and even the Farmers did not choose party True Yemen from the factory floor. Instead among the 1300 delegates there is a High proportion of qualified men scientists and engineers. In the Branch meetings the workers said repeatedly that they wanted intelligent representatives who would use their brains and judgment for them. In the party there is a feeling that the sting of the crisis is being drawn. The Warsaw letter Tough As it was was not an ultimatum. The yugoslavs got a worse one in 1948, which actually demanded the removal of five men from the Leader ship and named one As a Western spy. Military intervention is not considered conceivable unless there is some provocation or riot against soviet troops. The support of almost All the Western communist parties As Well As that of Romania and Yugoslavia Means that such a tragedy would Shat Ter what remains of world communist Unity under so Viet leadership. The problem May now be to find the soviet Union a Way of honorable Retreat. Nobody Here has missed the remarkable meeting in Moscow Between soviet Premier Kosygin and Frantisek Hamouz czech Deputy prime minister at a com econ gathering. Or. Kosygin assured or. Hamouz that the soviet Union would continue to carry out its trading and obligation to Czechoslovakia and hoped that it would be possible to extend them further. Thi s May mean that there is a very startling difference of approach Between or. Kosygin and party Leader Leonid Brezhnev or that the soviet Union is already contemplating a Way to live with the new czechoslovak system. Nonetheless it was hard to believe one s ears As a at the czechs senior party member said we will not misuse our advantage Over the soviet Union. All we want is to normalize relations again mostly in our own interests. We have a to do at Home. If we get a reason Able a s s u r a n c e of non intervention we will help the soviet Union to overcome its International difficulties but not on the basis of any czechoslovak concessions. Of course we do not need even to give them an Assurance of the limits to which our democratization will gov we will carry out the ideas Laid Down in our action he grinned gently behind his dark glasses. It seems incredible that anyone could regard the situation As a matter of Little Czechoslovakia helping the soviet Union to extract itself from Aii awful indiscretion but Many czech leaders to closest touch consider that this is becoming the real position. The soviet leaders have How consented to come to Kosice after vainly sum Moning the1 czechs first to Moscow then to Kiev and to Lwow in the Ukraine. At All costs the russians must not be made to feel that Kosice is a Canossa. In the press fear and anger Are slowly giving Way to humor. The weekly liter Arni Listy in a special edition has a cartoon of a girl lying Back on a bed. On top of her squats a minute soviet tank. She groans Darling what a wonderful Way of making love to the allegations in the Warsaw letter that powerful forces to Czechoslovakia Are trying to restore capitalism Are also becoming a joke. Another cartoon shows an old czech asking Alisa with our and collapsing with mock ing laughter. Nobody can be certain yet that the unbelievable will not happen that the soviet troops will not halt and return on some pretext like american arms dumps in West Bohemia to crush the whole czechoslovak Experiment. Ordinary people sigh for president Tito to come he is a Good Man he will help but they see that the Only safety is in firmness and courage. The people of Prague Are still leaving for their sum Mer holidays in cars ancient and modern taking their transistors with them. No reserves have been called up or barricades built. But on the pavement old men Are Selling Young men yellow plastic badges saying "1 love jeered St. Tropez France Reu ters French screen and pop music idols Alain Delon and Johnny Halliday fought sunday Witk greek and italian tourists who made insulting remarks at French actress Brigette Bardot and reduced her to tears. The two aided by miss bar Dot s latest escort italian ship Ping magnate Luigi Rizzi traded in with fists flying after hearing such remarks As she s very dowdy seen from this whisky bottles flew through the air As the weeping miss Bardot rushed from the fight scene in the exclusive room room club Here. The actress was later driven Home by Rizzi in her White limousine. R pm of season and Sale a so right for your summer vacation easy care swim suits Beach accessories casual and play Wear of Cotton synthetics terrycloth and Nylon All at fantastic savings group i one piece two piece and bikinis by famous makers. Take advantage of the sunny Days ahead choose from various reliable fabrics. 8 to 20 broken size Range. Reg. To spec. Ea., Price group ii Beach covers and accessories including jackets shifts and covers of Cottons laces and terrycloth be sure to Check on Straw hats and bags sunglasses and lotions. Reg. To spec. Ea., group in famous name play Wear in popular summer shades of Cotton and Sailcloth. Choose from slims shorts skirts jackets blouses and assorted tops. 10 to 20 broken sizes Reg. To spec. Ea., i Price Price Bay san and swim shop third floor. Group v Quality Cotton synthetic blends Terry cloth and Nylon shorts and knit tops All available in sunny coloured Plains and stripes. Broken Price group Iii famous name Cottons and synthetic blends in your Choice of slims shorts skirts jackets and tops. 8 to 18 collectively. Hurry to the Bay for these specials. F Price group i skirts in popular pleated Basic dirndl and Many belted styles. Bright Plains and patterns of Cotton and synthetic blends. Sizes 8 to 18. Reg. To spec. Ea., Reg. . The boy sport Awtar third floor. Personal shopping Only please All sales final. A shoe sate sandals spec pr., closed casuals spec or. 10 .99 casuals and sandals in Whites and lights All your favorite fashion looks in closed casuals and Cool Sandal styles. Pretty Heel and Flat styles in White Bone and colors collectively. Comfortably constructed with leather uppers and cemented soles. Sizes set to 10 Aab collectively. Shop the Bay Lor this special saving on casual and Sandal footwear. Personal shopping Only please toy women t shots. Third floor. Tonight til daily . To 6 . Thursday and Friday . To 9 30 . Dial All departments. Our of town shoppers ask for z in irk 5-5000, toll free ;