Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 16, 1969, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press. Wednesday july 6, 1969 czechs reported relapsing into by Jonathan Steele mixed in uie fight a Rains u rim by Jonathan Steele Prague special the going through a hangover now after last year. Soon we shall Wake up and things will be this was How Cestmir Cisar. The chairman of the National Council the coun try s parliament described the situation at a press conference for1 foreign journalists three weeks ago. It was hard to believe limn Ihal inc. Metaphor or the optimism that Lav behind in was a Iuit justified. It is even harder to believe in now. As i he weeks go by since or. Ii u s a k s Advent to Power the most striking thing that confronts a reporter in Prague is the extent to which Ordinary people Are already withdrawing from politics. The finer Points of political discussion i he Day to Day changes in the party apparatus or in the newspaper offices excite less and less general inter est. One has Only to so to the Cinema and hear the whistling and booing at. The news reels s h o w i n g or. Slusak and Leonid Brezhnev locked in a Bear hug at Moscow Airport to Sec the most expressive evidence this. But it. Is Clear in Many Oiler ways the appalling working morale in he fac tories widespread Absentee ism poor attendance at paily meetings the drop in newspaper sales. Or. Slusak is said id have been Holh surprised and hurl by this nationwide lapse into apathy. He can hardly have expected a honeymoon. But he had hoped that people would accept i min april As the Man Best Able to end the emotionally exhausting per Iod since the invasion and restore sonic sense of control. Strangely p e r h a p s at first sight those most inclined to stay with the parly Are intellectuals and graduates in the professions and in Industry. But then it is often overlooked that last year s Reform movement was mainly an upheaval in the communist party itself led by the intelligentsia. Many arc reluctant to go now and leave the Field to conservatives. Making a pro test resignation has Little effect since they receive no publicity for it. The hardest hit is the generation now in their forties and fifties people who joined the party before the War because it seemed the least compromised in uie fight against fascism after it in the great swing to the left which affected both Western and Eastern Europe. Last year s attempt to build socialism with a human face was the culmination of a lifetime of loyalty to the party s ideals. The disappointment now is often too hard to Bear. This too is the generation most affected by today s purges As they Sec friends removed from their jobs and for the to fall on them selves. To wait for expulsion rather than resign theatrically seems the More dignified Choice. Doctrine an enforced consensus has now been substituted for last year s debate. The new doctrine of realism and Jures in or Fusak s words., any return either to the dogmatism and regimen to lion of the Novotny Era or to opportunities tic pseudo democratic conceptions according to which everyone has a say in everything and no one is responsible for this kind of vocabulary in which the edges of the political spec Trum have been Cut off very near the Middle and every one becomes a centrist inevitably creates tremendous issues of Trust and suspicion. Is the Man who was last year a Liberal and today n centrist Only keeping quiet or has he. Really been converted has the old is Vot Nyit really recanted or is he just biding his Lime time after time one hears the phrase now about one or other of last year s reformers he was and pause perhaps still is a or. Husak s repeated claim that he wants no return to the conditions of the Novotny period is sin Cere. Most intellectuals arc agreed on this Point Al though they Are often alarmingly bitter about him on other issues. Partly one suspects it is the old Prague prejudice about Slovakia partly distaste for his style. Or. Slusak is a centralist and a disciplinarian. He is also ambitions. Alexander Dubcek has dropped out of the picture surprisingly quickly although As chair Man of the Federal Assem Bly he still fulfils a string of mainly ceremonial functions. Of him it is now said he had neither the will nor the ability to give this country government 1 or. Slusak clearly has the will. Whether he has the ability is still not Clear. His chosen course of restoring Central party discipline and dismantling any organization like the students Union which tries to stay out of the now docile National from Crea Tes daily conflict. A raut Ihl with peril it estranged Public Opi Nion. U is fraught with danger As it is already bringing Back into Power Willy Nilly Many of the conservatives who served under Novotny and who collaborated with the rus sians in Angus vet it is hard to see what alternative the leadership has. If discussions with czechoslovak journalists Over the minutiae of the political changes seem at times unreal com pared with people s general withdrawal into their priv ate lives they seem equally unreal when one remembers the russian occupation. In their excitement Over the jabs of resistance which a few writers students and workers still put up against the. Party leaders people Short old not forget this is an occupied country and the czech leaders Are not free i gents. For Many o r d i n a r y czechs the Economy and the housing shortage arc again the main problems now. Here Loo the government knows that is no Short Cut to popularity. The nov on site trick of giving a Little largesse in the form of higher wages or rent cuts when tilings were going badly is impossible. The Economy is in too wretched a state. Yet in Spile of this tremendous c o n s t r a i n t things Are still not As Tough politically in Czechoslovakia As people outside the coun try often imagine. The forced Retreat from the conditions of last year has still left the country farther Forward than two three five 01 ten years ago. The endless vacation you be been driving Home All cloy arid you feel it s cooler on the Sahara and quieter at a Green Bay game the kids Are tired. The fussing in the Back seat gets More annoying with every mile. Give up then consider a Thermo King Auto air conditioner. It cools faster than a factory system and it costs far less you ride quiet with windows up. In air washed clean of dust and pollen. For Economy you can switch your Thermo King to your next car. That s important because once you be had a Thermo King cooled vacation you la never want to try the other kind again Thermo King m Auto air conditioning wild one charged for medals Hamilton Ftp a a Mil ton member of the wild ones i in o t o r c y c c club has been charged under a rarely i Secl Section of the criminal code prohibiting the w e a r i n g of military medals. Hussell Arthur Newton Al. Of Hamilton has been summoned to Appeal in court sept. 30. Wat Crown provincial police seized his Blue Denim jacket containing id allegedly authentic medals from Germany. Included among the medals is a Mulher s award in Honor of hearing four children for nazi Germany an Iron Cross and badges Fin wounds in Bailie j submarine warfare the Sieg Fried . The russian Winter Campaign and loyalty. Cpl. James said his department has warned local motorcyclists for More than a year it is illegal to Wear military medals. This is the first charge Laid. J Section Ahab of the criminal code forbids wearing of any military decoration., mini station. Or anything that might be mis taken for a military meal. The Rule applies to medals of any country and is not restricted to Canadian medals. Kahili Tinea challenges o Chretien for one Day installation see Winnipeg s exclusive distributor priced from plus installation phone 786-6541 1300 Portage ave. Montreal Chi Princess Kahn Tinea Horn of the Naraga Indian Reserve tuesday challenged Indian affairs minis Ter Jean Chretien to a Public de Bate. Miss Horn said the Federal government s recent proposals. Aimed at ending special Indian status and allowing individual Purchase of Indian lands arc unsatisfactory. She said or. Chretien fails to understand the Virv first j principle of our life Liat our lands belong to All the people of our nation one nation i Divisi ble.11 he talks of taking five years to Divide and subdivide our lands so that those who arc in the goo i government graces. Collaborate with them and obey their demands will suddenly find the lands have become their property. The rest of our nation will be robbed because the collaborationist will have become Rich the government will have stolen our the Federal government announced june 25 it wants to Eli Minate its special responsibility for Indian affairs and make the provincial governments responsible for providing the same services to indians As they do to All other residents. Miss Horn said she plans to travel from Reserve to Reserve across Canada encouraging indians to resist by lawful Means i the plans proposed by or. Care 1 Lien. People still talk freely and Are prepared to Mee t for e i g n journalists openly. There have been no arrests and there is no Prospect of political trials. Or. Husak has an unenviable course to steer with the russians on one Side a largely mistrustful Public on the other and the conservatives in the Pray sic Lium constantly at his Elbow. The country s hang Over seems Likely to last a bit longer yet. Although control is being reimposed Over the press Tiffin to n Ster. And fuss his helmet and Headset preparatory to lifting off tuesday m a which carried him on part of his Fence mending our Manitoba. Or. Trudeau used the chopper to Visi a Dairy and television either by direct censorship or Edito rial changes the rest of the arts still operate More freely. This last few weeks. For example uie Sebastopol Cinema in Prague has been Shou ing the prize winning film. All Good countrymen which paints an unflattering picture of the collectivisation of agriculture in the 950s. The special rehabilitation senates Are also still Busy Clearing people sentenced for alleged political crimes at that time. For Many people this May All seem Small Beer after last year. Or. Husak has somehow to persuade them to compare things not with the eight months from Jan nary to August. Ims. Hut to the Long period before that. We must see things in historical perspective is a favorite phrase now. H lies behind the presidium s decision last week to publish the secret report on the country s crisis which was prepared for it on the eve of the invasion. This said that More control Over the press and Tough measures in the Economy were necessary already then. The leadership c i e a r i y wants people to accept that these things would have had to happen even before the troops came in. Historical perspective 1 Means the fut ure As Well As the past. Or. Husak s strategy is Jong term. He must convince the nation that the present restrictions Are limited and temporary. Only then is morale Likely to be restored far enough in the factories for the Economy to expand and produce some Reward for people s Faith and Bard work. It is going to take time. Cake at Home better j a four year study i in England showed that patients i treated at Home after heart attacks got More rest and were less upset than those admitted to a Hospital the British medical journal reports. July demonstration schedule tonight. July 16 i . And Westwood in Assiniboia thursday july 17 7 . Dakota Village. St. Miry i my Dakota St. Vital 9 . Charre Rhodic hotel. Margrave and York for further information Call 943-8668 r Adina dynamics of Manitoba limited 362 Portage Avenue Telephone 943-3668 pre sweetened drink mixes pre sweetened. Not bubbly no fuss just add water let the kids make it. One package makes 2 quarts 80 about a half cent a Glass contains real sugar for natural flavor. Great for appetites. Try All 8 flavors. Good for making pops cles ;