0 come, all ye faithful
Sir: I have patiently attempted to deci- pher the hysterical and incoherent letter from the 'Czechoslovak' studene Pavel Tomalik (Letters, 28 June). As I see it, he makes the following points: a) he hates capitalism; b) he hates us policy in Viet- nam; c) he hates me and all those other non-communists who, like me, abhor Soviet actions in Czechoslovakia.
Nor is this all. 'If America had not followed such an aggressive NATO policy', announces Mr Tomalik, 'then we would be a free nation today'. What is more, `Russian policy in our country strengthens the capitalist system every day'. Am I mad? Or dreaming? Or does Mr Tomalik really expect us to believe that his country was .enslaved by the aggressive us, who took advantage of Soviet preoccupation with the strengthening of capitalism? In 1939, when the Germans finally captured the battered city of Warsaw, they put up large signs on every devastated site, saying 'England, you are responsible for this!' But at least the Germans had to put up the signs themselves: they could find no Polish stooges to do it for them.
I have other news for him: he may find this impossible to imagine, but in this country we have a free press. In common with all your other contributors, I write only what I believe to be true—and not in accordance with the orders of some sinister capitalist Agitprop. Moreover, I express my own views—unlike Mr Tomalik, who purports to write on behalf of mysterious collective entities ('we', 'many Czechs', 'my friends at home', 'my country', etc.), for which, as far as I can see, he has no authorisation apart from the usual com- munist arrogance.
Mr Tomalik is distressed at having to read articles which do not conform to the official Soviet interpretation of events. He has my sympathy, but I fear that, short of boycotting all British publications, there is very little he or his comrades can do about it here. Yet a solution does exist: I can supply him with a list of more congenial countries where only Soviet communist views are permitted. Today Czechoslovakia is one of them.
And anyway, if Mr Tomalik hates capitalism as passionately as he says he does, what is he doing in 'rotten capitalist' Britain in the first place? Are any capitalist friends forcing him to endure the unspeak- able horrors of our detestable social system? If so, they should instantly cease and desists, and permit Mr Tomalik to return to peaceful, happy socialist Czecho- slovakia and to take an active part in the construction (or rebuilding) of the Soviet communist system.
Tibor Szamuely Faculty of Letters and Social Sciences, University of Reading
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