The slow burn
AFTERTHOUGHT JOHN WELLS
Reactions in Moscow to the suicide last week of Jan Palach, writes our Soviet Commonwealth Correspondent Krawlin Legum, have ranged from outright condemnation to feelings of help- less despair. For the man in the street, not con- cerned with power or politics, such an episode must be harrowing, but like his wiser comrades in the Soviet Commonwealth Office, he realises that Czechoslovakia is a little cotintry a long way away: the Soviet Premier himself has pledged his support for the legal government in Prague in the matter of continuing arms sup- plies, and in the delivery of aid and relief as soon as the rebels give up their senseless struggle: but until such time it is all too tragic- ally plain that nothing decided in Moscow, with all the goodwill in the world, can influence in any way the tragedy at present being acted out in the Czech capital.
Typical of the reaction of the intelligent Soviet citizen to this latest incident is the line taken by Privyet I, a satirical magazine well known for its fearless and outspoken views. Here a photo- graph is printed which shows Palach in flames, an expression of extreme agony on his face. 'Life under tile Russians is killing, Czechiboys,' he is saying, 'and I will burn myself to death to prove it.' This rough gem of earthy wit exactly encapsulates the healthy feelings of sensible Russians everywhere. As the genial and urbane author of the immensely readable Anatomy of the Soviet State. Grigor Ilob, hitherto not widely recognised as an authority on Czech affairs, says, 'the rebellious Czechs are masochists: they like to suffer: however great the generosity and understanding of the Soviet people in their re- gard they would still find cause to bring suffer- ing upon themselves. The hands of the Soviet people are white as snow : they are extended to- wards Prague in supplication : let this foolish resistance end, and they will be welcomed once again into the Soviet family.'
Palach's greatest burden of guilt, in the view of reasonable observers here, is that by exacer- bating the situation in this way he may well cause others to offer resistance. Hundreds, even thousan4s, of innocent lives may be lost, and he must bear the sole responsibility if such a thing shoal happen. The grief of Soviet citizens, and particularly of the Soviet Commonwealth Office and of the Central Committee at the prospect is boundless, but it must be tempered with right- eous indignation at the foolhardy megalomania of Palach and the political irresponsibility of his act. The fact that Palach, according to re- liable sources at the Soviet Commonwealth Office, is a noted pyromaniac and drug addict who has frequently set fire to himself in the past while attempting to light his marijuana-filled 'reefers' in no way excuses him.
Soviet policy in Czechoslovakia is simple, open and straightforward, and stands proudly before the court of world opinion in which it has been so unjustly maligned. Since granting Czechoslovakia her independence in 1945, the Soviet Union has understandably been looked upon by the legal regime in Prague as protector and adviser. Faced with internal strife in the summer of 1968, it was naturally to the Soviet Union that the country turned for help. As the traditional suppliers of arms to the Czecho- slovak people, Moscow was not slow in sending carefully regulated deliveries of artillery, tanks, armoured cars and small arms, and these sup- plies have continued purely and simply in order that the Soviet Union may retain influence in Prague, and may be able to urge restraint on the legal regime in dealing with rebels and those in favour of secession from the Soviet Common- wealth of Nations.
To suggest, as some have outside the Soviet Union, that it is Moscow policy to 'snuff out' or 'crush' a movement for independence is manifestly absurd. On the contrary, it has been the urgent desire of the Soviet Premier, who is on his own admission 'deeply sincere in his deep concern about this tragic situation,' to bring both sides to the conference table. To this end uniformed and plain-clothes members of the Russian security forces have left no stone un- turned in their attempts to make contact with active rebels. But again and again the rebels have refused to talk, have refused to come to the conference table, and have refused to trust the Soviet government in their sincere efforts to bring about a peaceful solution. It is a heavy load of guilt indeed that Palach and his fol- lowers bear, if only in terms of the human suf- fering and death to come, as they continue to offer their futile and unreasonable resistance.
So far, at least, despite the inflammatory be- haviour of the man-Palach, the rebels have con- trolled their aggressive instincts inasmuch as they have refused to defend themselves. But let the rebels take heed. It is not inconceivable that a situation might still develop such as we have seen in Nigeria, where the Soviet Union and Great Britain fight shoulder to shoulder against a similarly irrational enemy. It only requires 30,000 or so Czechs, in their insane masochism, to browbeat their Russian neighbours into assisting them in an act of mass suicide : it only requires those that remain to take up arms in 'self-defence,' and the legal regime in Prague will be forced to demand further Soviet assist- ance in maintaining law and order. Since the regime would otherwise only obtain arms else- where, the Soviet Union would be forced to comply. It only then requires the rebels to con- tinue their resistance as the other major powers offer Moscow their moral support and urge the Red Cross to withhold their succour to the rebels in the interests of a swift solution, and thousands of white Biafrans would be pig- headedly starving to death in Europe. Jan Palach indeed bears a terrible guilt; hats off to the courageous Russian people who are not afraid to condemn him.
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