THE CHALLENGE OF PRAGUE
THE revolution in Czechoslovakia is running its appointed course, and the world has had time for full reflection on it. In the land of T. G. Masaryk, whose volume The Making of a State is a very classic of democracy, Communism sits enthroned. If such a soil can yield such a harvest, where, it may well be asked, can Communism be resisted ? The question is worth pursuing, for as General Smuts has said, unless the corrosive flood can be halted now it will submerge all Europe and half the rest of the world. But first there is a prior question to be faced. Is it Communism that is pouring westward, or Russian imperialism in an inevitably Communist guise ? It probably in fact is both. Communism is the established political creed, little less than the recognised religion, in Russia. Stalin once held, in opposition to Trotsky, that Russia could go her Communist way in a world still mainly capitalist. It looks today as if the Trotsky insistence on world-revolution had triumphed, not simply from a desire for the spread of Communism, but from the love of domination engendered in a nation that, after being beaten almost to its knees, found itself one of the three Great Powers of the world ; the lust for domination can be a strange perversion. However that may be, the capitulation of Czechoslovakia makes one thing certain. Italy, France, Western Germany, conceivably even Great Britain, arc similarly threatened. Only swift and united action dictated by a sound and resolute statesmanship can save the situation. And that action involves America no less than the nations of Western Europe.
No question necessarily, nor even probably, arises of Russia annexing any of the countries she has communised. There is no need for that. Communism is of one pattern everywhere, and it has a single centre from which broad policy is dictated. So long as country after country can be mastered by a group that looks to Moscow for leadership Russia can work her will without sacrificing a Soviet soldier's life. The technique of internal revolu- tion is well-developed. It can be so efficient that, as in Czecho- slovakia, the mere threat of force is enough. But let there be no misapprehension ; the Communists conquered in Prague because they commanded force and were prepared if need be to use it ruthlessly. The armed parades through the city were charged with meaning. The " action committees " in factories throughout the country were committees prepared to act. Members of the new Cabinet claim that the political revolution has been carried through constitutionally. It has been carried through peacefully, no doubt, because the extremists were ready to use force against democratic citizens to whom after six years of international war the idea of the civil war that their resistance would have entailed was abhorrent. Such things perhaps could not happen here today ; it is imperative that there shall never be a morrow when they can ; no one believed they could happen in Czechoslovakia.
But Czechoslovakia has written its lesson in the heavens—for the instruction particularly of those who believe Communism to consist basically of the almost Christian doctrine, " From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." What Communism does mean basically is the elimination of human freedom. It is a totalitarianism as pitiless as Hitler's. Between the N.K.V.D. and the Gestapo there is little to choose. The forced labour camps in Russia are said to house to to 12 million virtual slaves. In Czechoslovakia events have moved in the familiar grooves already worn by like events in adjacent lands. The radio- station is seized by the new government. Democratic papers are suppressed or converted into Communist organs. Informers apply themselves to their bestial work. Indiscriminate arrests—fewer, let it be admitted, than might be feared—are ordered. University professors are expelled. The public services are " purged." A long list of foreign newspapers is banned. Foreign correspondents in Prague are warned of what will come to them if they attempt to send home objective news. Which of the freedoms survives in Czechoslovakia ? Freedom of speech ? Freedom of writing ? Freedom from fear ? Economically the country may not suffer much at first, though the precipitate nationalisation of all pro- duction must prove disastrous. But it is a country from which individual freedom has disappeared, and where in the process the personal tragedies of the dispossessed and purged are desperate.
It is with that menace that Western Europe today stands faced. Two countries are primarily exposed, Italy and France. If they go Russia will have achieved her ambition—the extension of Com- munism to the Pyrenees. What, if that ever happens, will be the case of the Low Countries and Britain ? The answer is that it must not happen, and if the countries of Western Europe, supported —for that is imperative—by America, answer the challenge as they can, it never will. To the Russian strategy of segregation and conquest must be opposed a unity effectively resistant to external penetration and internal betrayal. Italy, with elections due in April, may be the scene of the decisive test. It was because elections, in which the Communists were expected to lose ground, were impending in Czechoslovakia that the blow there was struck. Fortunately the position in Italy is in some respects better. The Communist Party is powerful, but it forms no part of the govern- ment. It has no control over police or army. Italy, moreover, is forewarned, and her destiny is linked traditionally with the west. She has from the first welcomed the Marshall Plan and taken a full part in the discussions about its application. She has already received some help from the United States and is working out a customs union with France. These are solid advantages, that should suffice to save Signor de Gasperi both from electoral defeat and from any successful attempt at a coup d'etat. But he will not win without a struggle. Nor will M. Schuman. and M. Bidault in France. There the uneasy balance between parties and the revolt of the workers against the economic stress cause grave anxiety. So far the Government has held, but among its perils must be counted the fear of some demonstration by the Right that would drive elements of the Left into the Communist camp. General de Gaulle may still have a leading part to play, but to play it successfully will call for all the political sagacity he has ever manifested—and perhaps more than all.
In all this matter the one thing fatal is defeatism. Communism can unquestionably be checked. Its success in Czechoslovakia is a shattering blow, but Czechoslovakia was known to be within the Russian orbit, as the cancellation of her adhesion to the Marshall Plan showed plainly. The countries of Western Europe are bound together by increasing ties. They are together working out their own salvation—too slowly, too irresolutely, but the process has begun. Mr. Bevin's call for union has found a general answer. No narrow view must be taken of the possibilities. As Mr. Eden has insisted this week, the union must be economic, political and military. There is no danger of moving too fast or going too far. A federal government for Western Europe is not in sight ; to attempt it would be altogether premature ; a full customs union could only be arrived at step by step, and the steps would be numerous and slow. But in all three fields action must be vigorous and immediate. In any military understandings there can be no shred or suspicion of aggressive intent. While Western Europe is determined to defend what it holds it contemplates no war on Communism outside its borders. The best reply to Com- munism within them is to restore prosperity and prove that the democratic way of life can secure standards of human welfare which neither Russia nor Russia's satellites can achieve. All that is possible, but time presses urgently. It is a race between consolidation and collapse. Whether America fully realises that, in spite of the impressive warnings of Senator Vandenberg, is alarmingly doubtful. What the Marshall Plan may mean is con- vincingly demonstrated by Russia's determination that it shall fail. If Russia's friends in America can retard decision by the House of Representatives sufficiently, almost everything may be lost. If, on the other hand, the situation is grasped and action suited to the need almost everything can be won. Meanwhile Western Europe must press on with its plans for unity with all the speed consistent with sound workmanship. That, and the closing of our own ranks here in this country, was the dominating conclusion that emerged from the impressive debate in the House of Lords on Wednesday. More than mere survival is involved ; for when stability in Western Europe is fully assured the prospect of successfully negotiating with Russia across the gulf will be far more hopeful. An ultimate accommodation with Russia must be striven for still.
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