THE REACTION: DISMAY AND DISGUST

For once, the Communist and non-Communist worlds -- and some countries that find themselves in be tween--joined in a general condemnation of Soviet force. The free world is accustomed to condemning Russian inroads and intransigence, from the brutal putdown of the Hungarian revolt to the erection of the Berlin Wall. In the past, most Communist countries and parties have either wholeheartedly supported such transgressions--or at least closed their eyes to them--but no longer. Last week, in one country after another, Communists found themselves on the side of the Czechoslovaks.

Of the world's 88 Communist parties, only ten endorsed the Soviet action, and many of those were Eastern European countries within range of Soviet tanks. Never in the 100-year history of the international Communist movement had a single act so stunned, dismayed and divided the followers of Marx and Lenin. "Communism as an instrument of Soviet foreign policy is dead," said a former European Ambassador to Moscow. New Left Phi losopher Herbert Marcuse spoke for many sympathizers of Leninism when he called the Russian invasion "the most tragic event of the postwar era."

Flagrant Violation. The reaction throughout the free world was predictably bitter. Charles de Gaulle, his bridge building to the East in ruins, deplored the attack on "the rights and destiny of a friendly nation" and rapped the Russians for still being so old-fashioned as to think of Europe in terms of blocs. Prime Minister Harold Wilson called the attack "a flagrant violation of all accepted standards of international behavior." In New Delhi, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi expressed her "concern and anguish," but her statement was not strong enough to please members of Parliament, who filled the chamber with cries of "Dubcek! Dubcek!" Dem onstrations took place throughout the free world. In Bonn, German students mobbed the car of Soviet Ambassador Tsarapkin. In Tokyo, leftist students for the first time in history marched on the Soviet embassy in protest.

The protests were laced with a deep sense of disappointment that the Soviets had regressed to their bad old ways. "It turns the clock back to the darkest days of the cold war," said New Zealand's Prime Minister Keith J.

Holyoake. Most Western experts saw the invasion as a cruel blunder. Said British Sovietologist Victor Zorza: "The rape of Czechoslovakia, which was intended to preserve the old order, will only speed up its disintegration."

In Eastern Europe, Alexander Dubcek's two Communist allies were, if anything, stronger in their protest. "The attack on Czechoslovakia," said Yugoslavia's Marshal Tito, "is a significant historical rupture in the relations among Socialist countries." Rumanian Presi dent and Party Boss Nicolae Ceausescu called it "a great mistake, a grave danger to peace."

Though the Warsaw Pact countries that joined the Soviets in the invasion issued only official communiques of self-congratulation, their people clearly did not share that sentiment. In East Berlin, for example, hundreds of people flatly refused the demand of party workers to sign petitions in support of the intervention. Instead, they came to the Czechoslovak cultural center, where they left bouquets and bought, as some said, "souvenirs of Dubcek."

Broader Appeal. Beyond the range of Russian guns, only three Communist governments endorsed the Soviet action.

Two of them, North Viet Nam and Cuba, are heavily dependent on Russian arms and aid. The third, North Korea, customarily sides with the Russians in the Sino-Soviet dispute. On the other hand, the most biting protest of all came from, of all places, China. Mao and Co. would not think of tolerating a Dubcek in China, and they have berated Moscow precisely because it has been soft on reformers and "revisionists." Logically, therefore, the Chinese should have given the Russians good marks for learning their lesson. But Peking seized the opportunity to rip Moscow. "This is the most barefaced and typical specimen of fascist power politics by the Soviet scabs," said China's Premier Chou Enlai. As Peking saw it, the whole episode was the result of a plot by the U.S. and the Soviets to divide up the world between themselves. Still, it was indeed an extraordinary experience to find Communist China condemning a country's loss of freedom in stronger terms than did the U.S.

The Russian invasion, in fact, embarrassed Communists most in areas where local feeling runs high against foreign intervention and where the Communists themselves had pounded away hardest at U.S. involvement in Viet Nam and the Dominican Republic. Throughout Asia, Communists felt uncomfortable about the Russian actions. With the exception of Castro's party in Cuba, Latin American Communists broke with Moscow. But the most agonized reaction of all came from the Communist parties of Western Europe. In the early 1950s, the Western European parties abandoned their revolutionary tactics and went respectable. Since then, they have been trying, with only a fair amount of success, to convince voters that a Communist government does not necessarily entail a suppression of political opponents or loss of freedom. Dubcek's Czechoslovakia, if only it had lasted, would have been their best advertisement.

When the Russian tanks rumbled in, that hope evaporated. For the first time since its founding in 1920, the French Communist Party denounced the Soviet line. "The French Party expresses its surprise and reprobation," bannered L'Humanite, the Paris Communist paper. The Italian Communist Party, which won more than a quarter of the votes in the last national elections, expressed "grave dissent" with the Russians. In fact, every major Communist party in Western Europe turned its back on Moscow. That may turn out to be a very wise move. If they retain their independence, the Communist parties in Western Europe might finally have a chance to develop into truly national parties. As such, they might have more appeal to a broader spectrum of voters than they have had in the past, when they owed their ultimate allegiance to a foreign power. What they would have to offer the voters in the way of a program that goes beyond antiquated Marxism is another matter.

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