Czechoslovakia

By Wayne Svoboda

The crowds in Prague last week could have been greeting a rock star or a movie idol. "I can see him! I can see him! He has on a hat!" cried one woman. "We're all his supporters. I was so close, I could look at him eye to eye." Swooned another: "My heart was thumping!" The object of their affection, though, was not the U2 band or Television Star Harry Hamlin. It was none other than Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who was making his first official visit to Czechoslovakia.

The ironies of the trip were lost on few visitors. Nearly two decades ago, in August 1968, Soviet tanks rolled into Prague to topple the reform government of Alexander Dubcek, who had launched a series of popular political and economic reforms that became known as "socialism with a human face." Now Gorbachev was in town talking about his reforms, which had more than a passing resemblance to the Czechoslovaks' own experiments of 1968.

Unlike so many East bloc visits, when local Communist officials seem to rely on the local Rent-a-Crowd to provide an adoring audience, many of the Czechoslovaks appeared to have turned out spontaneously. Some in the crowds said they hoped Gorbachev's reforms would soon reach them. On the first day, some 5,000 people packed the cobblestone streets in front of Hradcany Castle overlooking the Old Town of Prague to greet the fedora-wearing Soviet leader and his wife Raisa. Similarly warm groups met them as they dashed through a hectic schedule -- talks with officials, visits to the opera and a Soviet war memorial, and campaign-like walkabouts featuring handshaking, chatting and baby kissing. After two days in Prague, Gorbachev went on to Bratislava, Czechoslovakia's second largest city and the capital of Slovakia.

Those who probably took the dimmest view of the trip were Czechoslovakia's Communist Party officials. Under their heavy hands, the Prague Spring of 1968 quickly gave way to sullen winter as the country became one of the most rigidly orthodox in the East bloc. Party Leader Gustav Husak, 74, installed by former Soviet Leader Leonid Brezhnev as Dubcek's replacement, has symbolized the backward-looking government's unimaginative face.

In public, of course, Husak had effusive praise last week for Gorbachev's policies, and promised his "full support" for the Soviet leader's "bold ideas, profound reforms and resolute deeds." But behind closed doors the Gorbachev policies have been causing serious troubles within the Czechoslovak party. In fact, there were rumors that Gorbachev's visit was delayed for three days because local leaders could not agree on their own policy toward reform. Last February a Soviet delegation led by Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze visited Prague to try to smooth over the differences. The Czechoslovak party has been split between hard-liners led by chief Party Ideologue and Presidium Member Vasil Bilak, who favors only very limited reforms, and the more pragmatic Premier Lubomir Strougal, who advocates broader changes.

Not until last month did Husak finally concede in an address to the party Central Committee that the leadership must consider moves toward greater internal democracy, such as secret party elections. Cautiously using words that had been taboo in Prague's political lexicon for 19 years, Husak spoke of the need "for new economic and social mechanisms or, if you like, reforms." He noted that developments in the Soviet Union were "drawing an extraordinary response in the whole Czechoslovak party and people."

Before Gorbachev's arrival, there had been speculation that the Soviet leader would use the visit as an occasion to announce the withdrawal of some of the 80,000 Soviet troops in the country. Gorbachev, however, said nothing about pulling out any of the five divisions Moscow has stationed there since 1968. Instead, in an hourlong talk to Czechoslovak Communist Party and government leaders in Prague's modernistic Palace of Culture, he said the Soviet Union was willing to discuss the reduction of short-range nuclear weapons in Europe.

A month ago Gorbachev announced that the Soviet Union was ready to make an agreement to eliminate medium-range nuclear missiles from Europe. Because the Soviets have a vast superiority in short-range weapons, which are sited in East Germany and Czechoslovakia and can hit targets over distances of up to 600 miles, the initial West European reaction to the Soviet statement was decidedly cool. Last week Gorbachev said Moscow was also ready to discuss a cutback in short-range weapons. The offer was obviously made in preparation for this week's visit to Moscow by U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, and President Reagan later praised the Soviets' "new seriousness" on arms control.

During his Prague speech, Gorbachev strongly criticized the past performance of the Soviet economy and made a strong pitch for his liberalization program. What was needed, he said, was not "small repairs" but a "radical reconstruction." Said Gorbachev: "The phenomenon of stagnation and the problems of the '70s cannot be tolerated anymore."

While standing alongside Husak last week, Gorbachev neatly illustrated the generational and political problems that face all the Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe. Gorbachev can blame his predecessors, especially Brezhnev, for economic stagnation and the resulting political and social ills because, except for a brief period, Gorbachev was not part of the inner circle responsible for the mess. The older Husak, who was installed by Brezhnev , largely to put down changes much like those Gorbachev is promoting, does not have that option. If Husak denounces the bad old days and encourages reforms within his country, he will in effect be denouncing himself and the policies he has followed for years. The same is true of other East European leaders, all of whom owe their positions to Moscow. The reforms that Gorbachev is introducing in the Soviet Union thus may yet have their greatest and most dangerous resonance in Eastern Europe.

With reporting by John Kohan/Prague