It is now well over a month since the Russians invaded Czechoslovakia. There is talk of the withdrawal beginning but "some troops will [illegible] behind". So far, the expected purges [have] no[t] taken place, although many Czech officials [have] had to resign under Russian pressure. [illegible] been split right down the middle by the Russian invasion. The MORNING STAR, organ of the British Communist Party has printed dozens of letters - for and against the Russian action. A writer in PRAVDA has sharply criticised the British Communist Party paper for being "one-sided" and at the same time lavished praise on those writers who have defended the Russian action.
The patterns which emerge generally confirm our previous editorials on the subject. Russian action has been a bad blow to the anti-imperialist struggle but the fact that, by and large, the leadership of this has passed into the hands of anti-stalinist forces has meant the damage has been lessened. International stalinism has received a mortal blow - all the more because there will be other events in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union itself of a similar nature. Each one of these crises will hit the CPs of the world harder and harder.
Probably the most amazing thing that has come out of these events has been the tremendous unity and courage of the Czech people. This is the main reason why the original plans of the Kremlin (to find a loyal Government of people who called them in) has failed. Faced by a monolithic Czechoslovak people the leaders of Russia and other Warsaw Pact countries must have been very worried about the effects on their troops.
This unity and courage is the most hopeful thing to come out of the affair. It is proof of the irresistible nature of the pressure for workers' democracy in the countries of the Soviet bloc. The rule of the bureaucracy is outdated and outmoded, [illegible] echoslovakia showed its weakness. It will not give up its privileged position without a fight - the invasion of Czechoslovakia showed that, too.
However, in keeping up our struggle for solidarity with the [illegible] much more difficult for rulers of the Kremlin to carry out a purge. This action, plus that of helping to build a movement of solidarity with the Vietnamese people is the best way we can help our Czechoslovak comrades.
But our comrades in the Communist Party are faced with problems, too. The invasion of Czechoslovakia has shaken that party to the core and has shattered the confidence of many very devoted militants. Those of us who learnt the true nature of stalinism through past events need to do all in our power to make sure that the great debate in the Communist Party gives all these militants a new perspective. Far from being a gloomy one, once people understand that events in Czechoslovakia had a sociological explanation, once they understand the nature of the bureaucracy and once they find out that the conditions that led to the rise of the bureaucracy are fast fading, they will realise we should draw hope from these events in Czechoslovakia.