JIRI VALENTA (Monterey, Calif., U.S.A.)

Eurocommunism and Czechoslovakia*

Eurocommunism of the 1970s and the pluralistic Communism of Czecho- slovakia of the late 1960s share some important similarities, and an exploration of the origins and development of Czechoslovak Communism may help to reveal the roots and the evolution of Eurocommunist ideas and tenets. In addition to the historical aspects of Czechoslovak Communism, I will discuss the mutual influence exerted by Eurocommunism and Czechoslovak Commu- nism upon each other in the 1960s and "1970s, and the consequences of this interaction. A disquisition on Eurocommunism is not necessary at this point, as the subject has been discussed elsewhere by myself and by Vernon Aspaturian.1 Herein I shall use the term not to designate a concept or condition, but, in a somewhat more imprecise and ambiguous fashion, to describe a current trend in the international Communist movement. This trend can be loosely identified as movement toward an independent form of Communism that, unlike the Soviet, is pluralistic in nature. Despite the ambiguous confines of this tenden- cy, Eurocommunism emerges as something more than a myth or the "pseudo- phenomenon" some have labelled it.2 Indeed, such West European Commu- nist officials as Spanish Communist Party (PCE) leader Santiago Carrillo and Italian Communist Party (PCI) leader Enrico Berlinguer have embraced the term as a convenient, though somewhat sloppy, shorthand for their parties' searches for a pluralistic, independent form of Communism. Carrillo traced

*In writing this article I utilized my previous research on the history of Czechoslovak Communism undertaken with the late Professor Josef Korbel in preparation for his book Twentieth-Century Czechoslovakia: The Meanings of Its History (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1977). I have also benefited from interviews that I conducted with many Czechoslovakofficials-former members of Alexander Dubcek's government-and many of Dub?ek'sadvisers, including scholars and dissidents now living 111Western countfies. 1. See Jiri Valenta, "Eurocommunism and Eastern Europe: Promise or Threat?" pre- sented at the National Convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, October, 1977; Jiri Valenta, "Eurocommunism and Eastern Europe," Problems of Communism, 17, No. 2 (March-April1978), 41-54; and Jiri Valenta, "Euro. communism and Eastern Europe," in Teresa Rakowska-Harmstoneand Andrew Gyorgy, eds., Communism in Eastern Europe (Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press, 1979), pp. 290- 307. See also Vernon V. Aspaturian, "Conceptualizing Eurocommunism: Some Prelimi- nary Observations," in V. V. Aspaturian, J. Valenta and D. Burke, eds., Eurocommunism between East and West(Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press, 1980). 2. See, for example, Angelo M. Codevilla,"Eurocommunism, a Pseudophenomenon," Strategic Review (Fall 1978), pp. 62-70. 18 the evolution of the Eurocommunist trend in his "Eurocomunismo "y estado, the publication of which brought him into collision with conservative ideolo- gists in the USSR and Eastern Europe. The concept of Eurocommunism also exists in the minds of many conser- vative leaders in Eastern Europe. While there are those who continue to doubt its existence, some (such as the Czechoslovak leaders Vasil Bil'ak and Jan Fojtik) see Eurocommunism as a viable threat. For these men, Eurocom- - munism is an "instrument of anticommunism" designed to undermine the foundations of "real socialism" in Czechoslovakia and to return to power such "right-wing opportunists" and "traitors" as Alexander Dub?ek.3 Unlike most East European countries, Czechoslovakia shares many cultural values and political traditions with Western Europe. The prevailing democratic tradition has been a main force in the development of a Communism that is unique in Eastern Europe.4 Czechoslovak Communism is characterized by two main tendencies: the first, authoritarian (Leninist and/or Stalinist); the second, more democratic and pluralistic. H. Gordon Skilling has persuasively argued that this dualism helps to explain some of the dramatic shifts and crises in Czechoslovak Communism since 1921.5 The prevailing traditions and po- litical culture in Czechoslovakia as they have affected the dualism in Czecho- slovak Communism must first be explored in order to assess the origins and development of pluralistic, reform Communism, leading to the Eurocommu- nist-type renaissance of 1968. ,

Democratic Traditions in Czechoslovakia The dominant tradition in Czechoslovakia has been pro-Western and demo- cratic. There is a deeply rooted heritage of Protestant religious reform-Hussi- tism-that came to life in the Czech lands one hundred years before it surfaced elsewhere in Europe. The Czech Protestant ethic stressed the ideas of equality, tolerance, reason, and individualism.6 Despite the forced conversions to Ca- tholicism in the seventeenth century, the persecution of the Protestants during the early stages of Austrian rule, and the numerical majority of Catholics, the Protestant ethic survived as an important factor in shaping the character of

3. See, for example, Jan Fojti'k, 7Hbuna (PTaha) 19 April 1978. 4. Aspaturian, "Conceptualizing Eurocommunism." 5. See H. Gordon Skilling, Czechoslovakia's Interrupted Revolution (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1976), pp. 21-42. Skilling has also scrutined the Stalinist trend in an excellent essay, "Stalinism and CzechoslovakPolitical Culture," in Robert C. Tucker, ed., Stalinism: Essays in Historical Interpretation(New York: Norton, 1979), pp. 257-82. 6. For studies treating Communism and Czechoslovak tradition, see H. Gordon Skil- ling, "Communism and CzechoslovakTraditions," Journal of International Affairs, 20, No. 1 (1966), 118-36; Paul E. Zinner, Communist Strategy and Tactics in Czechoslovak- kia, 1918-48 (New York: Praeger, 1963), pp. 5-24; and Galia Golan, "The Democratic- liberal Traditions in the Czech Lands," an unpublished paper.