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Events in Czechoslovakia are cast- ing a long, momentous shadow overt the world. The precise balance of forces that will emerge in the reor- ganized Communist-controlled gov- ernment is not yet clear. But while the conservative US press has jumped hastily—too hastily—to the conclu- sion that all the traditional Czech democratic principles have been sunk | without trace, the opposite view— _ that this is not in the full sense a Communist coup—seems supported by little more than wish fulfilment. In any event, it is certain that the “new situation will have profound consequences not only in Czechoslo- vakia but internationally. Already, the change-over has intensified the cold war between the US and the USSR. It has stirred up forces that will increase domestic turmoil in France and Italy. And it has sharp- - ened the world’s ears for such re- ports as the one that Marshal Stalin’s “request” for a new pact with Fin- land cloaks a demand for a new re- lationship that would make Finland almost completely a Soviet satellite. ' From the long view the basic. question—as yet unanswerable—is whether the Communist move in Czechoslovakia was made from strength or from weakness. There seems some ground for the belief that the Soviet timetable has been changed, that Moscow’s tempo has been stepped up. Soviet mofive? One interpretation is that the Soviets, gaining power, are boldly setting the stage for the final issue of peace or war. The opposite interpretation is that the Communists chose high-pressure: tactics in Prague because the opposi- tion in Czechoslovakia was gaining ground, because there was fear that - in a free election the Communist Patty would Jose its status as the largest single political entity. ‘WHAT HAPPENED IN PRAGUE Those who hold the second view say both the Czech coup and the re- ported Finnish move are efforts to strengthen Soviet bastions against the West precisely because communism ‘is losing ground in the West. They are retreats, shortenings of the polit- ical front in anticipation of defeats at the polls in Italy and France. The advent of the Communists to power in Czechoslovakia required a short time and seemed to be accom- plished with relative ease. But the parliamentary forms it took were dif- ferent from those in Rumania, Bul- garia and Hungary. The Czech Communists, as their brethren always do, went through their usual maneuvers of “people's demonstrations,” attempted purges, armed street patrols, strike threats and talking of foreign plotting. But ‘Czech democrats, remembering Mu- nich and the Nazi occupation, put up a fight to save civil liberties. How if began. The ‘crisis began February 13 when the four non- Communist parties in the coalition government demanded that the Com- munist’ Minister of the Interior stop packing the Prague police force with patty henchmen. At the same time the National Socialist newspaper, Svobodne Slovo, called for a non- party cabinet and ‘a government of experts” to run the elections. Presi- dent Benes, recognizing the anti- democratic substance of this project, rejected it. The next step was the resignation of the National Socialist, Catholic and Slovak Democrat ministers, leav- ing the government in the hands of the Communists and a badly split Socialist Party. The pro-West Social- ists warited the Socialist ministers to stop cobperating with the Commu- nists ,but such pro-East party leaders as former Premier Zdenek Fierlinger announced the death of the “national NEW REPUBL'C front” of five parties and called am- biguously for the creation of a new front “from below.” On February.21, workers’ delega- tions demanded -that Benes accept the resignations of the ministers. The next day delegates from the Trades Unions Congress, supporting this re- quest, accused the old coalition of obstructing socialization. In a strug- gle for power within the Socialist Party, Fierlinger defeated the more conservative elements, winning con- trol for those willing to codperate Moving fast. Then Communist “ace tion committees” began occupying ministries, seizing government offices in provincial cities as well as Prague. But unlike developments in other countries behind the Iron Curtain, the Communists had the support én these committees, it is reported, of members of other parties, trade ‘unionists, farm and religious-group representatives. At this point the story becomes unclear, and one of the keys to it— Benes’ real attitude—is still missing as we go to press. Those who believe Czech democracy is dead point to the fact that Premier Klement Gottwald remains in power with the all-impor- tant Justice portfolio added to those of the Interior, Police and Informa- tion. , Those who take the opposite view call attention to the fact that at least in name and form the government re- mains a five-patty coalition, theoret- ically responsible to Parliament. They say. Benes would not have remained in office if a full-blown police state were being created. When Benes inducted Gottwald into office a few days ago, he spoke of a “new form of democracy’’ taking ‘shape and hoped its results would be “favorable for all.” But there are reports that the opinions he expressed