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MARCH 8, 1948 St eet SE EL 13 2 ee privately were quite different. The ew “democracy” involves the role of the “action committees,” and it is too soon to judge how democratic a parliamentary regime which is at their mercy can be. Fear of Germany. Two facts are important: The Czechs fear a revival of Germany as much as, if not more than, they do the Soviets; all Czech parties want socialism, differing only in means of attaining it. Progress toward socialism, it is ‘charged by those Czechs who are willing to give the “new form” a chance to prove itself, has been Lawrence Steinhardt, returning — to Prague after three months in the US, ptedicted that Czechoslovakia would soon be participating in the Marshall Plan, which is interpreted to mean helping rebuild Germany and chal- lenging the Soviet Union. . The Soviets, this argument. runs, have not only the power of proxim- ity, but the prestige of having offered help to Prague after Munich, a fact few Czechs can ever forget. Moreover, since the war, Wash- ington and London have given Prague little help beyond UNRRA allotments. One $50 million loan and another large credit were negotiated slowed-in recent months by obstruc--~-by~the-US and then withdrawn, ap- - tionism of minority parties seeking to improve their positions. They want the opponents of further nationaliza- tion of industry to be muzzled, and see this as a primary goal < of the ‘‘ac- tion committees.” On the international issues, “these same persons maintain, many Czechs have come to fear that the Marshall Plan is giving priority to German tchabilitation, and hence threatening Czech security. Their alarm was heightened when US Ambassador Y sririsn rouBerlinO * A GERMANY™ (rary ¥ : xh Nar, emberg US. Z0NE parently for political reasons. The State Department is said to have for- bidden Friendship Train gifts of _ food to Czechoslovakia, and many Czechs feel the department long ago _ .swrote off their country as a dead loss. . Many Czechs are said to be dis-. turbed because the US reaction to the recent events took the form of pat- ticipation with Britain and France in a denunciatory statement. There was no encouragement to democratic forces, no offer to help them. These DEAWN FOR NEW LEPUBLIO BY H. ©. DETIB Czechs say if their democracy sur- vives, it will be not with the help of the US but: despite it, Yet others appear to believe that if even shreds of democratic process and of civil liberties can survive in their country under the present and quickly developing circumstances, Czechoslovakia will be helping democracy everywhere. Already, they feel, their experience has had im- portant international effects. Warning to the Wesf. The cir- cumstances of the start of the Czech crisis contain an explicit warning to those middle-of-the-road democratic forces in France, Italy and elsewhere ~ which are struggling to hold off to- talitarianism of either the extreme Right or extreme Left. The demand of the Czech National Socialists for a non-party “caretaker” government of experts may have been—depend- ing on the angle of vision—a justifi- cation or a pretext for the actions of the Communists. But, timed as it was, at a moment when the Communists were poised to exploit just such evi- dence of a “plot” allegedly fostered by “foreign reactionaries,” it led to a serious setback for the Czech seg- ment of “the third force.” There is no doubt that US public Opinion has been alarmed by the events in Czechoslovakia.. Those members of Congress who, in an election year, have been lukewarm to ERP because they represent isolation- ist areas may change their minds and their votes. So far as the form of ERP is concerned, it is likely that Senator Vandenberg and Representative Her- ter will profit. With Czechoslovakia "more obviously within the Soviet sphere than before, the opposition to an ERP stressing the role of Ger- many may decrease. From the liberal viewpoint, this is the danger to be faced while every effort is made to get Congress to adopt a measure that will give Europe a chance to start on the road back to economic reconstruction.