Page:NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SURVEY 18; CZECHOSLOVAKIA; COUNTRY PROFILE CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110008-5.pdf/9

 APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110008-5

strategic location. Although the Czechs and Slovaks share a Slavic background and were united in their desire for independence from the Dual Monarchy, they differ markedly in cultural and institutional heritage. Indeed, their mutual antagonisms have been exploited successfully by Czechoslovakia's enemies at several critical points in the country's history. Moreover, a legacy of centuries of foreign domination has left a lasting imprint on Czechoslovak society and has played an important role in the political life of the country. (U/OU)

Their long experience with powerful foreign overlords has endowed both the Czechs and—albeit, to a lesser extent—the Slovaks with a down-to-earth realism, a deep-seated respect for the worth of the individual and a strong dose of caution. With little hope of freeing themselves by force of arms, they learned to preserve their intellectual and national integrity through a mixture of resignation and passive resistance, or simply put—to bend with the wind. Even among the Slovaks, who tend to be somewhat more hot-blooded than the Czechs, rebellious impulses were generally kept in check by considerations of numerical weakness. Today, when confronted with what he judges to be a superior power, the average Czechoslovak citizen is still inclined to fall back on devious maneuvering under a pretense of submission rather than mount outright frontal opposition. Although he is ready as anyone to rise and fight for his convictions, he is unlikely to do so unless he sees a realistic change of success. He would rather yield and preserve his strength than risk breaking it in a mere gesture of bold defiance. (U/OU)

These enduring national traits have been immortalized in the figure of "Good Soldier Schweik," the Czech folk hero—now more popular than ever—created by novelist Jaroslav Hasek, in 1923. A reluctant conscript in the Austro-Hungarian army during World War I, Schweik managed to frustrate the will of his superiors by feigning obedience, indolence, and stupidity. He did not, for example, risk expressing his pacifist views; he simply got lost—repeatedly—on his way to the front. (U/OU)

The persistence and significance of Czechoslovakia's early Schweikist tradition is well illustrated by the parallels between the population's response to the Warsaw Pact invasion and its behavior when the country fell to Hitlerite Germany 30 years earlier. In both instances, the majority of the Czechoslovak people rallied to the defense of their government and their country's sovereignty in the face of a clear external threat—only to break ranks and gradually lapse into seemingly subservient apathy when that threat developed into actual military intervention. Although there were scattered acts of heroism, in neither case were the entering occupation forces met with organized armed resistance. And both times the sacrifice of popular beliefs and ideals on the altar of cautious realism generated a compensatory—in fact, virtually escapist—interest in material comforts.

But even though Husak has been able to exploit his countrymen's traditional instincts and attitudes to achieve his initial domestic objectives, the long-term viability of his conservative program is by no means assured. The doctrinaire formulas of orthodox Marxism-Leninism simply have little appeal for most Czechoslovak citizens. After all, Husak is dealing with a people who, alone in Eastern Europe, experienced a working and fairly liberal democracy throughout the interwar period. Hence, while successful in winning a degree of popular acceptance based on purely pragmatic considerations, he has been unable to develop the broadly based domestic support he needs to revitalize the country politically and economically and to reduce his dependence on Moscow. This absence of rapport and meaningful communication between the regime and the people has been reflected in alarmingly poor job discipline and widespread evasion of minor regulations. Husak is understandably troubled by this situation, and is making a determined effort to correct it. Given the atmosphere of rising expectations generated by the current trend toward East-West detente, however, it seems likely that he will find this task quite difficult. (C)

3

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110008-5