Immediately after the emergence of this hostile platform I spoke on the phone to Comrade Dubček and told him on behalf of the Poliburo of the CC that no time must be lost in engaging the antisocialist counterrevolutionary forces. We pointed out to him that the “2,000 Words” called for concerted actions against these forces, involving the support of the healthy forces in the party, in the working class and in the armed units of the People’s Militia. Comrade Dubček told me that a meeting of the presidium of the CC KSČ was in progress at the time and that he was going to pass on our recommendations to the meeting; he assured us that a radical condemnation was forthcoming and that highly effective countermeasures were about to be taken. Unfortunately none of these things came to pass.
[…] What is happening in Czechoslovakia in our view is this: a carefully disguised, fully up-to-date counter-revolutionary process is taking place that is aiming to fundamentally alter the social structure, possibly without changing its outward attributes and without causing any changes up to now in the society’s political and state leadership. The particular danger of this development consists in the initial confusion of the Czechoslovak working population and indeed even of the working class, who were completely in the dark as to where this development would eventually lead. It is also likely to cause confusion in communist circles outside the Soviet Union, as we can see from symptoms displayed by the Communist Parties of France, Italy and England.
[…] This manifest counterrevolution may yet cost the communists in Czechoslovakia dearly. The experience of events in Hungary teaches us that those who surrender to the reaction or strike a compromise with it expose the party to the onslaught of the counterrevolution.
[…] And the attempt to stem this process cannot be interpreted as an interference in the country’s internal affairs. It is no more than the expression of our internationalist duty towards the communist movement, towards the working population of Czechoslovakia. [Applause.] Face to face with the danger that one of the member states of the socialist community might deviate from the path of Socialism, we have no right to lock ourselves up in our national houses. This would mean a betrayal of the interests of Communism.
Communism unfolds as an international movement and this in fact describes its very existence. This is the key to its victories and its achievements. Whoever deviates from internationalism has lost the right to call himself a communist. Our countries are tied to the ČSSR through treaties and agreements. These are no mere agreements between individuals but commitments entered into by peoples and states. They are based on the general striving to preserve Socialism in our countries and to protect it against fluke events.
No one has the right to shirk their internationalist duties, the duties that are part of our contractual obligations, and the demagoguery that one occasionally encounters in this context is, to be quite frank, totally misplaced.
We respect the rights that each party has, the rights of each people. We acknowledge the special characteristics that the construction of Socialism may assume in different countries. Yet we are equally convinced of the bond that unites our historical destinies. Protecting Socialism—that is the task to which all of us must be prepared to contribute. Our parties all agreed on this point when we met in Moscow in early May. We are convinced that the same consensus is going to prevail at our meeting this time.
It is simply without precedent for capitalism to reassert itself where victory has once fallen to Socialism and where Socialism has established itself. This has never been the case and we feel sure it never will. [Applause.] The guarantee for this is our joint readiness to do anything that is necessary to help a fraternal party and its people to scupper the plans of the counterrevolution and to foil the imperialists’ designs on Czechoslovakia.
[…] As you can see, the imperialists’ tactics are marked by cunning and subterfuge; we must be prepared to counter their machinations and to unmask them in a timely and irrefutable manner. We must not close our eyes to the direct link that unites the tactics of the imperialist reaction and the activities of the antisocialist and counter-revolutionary forces in Czechoslovakia.
[…] Before we resort to the most extreme measures at our disposal we will concentrate on political means in collaboration with the healthiest forces in the communist party of Czechoslovakia to decisively repulse the antisocialist and counter-revolutionary elements and to maintain the KSČ in its role of the leading force of Czechoslovak socialism. We count on your unqualified support, comrades, and are looking forward to your speeches. [Applause.]
RGANI, F. 2, op. 3, d. 114, pp. 27–54. Unedited stenographic notes. Translated from the German translation of the original Russian document (original Russian and German translation in Karner et al., Dokumente, #38).
Appendix 5
CC Urging the United States to Halt “Hostile U.S. Media Campaign” against the Soviet Union
Politburo resolution of the CC CPSU.
P 92/82
26 July 1968
82. On the verbal message to the US Ambassador in Moscow concerning events in Czechoslovakia.1
The draft of the verbal message of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR to the U.S. Ambassador in Moscow on the issue in question is to be countersigned (Attachment).
[Attachment]
On Item 82 of Prot. no. 92
Text of the verbal message of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR to the U.S. Ambassador in Moscow
Information has been received in Moscow about the verbal message Secretary of State Rusk delivered to the ambassador of the USSR in Washington, A. F. Dobrynin, on 22 July of this year in connection with the events in Czechoslovakia. Referring to comments in the Soviet press, notably to a Pravda article of 19 June, the Secretary of State expressed his concern about allegedly unfounded charges leveled at the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] regarding their interference in Czechoslovak affairs.
In this context it is necessary to make it quite clear at the outset that there is no reason why the American side should express their concern to the Soviet side. The Pravda article of 19 July that was cited by the Secretary of State is based on well documented evidence and the American authorities are obviously aware of the authenticity and credibility of the facts in question.
Generally speaking, we would have much more reason to direct the attention of the U.S. administration to the hostile campaign that is at present being waged in the United States against the USSR in connection with the events in Czechoslovakia. On a daily basis the American press, radio and TV spread all kinds of exaggerated reports, with the aim of giving comfort to the anti-Socialist counterrevolutionary forces in Czechoslovakia on one hand and, on the other, of causing bad feelings towards the Soviet Union and the other Socialist countries and use these to stoke tensions in Czechoslovakia.
Many statements of various U.S. officeholders, including members of the U.S. Congress, have been made with the same objectives in mind.
In the above mentioned conversation with the ambassador of the USSR, Secretary of State Rusk declared that events in Czechoslovakia were a matter that concerned solely the Czechs and the other countries of the Warsaw Pact; the U.S. administration did not want to get in any way involved.
If the U.S. administration does not want the situation concerning the events in Czechoslovakia to deteriorate drastically, the US administration should in our view do everything in its power to halt the campaign that is being waged against the Soviet Union in the United States. It goes without saying that this campaign has a very negative influence on public opinion in our country and on Soviet-American relations in general. The Soviet government believes it is essential to avoid anything that might lead to a deterioration in the relationship between our countries and to continue to seek ways and means to improve them. This is also the declared aim of President Johnson.