The Revolution Begins In Czechoslovakia

In times less accustomed to disappointment than our own, the recent events in Czechoslovakia would be cause for jubilation and toasts to the progress of freedom. As it is, they are cause for jubilation and toasts but at the same time for worry and apprehension.

The Czech people has been overwhelmed by the prospect of realizing long-repressed dreams. Since December, steps of liberation from the totalitarian system have been succeeding one another at a spectacular pace. Long-despised potentates, starting with Antonin Novotny, are being toppled. There has been an outpouring of free speech on radio, television, and in print. The censors are asking to be relieved of their duties, and police organizations plead to have their activities...