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outside Albania. Relations between the Czech government and the Vatican have plunged to a new low after what some observers see as the most serious attack on the Catholic Church since the purges of 1950. In the last 18 months at least a dozen priests have been imprisoned for unauthorized religious activity. Three Franciscan friars still being held in prison after a series of nationwide

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police raids three months ago are currently under investigation as suspects in what are officially termed economic crimes. It appears they were arrested for distributing literature relating to the so-called underground church.

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Such arrests are regarded as further evidence of a communist regime worried that Czechoslovakia's Roman Catholic Church could become a major political force as that in neighboring Poland.

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In Newsnight team, often filming in secret, have just returned from Czechoslovakia. John Simpson now reports on the struggle between church and state.

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(dramatic music) 11 o'clock on a warm Sunday morning in the old center of Prague. The Baroque splendors of St. Thomas' Church

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are nothing special in a city that abounds in such things. But the government all the same is generous to St. Thomas' and the restoration work has been meticulous. The only thing that's in serious decline is the congregation.

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Almost everyone attending Mass here today can remember the time before 1948 when Marxism became the official religion of the state. As for the priest, if he's prepared to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, he's licensed by the state and the government pays him his salary.

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But he can't teach young people and the number of masses he can perform is strictly limited. He is in fact a kind of civil servant, but one who's actively encouraged by the authorities to carry out his duties with as little enthusiasm as possible. The licensing system isn't just a method of keeping the church under control,

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it's a way of gradually winding it down to the point where the congregation drops away. But what the authorities dislike having to admit is that a parallel, unofficial church exists, a church that has to operate in the manner of an underground organisation. We've spoken to various people who worship in this unofficial way.

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Some of them have been too frightened to say anything about it and have asked us not to approach them again. But there are others whose dislike of the official system and belief in the rightness of what they're doing is so great that they were prepared to take the risk of helping

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us. They arranged for us to film this service. It had to be done with great secrecy, without permission from the authorities. For this poses a direct threat to the state,

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and to the kind of control the state exerts over the official church. It's an ecumenical service, organized mostly by Catholics, but held in a Protestant hall. Most of the worshippers are young.

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and the church is passionate further here, an almost early Christian intensity. The worshippers want something much more than the official church,

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which deliberately avoids the spirit of religion, can provide them. At this service, no one needs a government licence because there are no priests and no ministers.

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The authorities have been so successful in killing off the old church that a new one has started to take its place. and the state's revenge on the people who are working for this new church can be savage

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One man who suffered heavily for his work is Dr. Vaclav Bender a poet, a mathematician, a philosopher and perhaps the most prominent Catholic layman in Czechoslovakia One month ago he was released from jail after serving a full four-year sentence for his work for prisoners of conscience

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to us he had to give the slip to the secret policeman who keep him under 24-hour surveillance and we drove to the countryside outside Prague to record our interview. I returned from jail about a month ago and our position compared with political prisoners in the 70s was slightly different. We were not isolated from others, we were put together

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with criminals and we were treated in the same way as criminals. Conditions in Czech jails are pretty hard and difficult to imagine for someone who lives in the West. Our situation was made more difficult by the continual offer which was available to us to leave the country and emigrate. We were also offered the possibility of immediate freedom if we admitted our guilt,

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thus making legal the court proceedings against us. In other words, if we agreed that the sentence was justified. That was in theory an advantage and of course a temptation, but in reality the prison authorities had instructions to break us

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and to force us to make such admissions. But persecution is nothing new in Czechoslovakia. These pictures, the first of their kind to be broadcast in the west, show a home in southern Bohemia for nuns who've been forcibly retired.

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Here too we were obliged to film in secret. The nuns aren't allowed to wear their habits nor to leave the grounds. They act as nurses to the old people who also live here. On April the 30th, 1950,

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every convent and monastery in Czechoslovakia was raided by the secret police of the new communist state. 2,000 monks and nuns were put on trucks and taken away and two-thirds of them ended up in labour camps,

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often working unprotected in uranium mines. All religious orders were eliminated by law. In the early '60s, as the state became less repressive, most of the survivors were released.

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Those of them who wanted to stay as nuns came back to places like this, where they were allowed to do useful social work by a state which otherwise refused to recognise their vocations.

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The trauma of 1968 when Soviet tanks put an end to the brief attempt at liberalization also brought new efforts to control the churches. The old system of control for priests, the peace movement for Catholic clergy, had collapsed during the Dubček period.

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Now it was reborn under the name "Parchemin Teres" - "Peace on Earth". Parchem in Teres is officially there to protect and bolster up the official church, but there's no question about the deadening effect it's had. It's rather akin to the restoration work that's going on at the famous church at Vyšerad,

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once a rival to Prague's cathedral itself. The building work may be done to protect the fabric, but it's unquestionably keeping the worshippers away. Less than a dozen people turned up for the officially sponsored mass this particular

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and there's no sign that the authorities regard the restoration with any urgency. Páčem in Teris is thought to have a third of the 3,000 priests in Czechoslovakia on its payroll. But it's loosely organized and facts about it are hard to obtain, even from the civil servant who runs it.

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Páčem in Teris is an association of Catholic clergymen clergymen who got together in order to promote the idea of peace between nations, world peace. According to our law, it is not even a legal body. It is simply an association of Catholic clergy carrying on its activities in accordance with its own rules.

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And is it a government organization? Of course not. It has got nothing in common with the state. It is an association of Catholic clergy. That's all it is. Nevertheless, it has powerful government support,

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and the government pays surely the salaries of the priests that belong to it. The fact that the state pays the priests' wages has got nothing whatsoever to do with Parcimientores. The state pays all priests, whether they are members or not.

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in Parcimiento, this is entirely the clergyman's own private decision. No, it's a total lie, of course. The organisation is a continuation of a previous organisation which was set up immediately, almost, after the communist takeover of Czechoslovakia. Its fundamental aim, I think, is to control the church from within. There are a number

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of restrictions on the church from outside, as it were. But this way, the priests who who are blackmailed and forced to belong to this organisation. You see, a kind of fifth column within the church, it weakens the spiritual integrity, it weakens the autonomy of the church.

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[church bells] Cardinal Tomaszek, the Archbishop of Prague, has become deeply involved in the Parchim-in-Teres controversy. Until three years ago, he was prepared to go along with a good deal

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that the Czechoslovak government said and did about the church. But the election of a Polish pope, which changed the Vatican's attitude to communist governments, also changed the archbishop. And when in March of last year the Vatican issued its decree forbidding priests from

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belonging to political organizations and peace movements, it was the archbishop who made it clear that the Vatican specifically had Parchim in terris in mind. But the communist authorities still refuse to accept that.

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There are many aspects to this question. Firstly, it is a statement made by the Vatican congregation and not by the Holy Father. Secondly, it was not directed against Czechoslovakia and other socialist states, but the recent visit of the Holy Father in Central America showed that the statement was directed above all at these areas. In addition, it is a general

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statement. That's an incredible statement to make, because Cardinal Tomaszek said the opposite. In an open letter to the Patek Winteris priest, he said, "The Pope is behind it, the Pope knows our situation, he was our neighbour in Poland, he knows exactly what he's doing,"

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and he quoted a Latin tag saying "Roma Locuta Causa Finita" to them. Meaning what? Meaning, "The thing is over, it's banned." That is his open letter, which of course wasn't published in Czechoslovakia, but was circulated

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in those many unofficial publications that we've got. The Pope's decree has put the priests who up to now have been prepared to go along with Parche Menteres in a very difficult position indeed. On the one hand, they have the clear instruction of the Vatican.

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On the other, they face the loss of their licenses to work as priests. Morale has slumped, though how many priests have decided to drop out isn't known. Since Parchemin Teres doesn't have a formal membership, it isn't necessary to resign, only to refuse to take an active part.

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And the pressure is on for them to do precisely that. The chairman of Parchemin Teres in Bohemia told me that he's subjected to relentless moral terror from various people in what is known as the underground church, who threaten write brutal letters to him and terrorise him for working for the organisation.

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That is certainly true. That's about as far as any official spokesman will go in admitting the effectiveness of the underground church. There's no question about the revival of worship in Czechoslovakia

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after 36 drab years of communist rule. And it's often the very drabness of the official atheism which makes people take a new interest in the things of the spirit, which is precisely the aspect of organised Christianity

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that the government has tried its best to do away with. The fact is that the state consistently tries to eradicate all traces of Christianity, even from our history. There is a special censor for folk singers and folk groups

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who removes any mention of a god or any aspect of their songs that could be considered religious. The same goes for literature, music. During the broadcasts of Christmas carols,

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all you hear are songs about shepherds hurrying to and fro, and a listener who didn't know what was going on wouldn't have the slightest idea where the shepherds are going and why. This is a tragic situation, not only for the people, but for the whole nation,

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because a nation whose culture had been formed for a thousand years by Christianity can't drop all mention of Christianity from its history without losing its soul. "The young in particular come to religious gatherings like these to get away from the restrictions and the emptiness of everyday life.

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The official church doesn't organise youth clubs and neither does the Communist Party, except for young people who are party members. To the Westerner there's a slightly 1960s feel about this kind of meeting. Many of the people here feel a moral revulsion against the compromises their elders have

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made with the system. It's for this reason that unofficial priests, those who've rejected the idea that they can minister to the faithful only if they're licensed by the government, have a particular attraction. To meet one such priest we had to make special arrangements to film him so our camera wouldn't

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be seen. Father Josef Kordek, a Jesuit, has a six-month suspended sentence hanging over him, imposed because he insisted on saying mass after he had lost his official license. Young believers in particular are dissatisfied with what they are offered in church. Priests have been selected, screened. As soon as somebody proves his worth, he is moved to the country

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or has his license revoked, and some are even imprisoned. Priests in churches are scared They are afraid to address themselves to the problems of this society. They do not help to solve problems. The believers live unsatisfied and they, therefore, go to those who do help them to solve their problems

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and who talk about things that concern them. And the only priests who can afford to do this are priests who do not have to worry about the state security. It always entails some risk, but there are priests who have got the courage to do this, who want to serve, who want to help, who want to live according to their faith and to fulfill their mission,

00:15:13.420 - 00:15:29.700

which is to preach the Gospels. The Church clearly offers a way out, particularly in the absence of any political hopes. The Church offers, if you like, It sounds almost Protestant, a clean way of life. You've got a demoralized society on the one hand,

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and you've got the party which rules, which is the party membership is the necessary requirement for career. And in this completely demoralized society, the church offers values, you know, even ordinary values such as friendship, cultural values, national identity.

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Better be right this time. - Good morning, gentlemen. - Good morning, Inspector. - Good morning, Inspector. - Will it be all sharp and shiny? Just thought you'd like to know the trial is all set for tomorrow morning.

00:16:06.020 - 00:16:18.220

- Shouldn't take too long. - Well, that sounds encouraging. Yes, it's encouraging for me, but... - bad for you. - Have some coffee, Inspector. You know, you two could save yourself a lot of trouble if you would tell me where the jewel is.

00:16:18.220 - 00:16:27.700

Tuck into some of that porridge, Inspector. It's guaranteed good for sleuthing. - You refuse to cooperate, huh? - We've offered you porridge and coffee. It's all that's left. Well, I'm glad that you're enjoying yourselves...

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because you're going to be here for the next 20 years. Madame Clouseau. - Your Highness. - Madame. Would you sit down?

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I'll be brief and to the point. My husband feels he has enough evidence to prove that Sir Charles is the Phantom and to convict George as his accomplice. As I see it, they only have one chance.

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What is that? If Your Highness were to testify on their behalf, somehow convince the Jewie that, well, they didn't even take the diamond. You surprise me, Madame.

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I expect to. And I'm taking the chance that you will keep what I'm about to tell you in the strictest confidence. I think I can, yes. It's not too difficult. Being the wife of Inspector Clouseau, you could have been very helpful to Charles.

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I have been. Was stealing my dog all part of the plan? That was the plan. But I think you should know that Charles wanted to call it off.

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(door opens) (door closes) (keys jangle) - You've had it all the time.

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You used to hold the jewel yourself before the International Court made its decision. I'd gladly sacrifice it to save Charles, but it's not so simple.

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- Couldn't you say you just found it on the grounds or something? - They just claim he dropped it making his escape. No.

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To save Charles, we must prove that someone else stole it. - But we'd never be able to do that. - I have an idea. (bell ringing)

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- The trial is in its third day. Seldom in the history of Italian jurisprudence has a trial created such intense excitement. Thousands of people, and it is interesting to note most of them women,

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have gathered daily, hoping to catch a glimpse of Sir Charles Lytton, the man accused of being the notorious Phantom. The court adjourned yesterday, as the defense requested time to investigate certain new important evidence.

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And it is rumored that when the court convenes today, the defense will call a surprise witness. - The defense has only one witness, Mr. President. Would you please call Inspector Jacques Clouseau to the stand?

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- You mean a defense witness? - Inspector Clouseau? - Nothing to worry about, my darling. You'll make fools out of them. Inspector Clouseau, you've testified under oath

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to certain pertinent facts concerning this case. Your testimony and your testimony alone has been the major factor in casting suspicion on the defendant. Aside from the Phantom himself, you are the foremost authority on the Phantom.

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I've made the Phantom my life's work. You testify that the Phantom has been a frequent guest at the numerous parties given by Miss Angela Dunning. That is correct, yes. You testify that it was either during or sometime soon afterwards that certain of Miss Dunning's guests were robbed of their jewels.

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Yes. How many times did this happen? Sixteen. - Sixteen parties, sixteen thefts? - Yes.

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- And Sir Charles attended all 16 of those parties? - All of them. And how many of those parties did you attend, Inspector? - All of them. - Oh, that's very interesting. - You attended the first party when the jewels were stolen? - Yes, yes.

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The jewels were stolen during or after the party? - After. - Oh, so then you knew they were going to be stolen? - Oh, yes. - How did you know? Because that is the modus operandi of the Phantom.

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He always works that way. Oh, I see. Were the same people always present at each party? Oh, no. The guest list varied.

00:20:52.100 - 00:21:06.100

Outside of Sir Charles, was anybody else always present at each of these parties? Er... No, no, no. Only Sir Charles was present at each party when there was a robbery. Yes, yes.

00:21:06.100 - 00:21:14.300

I see. - What about you? - Me? Yes, you. - What about me? - Well, you were there.

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- Yes. - Well, then, Sir Charles was not the only one always present at each party. - What are you suggesting? - I'm not suggesting anything. Yet. - Inspector Tlusar. - Hmm?

00:21:30.300 - 00:21:37.800

How much money do you make? Oh, what has this got to do with it? What has this got to do with it? Well, your salary.

00:21:37.800 - 00:21:46.300

How much does a police inspector get paid? You know, I... Enough to buy your wife a $10,000 mink coat? No, of course not.

00:21:46.300 - 00:21:56.300

You're aware that your wife spent $7,000 at Yves Saint Laurent only last month? What? And two months before that, $4,000? Well, it's impossible.

00:21:56.300 - 00:22:06.800

We know for a fact that your wife spent at least $30,000 on clothes during the past year. Sir, my wife is very frugal. She saves out of the housekeeping money. [laughter]

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[phone ringing] $30,000 out of the housekeeping money. Yeah, we've been married for 10 years. [laughter]

00:22:15.800 - 00:22:24.800

[phone ringing] About the time that these robberies began and the notorious phantom came into existence. Correct? Yes. No, no, not correct.

00:22:24.800 - 00:22:31.800

Of course not correct. Of course. Oh, yeah. Wait, wait. You see... [gasp]

00:22:31.800 - 00:22:42.800

It's not Sir Charles. He must be the phantom. It must be the insurgents. I just can't. I refuse to believe it. Nein.

00:22:42.800 - 00:23:15.240

It's not Sir Charles. (crowd cheering) - No, I'm not the Santa, no, no, no, please, please. (crowd chattering)

00:23:15.240 - 00:23:24.440

- Thank you, darling. - My good princess. - Look at that. (crowd cheering)

00:23:24.440 - 00:23:32.560

- No, no, I'm not the Phantom. No, no, no, I'm not the Phantom. - We can't just let him rot in prison. - Oh, it takes years for people to rot.

00:23:32.560 - 00:23:39.040

Besides, when the Phantom strikes again, the inspector will be as free as a bird. Wanna come to South America, George? Family rates?

00:23:39.040 - 00:23:46.240

- I wouldn't miss it, Uncle Charles. - (chuckles) Good. Who knows, when I retire, I might take over the business. [crowd cheering]

00:23:46.240 - 00:23:54.240

[crowd cheering] [crowd cheering] [crowd cheering] [music stops]

00:23:54.240 - 00:24:03.240

[music resumes] ...for another edition of Seven Days. [music] [music]

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[music] [music] [music] Good evening.

00:24:13.080 - 00:24:22.600

This week, that show of force by the United States off both coasts of revolutionary Central America, the latest touchstone of moral anguish for American public opinion.

00:24:22.600 - 00:24:33.440

A former United States ambassador to Britain, Kingman Brewster, discusses the American mood and its effect on American policy. And religion in the Soviet Union,

00:24:33.440 - 00:24:43.840

with the World Council of Churches meeting this week, often criticized for turning a blind eye to the situation of religion in the communist countries. Helene Heymann talks to the Reverend Michael Borg.

00:24:43.840 - 00:24:53.840

The largest single representation at the 6th meeting of the World Council of Churches in Vancouver this week is the one from the Soviet Union, because the Russian Orthodox Church

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is the biggest single member. The Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn has assailed the World Council ferociously for ignoring the reality of the persecution

00:25:04.840 - 00:25:17.340

in the Soviet Union particularly, where there are today some 7,000 Orthodox churches. Solzhenitsyn has written of those churches movingly that they are the pacifying secret

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of the Russian countryside. They trip up the slopes, ascend the high hills, and come down to the broad rivers. Wherever you wander, you're never alone.

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They beckon. But when you get into the village, off the roof long ago. The dome has been stripped and there are gaping holes in its rusty ribs. The murals have been washed by the rains of decades and obscene inscriptions scrawled

00:25:43.220 - 00:26:05.020

over them. It was not the living but the dead that greeted you from afar. What is happening to religion under Mr. Andropov? Here's Helene Heyman. Communism, it would seem from contemporary Soviet experience, has failed to remove from the people their need for what Marx called the opium of religion.

00:26:05.020 - 00:26:25.300

The Russian Orthodox Church is severely confined in its political role through its relationship with the state, but its ceremony and its congregations refuse to die even within these restrictions. And amongst the groups who can campaign for human rights within Russia, prominent are evangelical Christians like the Baptists and the Jews.

00:26:25.300 - 00:26:43.780

Even outside her own borders, two of the Soviet Union's most intractable problems lie in Afghanistan and Poland, countries where Islam and Catholicism are powerful forces in the struggle for national autonomy. And on the eve of the World Council of Churches meeting, the Soviet government felt constrained

00:26:43.780 - 00:27:00.540

to demonstrate its religious toleration by gestures towards Christian denominations. Michael Bordeaux is the director of Keston College for the study of religious communities in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Mr. Bordeaux, do these gestures, the reopening of this monastery,

00:27:00.540 - 00:27:12.540

the visit to Father Yakunin in his labor camp, and the giving of a Bible to him there, are they real evidence that the Soviet government is becoming more tolerant of religious communities?

00:27:12.540 - 00:27:27.180

The gestures are a farce, and the exact opposite is true. Under Andropov, people who've been imprisoned for preaching the gospel or printing religious literature, literature which is against the law and served say a five-year sentence are

00:27:27.180 - 00:27:45.060

being immediately slapped back into prison within the same month this kind of thing has not happened since Stalin this situation for believers generally in the Soviet Union and for Jews in their emigration campaign has become catastrophically worse and evidence of that is mounting but by the day the

00:27:45.060 - 00:28:03.860

monastery you mentioned there is no increase in monastic practice in the Soviet Union, what has happened is that the Orthodox Church has been given a new administrative center and that administrative center is in a monastery, not even the one the church wanted. They were negotiating for a far finer monastery.

00:28:03.860 - 00:28:15.020

Now, they've been given a second best one. And all they've done is to move their offices from one place to another. There will be no monks in that monastery at all. And then you mentioned Father Yakunin.

00:28:15.020 - 00:28:39.520

Well, he is a remarkable man because he was very well known a few years ago through having conducted a personal human rights campaign in favor of religious liberty. A debate about him took place at the World Council of Churches meeting in Nairobi in 1975. The Soviet authorities were obviously very worried that his name was going to come up with prominence again in the new assembly in Vancouver.

00:28:39.520 - 00:28:50.020

So they were trying to preempt criticism, do you think? Exactly that. Father Yakunin had been on hunger strike a few years ago, and he was force-fed because he was demanding a Bible.

00:28:50.020 - 00:29:06.020

Now, just in front of the meeting of the World Council of Churches, a priest is sent to him and gives him a Bible. Worldwide publicity announced by the TASS news agency. Can you explain a little of how the persecution of believers actually takes place?

00:29:06.020 - 00:29:27.900

Because there is this dichotomy, is there not, the Russian Constitution and its supposed toleration of religion and its freedom to people to believe and what actually happens. Well the Soviet Constitution means nothing at all. In fact Lenin guaranteed in his first Constitution a certain degree of religious

00:29:27.900 - 00:29:51.220

liberty and the right to propagate the faith. That right has been dropped from the Constitution and the phrase now is simply the right to hold religious worship and for the anti-religious propaganda to coexist with that. The right to religious worship simply confines the church to the four walls of a building

00:29:51.220 - 00:30:13.820

and who gives the permission for a building to be opened? It's the Soviet state. So that right is worth very little to Soviet Christians at all. But even within the Constitution, an average group which wants to open a church in a certain area is not permitted to do so because the local authorities will not license the building and all property

00:30:13.820 - 00:30:40.980

belongs to the state. But you talked about Lenin and it was Lenin who wrote, "Every defense or justification of the idea of God, even the most refined or best intention, is a justification of reaction. I mean, there is this political problem, is there not, that Marxism and Marxist communist ideology was meant to take the place, to stop people having the need for religion.

00:30:40.980 - 00:31:02.560

That was what the original belief was in Marx and stronger in Lenin. I don't think Stalin thought very much about it at all. Stalin simply wanted to liquidate the church and was it. But gradually over the last say 30 years since the death of Stalin, the idea has come to roost in the Soviet Union that religion is not actually

00:31:02.560 - 00:31:21.980

going to die out, whatever the Soviet authorities may say. We are faced, Andropov says, with the reality of religion. Let us try and use it in some way. And it is incredible the mileage, the propaganda mileage, that the Soviet authorities now managed to make out of religion. But at the same time that must

00:31:21.980 - 00:31:32.980

happen only within certain limits. And you have one type of religion for export and another type of policy for internal use. And that is why hundreds, probably thousands of people

00:31:32.980 - 00:31:45.820

are in prison for their faith in the camps in the Soviet Union at this moment. And yet, despite this attempt to confine the religion that does exist and that is admitted can't be eradicated

00:31:45.820 - 00:32:02.180

within the Orthodox Church, I mean, And what I find interesting is the blossoming of other sects and other denominations. But not only other denominations. The whole of religion is blossoming, despite all the restrictions that we've been talking about.

00:32:02.180 - 00:32:16.820

The Russian Orthodox Church is having a great revival. There is some magnificent writing coming out of Russian Orthodox circles. Young people are turning to something which is different from communism, older than communism. They're looking for a root.

00:32:16.820 - 00:32:33.500

And those roots are being found in Russian history, and Russian history and the traditional religion of orthodoxy go together. But at the same time, you have the new sects emerging. The Protestant faith has only been existent in the Soviet Union or in Russia since the

00:32:33.500 - 00:32:41.780

mid-19th century. But now it's becoming stronger and stronger. It is a real evangelical movement. The Baptists preach in the countryside.

00:32:41.780 - 00:32:59.740

They have itinerant evangelists. make converts among young among the young we have evidence of two or three thousand young people at a time converging to hear an evangelist out in the open air or in in a private house which simply overflows into the garden

00:32:59.740 - 00:33:17.660

there are not the churches to accommodate these people and baptisms take place young people are being converted by the hundreds and this is a daily phenomenon the Soviet Union a reaction against materialism it's so obvious. But how will the government react to that? I mean will they learn to

00:33:17.660 - 00:33:37.340

accommodate it in the same way as they accommodate Catholic Poland do you think or will they repress more? They're not really accommodating Catholic Poland. The tensions in Poland are unresolved. But they can't overtly take it on can they? No, no. In Poland religion is too strong to be taken on.

00:33:37.340 - 00:34:00.340

In the Soviet Union, the government does seem to have the upper hand, at least technically. They have the machinery, they have the secret police, they have the laws. But at the same time, what they cannot do is to control the inner thinking, control the soul of people. And these young people who've been through the communist educational process,

00:34:00.340 - 00:34:16.360

which is so full of indoctrination, they nevertheless, some of them, out with some questions about the meaning of life and so on. And religion comes in at that point. And it's remarkable how even a brief exposure to the Christian faith or indeed to the Jewish

00:34:16.360 - 00:34:27.200

faith at some point brings out in people some longing for something which is not covered by the materialism of communism. But it's interesting, isn't it? Because you talk about the materialism.

00:34:27.200 - 00:34:42.400

And yet, perhaps the irony is that religion seems stronger in the communist countries that have tried to take it on and replace it, than in the West where materialism has flourished unabated and perhaps-- That's absolutely true.

00:34:42.400 - 00:34:53.880

But the reasons for it are obvious, though, you see. If society says one thing, then-- and those values are questionable, as the values of our society are questionable.

00:34:53.880 - 00:35:11.760

So Soviet values are questionable, and people do question them. And you have the same kind of phenomenon, people objecting to whatever the received dogma is. Now in the Soviet Union, religion benefits from that. In the West, the exact opposite is the case. And the benefit in the

00:35:11.760 - 00:35:33.100

Soviet Union, it comes through the wonderful heroism of people like Father Yakunin who preach the faith, who live it down to their fingertips, are prepared to sacrifice themselves, their lives, their liberty for it. And this shining ideal gets across to people. Voices like Solzhenitsyn are heard, they are really influential in the Soviet Union simply because

00:35:33.100 - 00:35:56.780

they present something which is totally alternative to and different from what the state promotes. Can I ask you, with the World Council of Churches meeting, there's often discussion in the West about the best way to help to offer some support to people who are fighting for human rights or for religious rights in the Soviet Union. And there's this dichotomy of belief, isn't

00:35:56.780 - 00:36:07.100

between those who say softly, softly, don't demonstrate, don't make too big a noise about it, and the others who believe you'll never get anywhere with the Soviet government unless you do precisely that.

00:36:07.100 - 00:36:23.980

Yes, well, the World Council of Churches does have some human rights activity. As far as Eastern Europe is concerned, it's almost all behind the scenes. In fact, what needs to be done is an open activity and a diplomatic activity at the same time,

00:36:23.980 - 00:36:36.420

not necessarily by the same people. But the World Council of Churches would be in a much stronger position if it made its views generally known, and if it circulated information about human rights violations,

00:36:36.420 - 00:36:47.020

about Father Yakunin, for example, if that was fully circulated to all member churches, then it is in a much stronger position at the same time to make its diplomatic approaches to Eastern Europe.

00:36:47.020 - 00:36:56.660

Michael Warder, thank you very much indeed. And with this edition of Seven Days, we also come to the end of the present series. And so, with a genial nod to all of you who have kept

00:36:56.660 - 00:37:09.500

Elaine Heyman and me company along these somewhat unfamiliar but compelling paths of moral and religious issues in politics and society, that's all until the new series of seven days begins in the autumn.

00:37:09.500 - 00:37:35.920

And until then, from us all, goodbye. (upbeat music) [Music] Him at Balmoral, only she's not. She's not his girlfriend and she's not even Sophie Birdwood.

00:37:35.920 - 00:37:52.920

She's Caroline Herbert, the daughter of the Queen's racing manager and an old family friend, and she was at Balmoral as the guest of the Queen. The real Sophie Birdwood flew back to London today, not from Balmoral, but from the Bahamas. I must say, she said, I am not amused.

00:37:52.920 - 00:38:08.920

And the headlines again. Interpol have been called in as the search spreads to the continent for the three men who assaulted the six-year-old Brighton boy. The mother of the Irish informer Harry Kirkpatrick has pleaded with him

00:38:08.920 - 00:38:22.520

with him to retract his evidence, but he's given her no answer. After last night's rail crash in the Irish Republic, questions are being asked about the signals and the state of the carriages. And finally, they crowned Miss Swaziland last week.

00:38:22.520 - 00:38:33.760

They're crowning Miss Swaziland tomorrow too. Unfortunately, the first time round, the master of ceremonies forgot to read his list in reverse order. So the girl who came first had actually come fourth.

00:38:33.760 - 00:38:45.480

Now they're putting it right. The late news at about midnight. Until then, goodnight. [Music]

00:38:45.480 - 00:38:58.980

On Breakfast Time Tomorrow, that's life. A chance to talk babies with guests Aister Ransom. Powerbird heroine Fiona Brothers races through the papers. Tired of the tyres? What is art about?

00:38:58.980 - 00:39:14.720

And Welcome Back Barry, a song for Manolo's return. All that on Breakfast Time Tomorrow from 6.30. Good evening to you. After having been rather unsettled over the weekend, the weather's on the change again and it's not going to be long before we have this high pressure

00:39:14.720 - 00:39:29.960

back dominating the scene and giving most of us some sunshine. Before that happens though, we have these frontal systems to contend with and although they're giving a fair bit of rain in some places at the moment, by tomorrow they should have become fairly weak affairs. If we look at the satellite picture and deal with tonight's weather first of all, you can

00:39:29.960 - 00:39:43.040

see that there's quite a lot of cloud over the country, one band of it lying through Ireland into Scotland and in that area particularly but in other western areas later on there'll be some outbreaks of rain. Still a few showers left in the more central parts of the country but they'll be dying away as the night goes on

00:39:43.040 - 00:39:57.400

leaving behind some patchy fog. So far as far as tomorrow is concerned for one reason or other whether it be the fog or the cloud most places will start off fairly sort of grey and murky in the morning and there'll be a little rain and drizzle scattered around as well. Any rain and drizzle though in the more

00:39:57.400 - 00:40:11.280

central and eastern parts of the country will die away and very gradually your weather there will brighten up and I think you'll probably find some sunshine before the day's out. The best of the sunshine in the southeastern parts of England. In these more western areas it looks as if it'll stay mostly cloudy,

00:40:11.280 - 00:40:25.320

perhaps just here and there a little bit of brightness, but equally I think you'll run into one or two little bits of rain and drizzle from time to time as well and some mistiness along the coast. And these western areas rather on the cool side, whereas in these more sunny southeastern parts it'll again be quite

00:40:25.320 - 00:40:39.600

warm. [Music] This is BBC One with a new season of drama. [Music]

00:40:39.600 - 00:40:50.600

The Dark Side of the Sun. Patrick Mower is a photographer whose job on the Greek island of Rhodes ends in horror. [Screams] [Music]

00:40:50.600 - 00:41:04.600

The return of Juliet Rubber with Anna Carteret as a new inspector soon trapped in a dangerous situation. You know that I am armed and all is well. I'm going to kill your inspector. Give us a break.

00:41:04.600 - 00:41:18.600

Mo's a snooker genius and Mickey's a latter-day spiv who can find an angle in anything. Thirty-sevves and I'll pay for your tea. Thirty-five and I'll pay for yours. Spyship.

00:41:18.600 - 00:41:30.560

When a British trawler is lost at sea, there are some people who are not interested in the crew's safety. people could do with a little less publicity. So could we.

00:41:30.560 - 00:41:42.680

There has to be an inquiry. And by the sword divided, in the midst of happiness, a family is split in two by the English Civil War. What makes you so glum?

00:41:42.680 - 00:42:07.720

The loss of a daughter or the state of England, friend? A new season of drama on BBC One. The first semi-final of the BBC Television International Sheepdog Championship begins shortly on BBC Two. BBC One's Monday film at 9.55 is Cross of Iron, a dark, bloody picture of obsession and war made by Sam Peckinpah.

00:42:07.720 - 00:42:35.840

But now, we look back 15 years to the night of the 20th of August, 1968. (plane engine roaring) (radio broadcasts in foreign language) The voice of Radio Prague announcing to the world

00:42:35.840 - 00:43:00.200

that troops from the Warsaw Pact had invaded Czechoslovakia. (tanks rumbling) As the tanks closed in on the radio headquarters,

00:43:00.200 - 00:43:28.780

the broadcasters, as a last free gesture, played their country's national anthem. ♪ (ominous music) (gunshot)

00:43:28.780 - 00:43:54.060

(gunshot) (water splashing) [gunshots] The Czechoslovak National Anthem, almost blotted out at times by the sound of Russian machine guns,

00:43:54.060 - 00:44:10.900

broadcast by Radio Prague exactly as it happened, and picked up here in Vienna, at the headquarters of the Austrian Broadcasting Service, just across the border in the early hours of Wednesday, August the 21st, 1968. Radio and television had witnessed the birth of the Prague Spring, had actually

00:44:10.900 - 00:44:30.500

helped it to happen. Now they were showing the world the death of the Prague Spring. The Austrians kept their equipment going 24 hours a day, recording every picture that came out of Czechoslovakia. Pictures that were obtained by the courage of the broadcasters and the cameramen in Czechoslovakia itself. Pictures that

00:44:30.500 - 00:44:50.420

that showed for the first time the invasion of a country live as it took place. From first light on the 21st, the cameras were out on the streets in their dozens, recording every incident. The first battle of the morning was for the radio station.

00:44:50.420 - 00:45:08.740

At 7.15 the Soviet troops made a dash through the streets to capture it. Inside the radio station the broadcasters were already at their posts and they refused to be dislodged. - You are listening to the legal free radio station

00:45:08.740 - 00:45:22.340

(speaking in foreign language) We appeal to all radio stations in Romania, Yugoslavia. Please inform about the situation in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.

00:45:22.340 - 00:45:39.260

Please transmit all calls in Romanian, Polish, German, Hungarian, Bulgarian, French, English, Italian. Please, let the whole world know the truth. (gunshots)

00:45:39.260 - 00:46:02.140

- Please don't, don't you see the RSVP? (guns firing) The people of Prague had got there first. The area was blocked by abandoned buses and trams

00:46:02.140 - 00:46:24.680

serving as impromptu barricades. (guns firing) The battle raged all morning, if it can be called a battle when only one side did the fighting.

00:46:24.680 - 00:46:37.240

And by now the radio station, which the Russians were denouncing as illegal, had coined a new slogan, "Be with us, we are with you." (train horn blaring)

00:46:37.240 - 00:47:06.440

(people screaming) The broadcasters finally had to retreat in face of the overwhelming odds, but they didn't give up.

00:47:06.440 - 00:47:25.040

Soon there were no fewer than 11 television stations operating clandestinely in Czechoslovakia, moving from office to office and flat to flat, staying on the air through small miracles of engineering and improvisation. TV in Prague in a television studio, we can broadcast it now.

00:47:25.040 - 00:48:03.960

A short documentary film in Brno, on Brno streets... And the broadcasters themselves kept going to the point of exhaustion, continually repeating the legal government's condemnation of the Soviet occupation that was taking place in the streets outside The Russians failure to secure the radio station at once was the only serious lapse in what was otherwise a remarkable piece of military planning

00:48:03.960 - 00:48:12.960

(gunshots) (gunshots) (guns firing) (gunshots)

00:48:12.960 - 00:48:25.520

[SHOUTING] (men shouting) (men shouting) (shouting in foreign language)

00:48:25.520 - 00:48:51.240

(gunshots) (explosion) (gunshots) (explosion)

00:48:51.240 - 00:49:15.080

(airplane engine roaring) Within hours, the city was in the total grip of the invaders. They took over everything, every government building,

00:49:15.080 - 00:49:24.560

every factory, almost every street corner, not to administer the country, simply to crush out any opposition in it. The government, which had already ordered

00:49:24.560 - 00:49:36.020

the Czechoslovak army to remain in barracks, also appealed to the people not to fight back. For the most part, the call was heeded. As it was, several dozen Soviet soldiers were wounded

00:49:36.020 - 00:49:47.780

and some may have been killed. In the battle for the radio station, at least five Czechs were killed and around 65 injured. The dead were treated like martyrs.

00:49:47.780 - 00:50:21.640

(airplane engine roaring) The Pragas found the soldiers knew almost nothing of where they were or what they were doing. Many of them were shaken by their confrontations

00:50:21.640 - 00:50:28.900

with ordinary people, people who had an historical affection for Russians and who weren't afraid to argue with them about what they were doing.

00:50:28.900 - 00:50:49.260

(speaking in foreign language) - I have been spoken with many Russian soldiers. The first day was really very interesting. you could see all people standing around the tanks

00:50:49.260 - 00:50:59.540

and try to explain to these young boys, to these soldiers that nobody want them here in Czechoslovakia, that we were happy in this situation in our republic,

00:50:59.540 - 00:51:12.480

that we were free, we felt freedom, but they said that there was a counter-revolution and you can't explain them anything. They are like the wall.

00:51:14.900 - 00:51:26.340

The other main battleground was Wenceslas Square, the heart of Prague. The students held vigil there under Wenceslas' statue. There were sudden outbreaks of violence

00:51:26.340 - 00:51:38.660

as the tanks came to try to dislodge the students. The newspaper, Rudé Pravo, now underground, was distributed around the city. Abroad, there was angry condemnation,

00:51:38.660 - 00:51:51.380

and the West saw what was happening as an effort by the Russians to stamp out serious political threat to their control over Eastern Europe. But when the Russians came to show their version of events in a television documentary they

00:51:51.380 - 00:52:11.520

made to explain to their own people why they'd invaded, they didn't talk about the political threat naturally enough. They concentrated instead on the military dangers which they thought might arise. They used a map to show how if Czechoslovakia had been allowed just to drift away from the Soviet bloc, it would leave NATO an open corridor from West Germany

00:52:11.520 - 00:52:22.240

to attack the Soviet border itself. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] The message of the documentary was clear, as these extracts show.

00:52:22.240 - 00:52:31.640

The West had been trying to penetrate Czechoslovakia and neutralize it. The reformers in Prague were leaving their country defenseless against the aggressors who wanted to roll

00:52:31.640 - 00:52:42.580

back the communist frontiers. [MUSIC PLAYING] [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] To underline the point, Czech soldiers themselves

00:52:42.580 - 00:53:03.600

are shown here dismantling defenses on the West German border. The program treats the Soviet invasion as another liberation, like the one in 1945.

00:53:03.600 - 00:53:16.280

Only this time, the people of Czechoslovakia are being liberated not from the Nazis, but from counter-revolutionaries within. (speaking in foreign language)

00:53:16.280 - 00:53:54.120

(people shouting) (crowd cheering) (crowd cheering) The official justification put out by the Russians themselves

00:53:54.120 - 00:54:14.120

was that their tanks had been called in by loyal Czechoslovak communists because the Czechoslovak people were being manipulated by political forces they didn't understand - bourgeois nationalism and fascism. The fact is the Russians had invaded Czechoslovakia as a last despairing resort.

00:54:14.120 - 00:54:34.120

Things had moved so fast in the previous eight months that they'd been taken by surprise. But now, looking back, it's clear that Czechoslovakia's liberalization had begun years before, at the start of the 1960s, and that big changes had begun to take place quietly and without being noticed, either in the West or in Moscow.

00:54:34.120 - 00:54:57.640

And what we call the Prague Spring had in fact started to blossom openly only in the midwinter of 1967. That was when Antonín Novotny, the old party leader, inflexible and discredited, was fighting to keep his job. Leonid Brezhnev, watching from the sidelines, refused to step in and help him. The way was clear for a new man.

00:54:57.640 - 00:55:15.300

Alexander Dubček was an unassuming 46-year-old from Slovakia. He represented an alliance between the Slovaks, who felt they'd had a bad deal from the old regime, and the new reformers. Under him, Prague's winter was over.

00:55:15.300 - 00:55:39.100

People could scarcely believe what was happening. For the first time since the communist takeover it was possible to behave as they wanted without always having to look over their shoulders The government actually encouraged genuine debate and the experience was an exhilarating one Television became essential watching anything could happen interviewers could even corner visiting Soviet leaders

00:55:39.100 - 00:56:03.200

Newspapers were able to print almost everything they wanted and their readers studied. What was printed with a will The new leadership which presided over these changes was popular in a way no previous communist leaders here had been. There was a genuine warmth in the relationship and this May Day, for the first time, no one had to be forced to turn out and celebrate.

00:56:03.200 - 00:56:22.760

And the young who pressed enthusiastically for more and more freedom began to feel that the clock could never be turned back again. There were no forbidden topics, not even the greatest mystery of the communist takeover.

00:56:22.760 - 00:56:33.360

How the non-communist foreign minister, Jan Mazarek, had met his death in 1948. The official version always said he'd thrown himself from the foreign ministry building.

00:56:33.360 - 00:56:46.000

But an investigation on television included an interview with his valet, who insisted that there'd been signs of a struggle. (speaking in foreign language)

00:56:46.000 - 00:56:55.600

No one had ever seen this kind of journalism before, a state television service suggesting that the state might have committed murder. Mazurek's housekeeper seemed to confirm it

00:56:55.600 - 00:57:06.360

by revealing that she'd seen a bullet hole in his head as his body lay on the ground. (speaking in foreign language) It had been hidden by a carefully placed fly, she said,

00:57:06.360 - 00:57:21.000

at the lying in state. Other victims of the communist past came forward. The K231 group of political ex-prisoners was formed. Their purpose was to clear their names

00:57:21.000 - 00:57:34.600

under the slogan, "Let it never happen again." Although the reformers in government wouldn't go so far as to allow a multi-party system, political opposition was taking shape around CAN,

00:57:34.600 - 00:57:45.620

the club of committed non-party people. (traffic humming) Little by little, without any real direction, a new kind of politics was developing

00:57:45.620 - 00:57:55.960

from all this freedom of speech and freedom of the press. It was a libertarian socialism, where state ownership and state welfare would go hand in hand with real personal freedom.

00:57:55.960 - 00:58:13.900

Best summed up in the document 2,000 Words, it was something of what was already starting to emerge in Czechoslovakia. to the Russians, it sounded like the worst kind of counter-revolution.

00:58:13.900 - 00:58:30.380

And this is it, the document that alarmed them so much, as it was published in the newspaper Litterani Listi on 27th of June 1968. It's really an appeal for government to be made open and accountable. Let us demand the departure of people who abuse their power, it says.

00:58:30.380 - 00:58:41.940

Let us form committees for the defense of free speech, and let us expose informers." Well the people in the Kremlin and in other Soviet bloc governments who read that could spot the dangers instantly.

00:58:41.940 - 00:58:57.260

It was a fundamental challenge to their own personal positions. What they did first was to find out for themselves what was going on. In mid-May, Alexei Kosygin, the Soviet prime minister, who was not unsympathetic to the Prague reformers,

00:58:57.260 - 00:59:08.620

He came to test the waters at Kala Vivari. He also tested the political waters and told the Czechoslovak leaders he accepted that each country had the right to do what it wanted.

00:59:08.620 - 00:59:22.220

But some people in Moscow had other ideas about dealing with a Czech experiment. The high command of the Warsaw Pact decided to hold maneuvers in Czechoslovakia.

00:59:22.220 - 00:59:33.100

At that stage, no Soviet troops were stationed permanently in the country, so it was a convenient way of warning the Prague reformers that they might be brought to heel by force.

00:59:33.100 - 00:59:49.100

And the Kremlin hawks were encouraged by the American attitude. Washington made it clear that it was purely up to the Russians what they did in Czechoslovakia. But Moscow's political leaders still preferred a political solution.

00:59:49.100 - 01:00:02.100

At Černa nad Tizou, on the Slovak border, The entire Politburo left Soviet soil for the first time in history to bring the Czechoslovak leadership into line. But Brezhnev was worried.

01:00:02.100 - 01:00:21.100

He, after all, had been the one who had allowed Dubček to come to power. He was fierce and bullying. It was crude power politics. But there was agreement, a final withdrawal of the Soviet troops,

01:00:21.100 - 01:00:39.920

an end to attacks on Moscow in the Prague Papers. The deal would be ratified in front of the whole Warsaw Pact in Bratislava three days later. The Czechoslovak leaders waiting for their guests

01:00:39.920 - 01:00:54.140

to arrive were optimistic. They felt they'd done well at Chiana, though they knew that other Eastern Bloc leaders worried about their own positions were angry with the deal.

01:00:54.140 - 01:01:05.020

(crowd cheering) Outwardly, Brezhnev was jovial enough, but behind him in Moscow, the campaign against a political solution was growing.

01:01:05.020 - 01:01:20.020

Not just the army, but the party bureaucracy and the KGB. But the Bratislava meeting ended in agreement. Czechoslovakia was allowed to go its own way within limits. Everyone thought the crisis was over

01:01:20.020 - 01:01:33.300

and that a political solution had been reached. And yet, only 17 days later, the Russians invaded. So, why the complete change of mind? All the signs were that Brezhnev was fighting

01:01:33.300 - 01:01:42.860

a losing battle to defend the Bratislava Agreement from the people who thought that only force could settle the problem. It came to a head on August the 16th

01:01:42.860 - 01:01:53.100

at a secret meeting in the Kremlin. By now, only four members of the Politburo, including Brezhnev himself and Kosygin, seemed to have stood by the Bratislava deal,

01:01:53.100 - 01:02:02.940

while about eight were in favor of invading. That night, they were still split. But Brezhnev knew the dangers, and he later hinted that he could even have been overthrown

01:02:02.940 - 01:02:12.780

if he'd continued to stand out. When they went back to the Kremlin the next morning and the Politburo took the vote, they reached the unanimity they always prefer.

01:02:12.780 - 01:02:26.800

Brezhnev, like the others, agreed that the Czech should be brought to heel by force. What we don't know is how he felt about the decision. Two days after the invasion,

01:02:26.800 - 01:02:38.040

President Svoboda's plane is escorted into Moscow Airport. To the Kremlin's great embarrassment, the president had refused to sanction what the Russians had done, despite immense pressure.

01:02:38.040 - 01:02:53.500

Nevertheless, he was received with full honors. The Russians made these pictures available, so it's been suggested that some of them were filmed during an earlier, more friendly visit. Behind him, Svoboda had left the reformers as prisoners in Czechoslovakia.

01:02:53.500 - 01:03:11.500

Hours after the invasion, the Russians had handcuffed Dubček brutally and marched him off to what he himself thought would be his execution. And now Svoboda countered the Soviet ultimatums with a startling threat. Unless there were an acceptable settlement, he would kill himself.

01:03:11.500 - 01:03:22.920

he wouldn't start negotiating until Dubček and the whole leadership were released from custody and brought to Moscow as well. Face to face at four days of negotiation in the Kremlin,

01:03:22.920 - 01:03:31.980

there was immense pressure on the reformers. Soviet troops would stay, many of the reforms were undermined. Dubček in a state of near collapse

01:03:31.980 - 01:03:45.100

refused at first to sign. And one of the Czechs was freed only when the others wouldn't leave without him. Today, very few people at the talks are free to speak about them publicly.

01:03:45.100 - 01:04:12.020

One is Zdeněk Mlinař, then a leading party official, now in exile in Vienna. Through an interpreter he told me of the tense atmosphere at the talks. It wasn't really, there were no negotiations. There was only Soviet ultimatum,

01:04:12.020 - 01:04:23.220

which the Czechoslovak Presidium had to sign in order to be able to return to Czechoslovakia. - What the Russians were offering was no real kind of solution at all, was it?

01:04:23.220 - 01:04:39.380

- 15 years later, it is clear that it wasn't, signing this protocol in Moscow wasn't a solution. But at this time, it couldn't be clear. And at this time, one could hope maybe

01:04:39.380 - 01:04:58.980

that there will be an evolution, a progress, a change in Czechoslovakia as well, similar to those in Hungary. So that when you signed and when Alexander Dubček signed, he was reasonably optimistic still about the future?

01:04:58.980 - 01:05:18.480

[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] Yes, certainly we were expecting that also after this protocol, we will be able to go on and do, facilitate some changes, do some changes, do some reforms,

01:05:18.480 - 01:05:31.640

and can keep our line up to a certain extent. It wasn't to be. Within weeks, the reformers were obliged to sign away most of what they'd achieved, and Dubček was slowly isolated.

01:05:31.640 - 01:05:45.000

Winter brought the worst shock since the invasion. Jan Palach, a 20-year-old philosophy student, had burned himself alive near the Wenceslas statue as a symbol of protest.

01:05:45.000 - 01:05:59.540

200,000 people came to pay their respects, almost the last big show of feeling against what had been done to Czechoslovakia. (speaking in foreign language)

01:05:59.540 - 01:06:09.580

Almost, but not quite. Two months later in March, the Czechoslovak ice hockey team beat the Russians twice in eight days,

01:06:09.580 - 01:06:25.180

and celebrations of savage joy erupted everywhere. (crowd cheering) But their anti-Soviet anger made it a poor revenge. The Russians argued that it simply showed Dubček's

01:06:25.180 - 01:06:36.740

inability to control the situation. He was purged and Gustav Husak was sworn in his place. It was a skillful appointment. Husak had been Dubček's friend and a reformer

01:06:36.740 - 01:06:48.860

until he saw which way the wind was blowing. He still follows the Moscow line unswervingly. And Dubček himself, he was bundled off to Turkey as ambassador, conceivably to tempt him into defecting

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and thereby discredit his reforms. Instead, he went back to his old house in Bratislava. These surreptitious pictures are probably the last be taken of him as he walks into the office of the West Slovak Forestry Commission.

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He worked there until November 1981 in charge of transport, a non-person, followed everywhere by two security men. Nowadays he's retired. No one wants to talk about him in Czechoslovakia anymore.

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He was the leader who failed. Seen from across the Austrian border, Czechoslovakia today is a country cut off from the West by by an elaborate frontier designed to keep its inhabitants in rather than foreigners out. And behind the barbed wire, the economy is in increasing trouble.

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Inflation is growing and life is drab. At first, the men whom the Russian tanks had put into power in Prague offered their people an unspoken bargain. If they'd keep quiet politically and accept what had happened,

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the government would ensure that they had their fair share of the good things of life. For a dozen years or so it worked. Vast suburbs like this one in Bratislava sprang up. But in the last few years,

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the bargain has started to fall apart. Czechoslovakia has never recovered from the trauma of 1968, and today it gives the impression of a country merely going through the motions.

01:08:12.360 - 01:08:31.700

Before the war, it was richer than Switzerland. Now it's losing its place even within the Eastern Bloc. But on the whole, the Russians must feel that their intervention was worth it. It brought peace in Eastern Europe for 12 years, until solidarity in Poland in 1980.

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And in Czechoslovakia itself, even now to this day, there have been almost no political stirrings. There were some a couple of months ago, during the World Assembly for Peace in Prague. The dissident intellectuals of the Charter 77 group took advantage of the presence of

01:08:47.740 - 01:08:59.620

of Western correspondents who covered it, and they came out briefly into the open to meet us. But very few people have this kind of courage, and the full resources of the secret police

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are used against those who do. Očička, the current Czech slang calls them, little eyes, and they're everywhere, the best and perhaps proportionately

01:09:10.100 - 01:09:35.340

the biggest security service in the Communist bloc. (singing in foreign language) Other people make their protest more obliquely. This group, for instance, refuses to put words to its songs

01:09:35.340 - 01:09:48.620

because the words would have to be passed by the censors. (singing in foreign language) (cows mooing) Like the country as a whole,

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the group accepts the rules because it can't change them, but it still maintains a core of independence deep down which can't be surrendered. (cows mooing)

01:09:58.720 - 01:10:32.300

(man yelling) (dogs barking) (train whistling) In 1968, Czechs and Slovaks also made their protests loud but passive.

01:10:32.300 - 01:10:53.300

Would it have ended any differently if they'd met force with force? Hungarians, Poles and East Germans all took on the Russians over the past 30 years, but they're still just as much in the Soviet camp as ever. In Czechoslovakia, the people didn't think there was a need to fight.

01:10:53.300 - 01:11:14.260

They thought that because political freedom had taken root nothing could stop it growing But the appeal to reason and decency was the only defense they needed You say them why you came You must see that there is no contrary motion that nobody wants you that nobody need your help. No, I'm your friend

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I'm the brother And I came to make freedom came to make order in your country and we said that the brothers and the friends couldn't come on tanks but they don't understand

01:11:30.740 - 01:12:15.260

[SOUND] [chanting] [Music] And there's an article about the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia written by John Simpson

01:12:15.260 - 01:12:29.300

in the current edition of The Listener magazine. This Thursday on BBC One, Secrets, the first of four films questioning official secrecy in Britain today. I'd more or less forever.

01:12:29.300 - 01:12:56.060

If the net curtain has become the hallmark of privacy at home, can it be mere coincidence that white-hall windows are thick with the things too? And there's an article about the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia written by John Simpson in the current edition of The Listener magazine.

01:12:56.060 - 01:13:09.520

This Thursday on BBC One, Secrets, the first of four films questioning official secrecy in Britain today. I'd more or less forever. If the net curtain has become the hallmark of privacy at home,

01:13:09.520 - 01:13:31.420

can it be mere coincidence that white-hall windows are thick with the things too? [no audio] (crowd cheering) (men shouting)

01:13:31.420 - 01:13:42.000

(men shouting) (men shouting) (people shouting) (men shouting)

01:13:42.000 - 01:14:17.760

(men shouting) Come in. You know, once in the brown shirts,

01:14:17.760 - 01:14:28.300

they want the Nazis to run our country. The other wants the communists to run our country. Three times now, the same argument in the same street, one year.

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Are you a communist? - No, I'm not. - Nazi? - No.

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- What are you? - I'm confused. - Confused? Ah, that's good.

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See, they're not confused, huh? They know exactly what they want. They want to kill each other. Night and day.

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We're not a nation anymore. We are a monotony of chaos. [BLANK_AUDIO]