Inside Czechoslovakia

Prague—This is the city of a hundred church spires: shabby, dirty, incomparably beautiful, in so many outward ways like the other capitals of the East, but inwardly trembling, tense, alive.

I traveled with three friends for five weeks in Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary and Russia. Since we were all young, it was easy to meet and talk with a lot of people: students, soldiers, workers. The Czechs were, in general, very pro-American and asked us a lot of questions. They were not afraid to talk openly, to be overheard discussing politics, criticizing Communism, or to be seen reading Western books and magazines. This was not the case in Russia, where, if you asked anyone a political question, he would glance around furtively, afraid even to be seen with an American. As you go East, things tighten up. During our entire stay in Czechoslovakia, we never met anyone who would admit to being a Communist.

AR

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Alfred Regnery

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Prague—This is the city of a hundred church spires: shabby, dirty, incomparably beautiful, in so many outward ways like the other capitals of the East, but inwardly trembling, tense, alive.

I traveled with three friends for five weeks in Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary and Russia. Since we were all young, it was easy to meet and talk with a lot of people: students, soldiers, workers. The Czechs were, in general, very pro-American and asked us a lot of questions. They were not afraid to talk openly, to be overheard discussing politics, criticizing Communism, or to be seen reading Western books and magazines. This was not the case in Russia, where, if you asked anyone a political question, he would glance around furtively, afraid even to be seen with an American. As you go East, things tighten up. During our entire stay in Czechoslovakia, we never met anyone who would admit to being a Communist.