Document XI
The following is a small exerpt from a conversation between Brezhnev and Dubcek:
Brezhnev: We have little time, and so let me get straight to the point. I'm again turning to you with anxiety about the fact that the mass media in your country not only are incorrectly depicting our conferences in Cierna and Tisou and Bratislava, but are also stepping up their attacks against the healthy forces and continuing to purvey anti-Sovietism and anti-socialist ideas. What I'm referring to here are not some isolated instances but an organized campaign; and judging by the content of the materials, these press organs have come to serve as a mouthpiece for the right-wing, anti-socialist forces. We in the Politburo exchanged views about this matter and unanimously concluded that there is every basis for regarding the unfolding situation as a violation of the agreement reached in Cierna and Tisou. I have in mind the agreement you and I reached during our one-on-one discussions, as well as the agreement we thrashed out during the four-on-four meetings and the agreement that emerged between the Politburo of our party and the Presidium of the Central Committee of your party.
Dubcek: I already told you what sorts of measures we are taking to put an end to the anti-Soviet and anti-socialist manifestations in the mass media. I already told you what sorts of measures we are preparing and in what sequence we will carry them out. But I also told you at the time that it's impossible to do all this in a single day. We need time to take care of it. We're not able to restore order in the operations of the mass media in just two to three days.
Brezhnev: Sasha, that's true, and we warned you at the time that the rightist forces will not easily give up their positions and that it would of course be impossible to do everything in just two to three days. But a lot more time than two to three days has already passed, and the success of your work in this regard depends on your willingness to take decisive measures to restore order in the mass media. Of course if the CPCz leadership and the CSSR government continue to pursue a policy of non-interference in this matter in the future, these processes will continue unabated. It's simply impossible to halt them through a policy of non-interference. You must resort to concrete measures. This is precisely the point on which we reached concrete agreement in connection with the role of Pelikan, and we said that it was essential to dismiss Pelikan. This would be the first step needed to restore order in the mass media.
Dubcek: Leonid Ilyich, we studied these questions and are continuing to study them. I told Comrade Cernik what sorts of measures we'd have to take, and I gave Comrade Lenart the task of carrying out the necessary measures. As far as I know, no sorts of attacks have been appearing recently against the CPSU or the Soviet Union or against the socialist order.
Brezhnev: How can you say such a thing when literally all the newspapers -- Literarni listy, Mlada fronta, Reporter, Prace -- every day are publishing anti-Soviet and anti-party articles?
Dubcek: That was going on before Bratislava. Since Bratislava that hasn't been happening.
Brezhnev: What do you mean it was only "before Bratislava"? On 8 August Literarni listy featured an article entitled "From Warsaw to Bratislava," which was a full-blown, vicious attack against the CPSU and the USSR and against all the fraternal socialist countries. The 8th of August, needless to say, was after Bratislava.
Dubcek: That's an isolated case. I don't know of any others. All the rest appeared before Bratislava. We're opposed to this article and are now taking appropriate measures.
