- 07 Nov 2009 18:26
#13227633
Was the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring actually in the interest of the west?
I have been thinking a bit about it, and got to wondering whether the west would actually have been interested in Dubcek succeeding with his reforms.
Would a democratic socialist Czechoslovakia not be worse for the west than a more authoritative country? A democratic socialist country would be seen as a much better alternative to western capitalism than an unfree country would. The Soviet intervention also fed well into western public perception of the unfree conditions behind the Iron Curtain. The whole thing discredited the left (or what was viewed as the left).
Capitalism was much better off with the viable alternative being viewed as authoritative and unfree, than it would have been had more liberal and democratic left wing alternatives been in place.
I have been thinking a bit about it, and got to wondering whether the west would actually have been interested in Dubcek succeeding with his reforms.
Would a democratic socialist Czechoslovakia not be worse for the west than a more authoritative country? A democratic socialist country would be seen as a much better alternative to western capitalism than an unfree country would. The Soviet intervention also fed well into western public perception of the unfree conditions behind the Iron Curtain. The whole thing discredited the left (or what was viewed as the left).
Capitalism was much better off with the viable alternative being viewed as authoritative and unfree, than it would have been had more liberal and democratic left wing alternatives been in place.
Last edited by MacDK on 08 Nov 2009 11:10, edited 1 time in total.