ABSTRACT
Both Czechoslovak and Soviet officials refused to see similarities between Gorbachev and Alexander Dubček, the reformist leader of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. 1 They said that the Prague Spring of 1968 had weakened socialism and the leading role of the party, thus clearing the way for a counterrevolution, whereas the Soviet efforts underway were to do the opposite. In particular, the reformers of the past were said to stand no chance of being allowed to re-emerge from "the rubbish heap of history" and take "parasitical advantage" of Gorbachev's program.
