Changes at the Top 
1. 
On 5 January, 46-yee.r old Alexander Dubcek, First Secretary of the semi-autonomous Slovak party organizat~on, replaced 63-year old Antonin Novotny as First Secretary of the entire Czechoslovak Party. Four full members were added to the Party Presidium raising the total in that body to 14 full members and 5 candidates. The Central Committee meeting which effected these changes was the fourth meeting since mid-September 1967. The Presidium itself had been in al.most daily session since the beginning of December. Certain Czechoslovak armed forces reservists had apparently been alerted for several days 1n connection with the crisis, and Soviet Party Chief Brezhnev had invited himself to Prague in early December to see, inter alia, if the Czech political. wines were vintage Budapest 1956. 

2. 
The election of Dubcek to lead the entire party seem~ to be the latest, but not the last, in a series of bide for pover by a coalition representirl8 Slovak regional interests and the more generally liberal elements in the party. n.J.bcek may not have been the leader of the coalition in the Presidium; one of the names which had more frequently been mentioned as likely successor to Novotny was planning chief Old.rich Cern1k1 a Czech with 









hear a Party Central Committee member and university official. 
tell them to be patient because an "irreversible democratization" was takirig place in their country, and then read the party youth newspaper's condemnation of the "police brutality" of the uniformed men who dispersed them. Moreover, one of Novotny's high carda in dealing with student unrest on previous occasions had been the failure of the students to arouse the sympathy of 


are likely to be demoted. In addition, Premier Lenart, a liberal 
Slovak, may be replaced 1n that post by someone such as the 
previously mentioned Oldrich Cernik, in order to maintain a 
nat1onal.1ty balance. There could also be significant changes in 
the Ministry of the Interior, vhich was publicly attacked by a 
candidate member of the Presidium last September. The reasons 
cited tor the attack --inefficient operation ·of the Ministry's 
buildings and grounds in Prague --are so trifling as to suggest the beginnings of a more serious campaign against the Ministry and against its subordinate organization, the secret po1ice (StB). Novotny will apparently retain the ceremonial. title ot President and his tuJ.l membership in the Presidium tor the time being. As lcmg as he does not work against n.tbcek, he is unlikely to become an unperson like his friend Khrushchev, probably because the Czechoslovaks vish to ehov that they can handle problems of this 
nature with more dignity than the Soviets. 
ll. Judging by the extensive and favorable coverage given Czechoslovak developments 1n the Yugoslav press the Yugoslavs expect the Czechs to become something like themselves. They also expect that the changes in Czechoslovakia vill stir similar impul.1es in other parts ot Europe.