Transition to capitalism

The bankruptcy and collapse of socialist governments behind the Iron Curtain left capitalism standing, for most of the world, as the only acceptable way to organize a society. But that triumph did not end the two-centuries-old debate about how to temper the efficiency and individualism of the free market with fairness and concern for community. After a brief hiatus, that debate has resumed, impelled by the pressures of globalization in the developed world, the insecurity of transition in the formerly communist world and continuing misery in many developing countries.

The debate provides one lens through which to view the results of the recent election in the Czech Republic. The aggressively free-market ruling coalition there, led by Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus, did not nearly do as well as it expected, emerging two votes shy of a majority in parliament. Given that the Czechs are at the head of the class among transition economies, the results came as a shock.

Some analysts took them as a bad omen for President Boris Yeltsin of Russia, who is facing a tough challenge from the Communist Party and other anti-reform campaigners in a June 16 election. The analogy is apt to this extent only: Living through a transition from failed socialism to struggling capitalism is disorienting and painful. Candidates who exploit the resulting resentments inevitably attract votes.

But the differences between the two countries are starker. The Social Democrats who gained in the Czech election are neither communists, as in Russia, nor reformed communists, as in some other Central and Eastern European nations. They are true social democrats, with roots in prewar Czechoslovakia. Their differences with the ruling coalition are at the margins: whether to privatize railroads as well as factories, whether to permit individual health accounts.

Most notably, the response to the unexpected results has been one of utter calm. The notion that the results could threaten Czech democracy occurred to no one.

In Russia, too, many voters would like to send a message that free-market reforms should continue but with less corruption and greater social justice. Unfortunately for them, Russia does not have the moderate opposition parties to convey such a message. The Czech Republic's "Velvet Revolution" has been a success. The revolution in Russia, of uncertain fabric, is still under way.

-- The Washington Post