Socialists in Name Only

Foreign-policy experts are often the poor cousins of the apparatchiks who target the big-money ministries. The foreign-affairs budget is relatively small, with few opportunities to steal, although there have been some notable exceptions over the years. Other than having to defend himself against allegations of implementing PPF's China policy and being too anti-Russian, Lubomír Zaorálek has walked the straight and narrow. His Socialist credentials are strong. He was squarely on the people's side of the church-restitution issue, and he was critical of Zdeněk Bakala - whom he labeled a "crook" - before it became so fashionable. So it's no surprise that Zaorálek wants ČSSD to return to its Socialist roots. He told Kateřina Perknerová of Deník that it bothers him that ČSSD has not been able to stick to the issue of social inequality and to make it its main election topic. But is this realistic, given that ČSSD is run by Bohuslav Sobotka, a Socialist in Name Only, who obediently served Bakala, Martin Roman and many of the CR's other leading capitalists?