Hungary was first occupied
by semi-nomadic Magyars in 896. It remained an independent kingdom
until being conquered by the Turks in 1526.
The
Austrians began to expel the Turks at the end of the 17th century.
Union between Austria and Hungary took place in 1867. Overall political
authority was held by Emperor Franz Josef.
Over 51 million people lived in the 675,000 square kilometres of the
empire. The two largest ethnic groups were Germans (10 million) and
Hungarians (9 million). There were also Poles, Croats, Bosnians, Serbians,
Italians, Czechs, Ruthenes, Slovenes, Slovaks and Romanians. Overall,
fifteen different languages were spoken in the Austro-Hungarian
empire.
Austria and Hungary shared the same currency but other state functions
rested with the national governments. Both states had unelected upper
houses and elected lower houses of parliament. Hungarian politicians
complained that the Austrian parliament was too powerful and that
they were considered to be junior partners.
The Austro-Hungarian government feared
attack from Russia . In 1879 Austro-Hungary
and Germany agreed to form a Dual Alliance.
This became the Triple Alliance when in
1882 it was expanded to include Italy.
The three countries agreed to support each other if attacked by either
France or Russia.
The Triple Alliance was renewed at five-yearly
intervals. The formation of the Triple Entente
in 1907 by Britain, France
and Russia, reinforced the belief that
they needed a military alliance.
The Austro-Hungarian Imperial Army was
officially under the control of the Commander-in-Chief, Emperor Franz
Josef. By 1914 Josef was 84 years old and the chief of staff,
Count Franz Conrad, had more power over
the armed forces. Conrad, favoured an aggressive foreign policy and
advocated the use of military action to solve Austro-Hungary's territorial
disputes with Italy and Serbia.
After the collapse of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire during the
last few months of the First World War, the
leader of the Independent Party, Mihaly Karolyi,
gained control. He tried to introduce social and democratic reforms
but lack of support led to him being ousted by the communist leader,
Bela Kun.
Admiral Miklos
Horthy, commander-in-chief of the Imperial and Royal Fleet, returned
to Hungary in November 1919 and led the overthrow of Bela
Kun. In March 1920 he became Regent of Hungary and held office
for the next twenty-four years.
In 1938 Horthy collaborated
with Nazi Germany
against Czechoslovakia
and against
Romania and Yugoslavia in 1940. Hungary also agreed to join Germany
in the invasion of Soviet Union in June 1941.
Miklos
Horthy attempted to remain independent of Adolf
Hitler and refused to allow Hungary's Jewish population of 80,000
to be handed over to the Schutz
Staffeinel (SS). It was not until the German
Army occupied Hungary in March 1944 that the Jews were deported
to Nazi Germany.
The Soviet
Army invaded Hungary
in September 1944. It set
up an alternative government in Debrecen on 21st December 1944 but
did not capture Budapest until 18th January 1945. Soon afterwards
Zolton Tildy became the provisional prime
minister.
In elections held in November,
1945, the Smallholders Party won 57% of the vote. The Hungarian Workers
Party, now under the leadership of Matyas
Rakosi and Erno Gero, received support
from only 17% of the population. The Soviet commander in Hungary,
Marshal Voroshilov, refused to allow the Smallholders Party to form
a government. Instead Voroshilov established a coalition government
with the communists holding some of the key posts. Zoltan
Tildy, was named president and Frenc Nagy
prime minister. Matyas Rakosi became
deputy prime minister.
Laszlo
Rajk became
minister of the interior and in this post established the security
police. In February 1947 the police began arresting leaders of the
Smallholders Party and the National Peasant Party. Several prominent
figures in both parties escaped abroad. Later Matyas
Rakosi boasted that he had dealt with his partners in the government,
one by one, "cutting them off like slices of salami."
The Hungarian Communist
Party became the largest single party in the elections in 1947 and
served in the coalition People's Independence Front government. The
communists gradually gained control of the government and by 1948
the Social Democratic Party ceased to exist as an independent organization.
Its leader, Bela Kovacs was arrested
and sent to Siberia. Other opposition
leaders such as Anna Kethly, Frenc
Nagy and Istvan Szabo were imprisoned
or sent into exile.
Matyas
Rakosi also demanded complete obedience from fellow members of
the Hungarian Communist Party. His main rival for power was Laszlo
Rajk, who was
now foreign secretary. Rajk was arrested and at his trial in September
1949 he confessed to being an agent of Miklos
Horthy, Leon Trotsky, Josip
Tito and Western
imperialism and admitted that he had taken part in a murder plot against
Matyas Rakosi and Erno
Gero.
Laszlo Radk was found guilty and executed. Janos
Kadar and other
dissidents were also purged from the party during this period.
Matyas
Rakosi now attempted to impose authoritarian rule on Hungary.
An estimated 2,000 people were executed and over 100,000 were imprisoned.
These policies were opposed by some members of the Hungarian Workers
Party and around 200,000 were expelled by Rakosi from the organization.
Rakosi rapidly expanded
the education system in Hungary. This was an attempt to replace the
educated class of the past by what Rakosi called a new "toiling
intelligentsia". Communist indoctrination took place in schools
and universities. Religious instruction was denounced as propaganda
and was gradually eliminated from schools.
Cardinal Joseph
Mindszenty, who had bravely opposed the German Nazis and the Hungarian
Fascists during the Second World War, was arrested
in December, 1948, and accused of treason. After five weeks of torture
he confessed to the charges made against him and he was condemned
to life imprisonment. The Protest churches were also purged and their
leaders were replaced by those willing to remain loyal to Rakosi's
government.
Rakosi had difficulty managing
the economy and the people of Hungary saw living standards fall. His
government became increasingly unpopular and when Joseph
Stalin died in 1953 Matyas Rakosi
was replaced as prime minister by Imre
Nagy. However,
he retained his position as general secretary of the Hungarian Workers
Party and over the next three years the two men became involved in
a bitter struggle for power.
As Hungary's new leader
Imre
Nagy removed
state control of the mass media and encouraged public discussion on
political and economic reform. This included a promise to increase
the production and distribution of consumer goods. Nagy also released
anti-communists from prison and talked about holding free elections
and withdrawing Hungary from the Warsaw
Pact.
Matyas
Rakosi led the attacks on Nagy. On 9th March 1955, the Central
Committee of the Hungarian Workers Party condemned Nagy for "rightist
deviation". Hungarian newspapers joined the attacks and Nagy
was accused of being responsible for the country's economic problems
and on 18th April he was dismissed from his post by a unanimous vote
of the National Assembly. Rakosi
once again became the leader of Hungary.
Rakosi's power was undermined
by a speech made by Nikita
Khrushchev in February 1956. He denounced the policies
of Joseph Stalin and his followers in
Eastern Europe. He also claimed that the trial of Laszlo
Rajk had been
a "miscarriage of justice". On 18th July 1956, Rakosi was
forced from power as a result of orders from the Soviet Union. However,
he did managed to secure the appointment of his close friend, Erno
Gero, as his successor.
On 3rd October 1956, the
Central Committee of the Hungarian Communist Party announced that
it had decided that Laszlo
Rajk, Gyorgy
Palffy, Tibor Szonyi and Andras Szalai had wrongly been convicted
of treason in 1949. At the same time it was announced that Imre
Nagy had been
reinstated as a member of the Communist Party.
The
Hungarian
Uprising began
on 23rd October by a peaceful manifestation of students in Budapest.
The students demanded an end to Soviet occupation and the implementation
of "true socialism". The police made some arrests and tried
to disperse the crowd with tear gas. When the students attempted to
free those people who had been arrested, the police opened fire on
the crowd.
The following day commissioned
officers and soldiers joined the students on the streets of Budapest.
Stalin's statue was brought down and the protesters chanted "Russians
go home", "Away with Gero" and "Long Live Nagy".
The Central Committee of the Hungarian Communist Party respond to
these developments by deciding that Imre
Nagy should become
head of a new government.
On 25th October Soviet
tanks opened fire on protesters in Parliament Square. One journalist
at the scene saw 12 dead bodies and estimated that 170 had been wounded.
Shocked by these events the Central Committee of the Communist Party
forced Erno Gero to resign from office
and replaced him with Janos
Kadar.
Imre
Nagy now went
on Radio Kossuth and announced he had taken over the leadership of
the Government as Chairman of the Council of Ministers." He also
promised the "the far-reaching democratization of Hungarian public
life, the realisation of a Hungarian road to socialism in accord with
our own national characteristics, and the realisation of our lofty
national aim: the radical improvement of the workers' living conditions."
On 28th October, Nagy and
a group of his supporters, including Janos
Kadar, Geza
Lodonczy, Antal Apro, Karoly Kiss, Ferenc Munnich and Zoltan Szabo,
manage to take control of the Hungarian Communist Party. At the same
time revolutionary workers' councils and local national committees
are formed all over Hungary.
The new leadership of the
party is reflected in the comments made in its newspaper, Szabad Nep.
On 29th October the newspaper defends the change in the government
and openly criticises Soviet attempts to influence the political situation
in Hungary. This view is supported by Radio Miskolc and it calls for
the immediate withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country.
On 30th October, Imre
Nagy announced
that he was freeing Cardinal Joseph Mindszenty
and other political prisoners. He also informs the people that his
government intends to abolish the one-party state. This is followed
by statements by Zolton Tildy, Anna
Kethly and Ferenc Farkas concerning
the reconstitution of the Smallholders Party, the Social Democratic
Party and the Petofi Peasants Party.
Nagy's most controversial
decision took place on 1st November when he announced that Hungary
intended to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact.
as well as proclaiming Hungarian neutrality he asked the United
Nations to become involved in the country's dispute with the Soviet
Union.
On 3rd November, Nagy announced
details of his coalition government. It included communists (Janos
Kadar, George
Lukacs,
Geza Lodonczy), three members of the
Smallholders Party (Zolton Tildy, Bela
Kovacs and Istvan Szabo), three Social
Democrats (Anna Kethly, Gyula
Keleman, Joseph Fischer), and two
Petofi Peasants (Istvan Bibo and Ferenc
Farkas). Pal Maleter was appointed
minister of defence.
Nikita
Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet
Union, became increasingly concerned about these developments
and on 4th November 1956 he sent the Red Army
into Hungary. Soviet tanks immediately captured Hungary's airfields,
highway junctions and bridges. Fighting took place all over the country
but the Hungarian forces were quickly defeated.
During the Hungarian
Uprising an estimated
20,000 people were killed. Imre
Nagy was arrested
and replaced by the Soviet loyalist, Janos
Kadar.
Imre
Nagy was imprisoned
and executed in 1958. Other government ministers or supporters who
were either executed or died in captivity included Pal
Maleter, Geza Lodonczy, Attila
Szigethy and Miklos Gimes.
Janos
Kadar remained
loyal to the Soviet Union but did introduce
a series of economic reforms which helped to raise living standards.
He held power until resigning as leader of the Hungarian Communist
Party in 1988.
(1)
Crystal
Eastman, The Liberator (February
1919)
Bela Kun is a young man
(they are all young) - probably 29 or 30. He is stocky and powerful
in physical build, not very tall, with a big bulging bullet-head shaved
close. His wide face with small eyes, heavy jaws and thick lips is
startling when you first see it close - I am told it is a well-known
Magyar type—but his smile is sunny and winning, and he looks
resolute and powerful. He has a superhuman capacity for hard work.
His title is Commissar of Foreign Affairs, but there is not the slightest
doubt in anyone's mind that he is in every sense the head of the government.
He is described by his comrades as a "great agitator," a
man of real revolutionary talent, a "genuine Socialist statesman,"
the "first statesman Hungary has had in seventy years."
Their eyes glow with pride in him. "The rest of us are nothing,"
said Lukacs, Commissar of Education. "We do our part, but there
are hundreds like us in every country." It is nothing to the
European movement whether we are hanged tomorrow or not. If Kun were
killed it would be a serious loss to the revolution."
Bela Kun gave me a written
message to the workers of America, which I cabled for publication
in the July number of The Liberator.
He also gave me written
answers to some of the questions that were in our minds in America.
He said that they had learned much from the experience of Russia -
both what to do and what to avoid. Perhaps
it was a reflection of his own personal growth in Russia that made
him say, "We certainly learned, from the Russian example, self-sacrifice."
He also said, "We
learned the proper form of dictatorship there."
I asked him whether the
Hungarian dictatorship was more or less
strict than the Russian, and he said it was more strict. "The
Russians made many
experiments," he said, "before they found the proper
form of dictatorship. We have been saved those experiments."
I asked him whether he
found necessary a complete suppression of free speech and press, and
this is his reply:
"We do not practice
general suppression of free speech and free press at all. Workmen's
papers are published without the intervention of any censorship. Among
workingmen there is perfect freedom of speech and of holding meetings;
this freedom is enjoyed not only by the workmen who share our views
but also by those whose views are different. The anarchists, for instance,
publish a paper and other printed matter. There are also citizens'
papers, for instance, the Twentieth Century, a periodical published
by the society for sociology,
without any control or restriction being exercised upon it. We
only suppress bourgeois papers having decided counter-revolutionary
intentions.
"We are doing this
not because we are afraid of them, but because
we want in this way to obviate the necessity of suppressing counter-revolution
by force of arms."
(2)
Winston Churchill, speech in Fulton,
Missouri (5th March, 1946)
A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Allied
victory. Nobody knows what Soviet Russia and its Communist international
organization intends to do in the immediate future, or what are the
limits, if any, to their expansive and proselytizing tendencies. I
have a strong admiration and regard for the valiant Russian people
and for my wartime comrade Marshal Stalin. There is sympathy and goodwill
in Britain - and I doubt not here also - toward the peoples of all
the Russias and a resolve to persevere through many differences and
rebuffs in establishing lasting friendships.
We understand
the Russians need to be secure on her western frontiers from all renewal
of German aggression. We welcome her to her rightful place among the
leading nations of the world. Above all we welcome constant, frequent,
and growing contacts between the Russian people and our own people
on both sides of the Atlantic. It is my duty, however, to place before
you certain facts about the present position in Europe - I am sure
I do not wish to, but it is my duty, I feel, to present them to you.
From Stettin
in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended
across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the
ancient states of central and eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague,
Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest, and Sofia, all these famous
cities and the populations around them lie in the Soviet sphere and
all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence
but to a very high and increasing measure of control from Moscow.
Athens alone, with its immortal glories, is free to decide its future
at an election under British, American, and French observation. The
Russian-dominated Polish government has been encouraged to make enormous
and wrongful in-roads upon Germany, and mass expulsions of millions
of Germans on a scale grievous and undreamed of are now taking place.
The Communist
parties, which were very small in all these Eastern states of Europe,
have been raised to preeminence and power far beyond their numbers
and are seeking everywhere to obtain totalitarian control. Police
governments are prevailing in nearly every case, and so far, except
in Czechoslovakia, there is no true democracy. Turkey and Persia are
both profoundly alarmed and disturbed at the claims which are made
upon them and at the pressure being exerted by the Moscow government.
An attempt is being made by the Russians in Berlin to build up a quasi-Communist
Party in their zone of occupied Germany by showing special favors
to groups of left-wing German leaders.
(3)
Laszlo
Rajk, confession (September, 1949)
It was (in 1947) that I
first realised that not only Rankovic (Yugoslav minister of the interior)
"and other men who had been in Spain were pursuing Trotskyist
policies and that they were working hand-in-glove with the American
intelligence agencies, but Tito too, the prime minister of Yugoslavia!
They failed because the
government reshuffle here in 1948 rooted out all the people we had
infiltrated into every walk of government life, into the public and
state agencies, the army - everywhere. And the propaganda work of
the Catholic reactionaries led by Mindszenty, on which Tito had also
been counting, came to nothing, because the mighty central government
of our People's Democracy dashed one of their most important instruments
out of their hands by nationalising the Catholic schools. That was
a crippling blow to the whole plan!"
(4)
Tibor Szonyi, prosecuting council against Laszlo
Rajk (September,
1949)
Tito and his clique! In
their dealings with us and their own accomplices, they dropped their
mask and spoke openly of overthrowing our People's Democracy. They
would have stopped short at no crime. Honourable court, I too, offered
my services for these wicked plans. And my crimes are no less heinous
when compared with the offences committed by the arch-criminals of
the pernicious Tito gang.
(5)
David Irving, Uprising! (1981)
A few weeks later, Rajk's
young widow Julia sees the official Blue Book on the trial. When she
reads her husband's first reply a sad smile flickers across her angular,
handsome face. Ladislas Rajk has beaten the system after all. Despite
the violence, the drugs, and the dress-rehearsals, he has left a clue
for posterity right there in his first words.
"When were you born,"
the court had asked.
And Rajk had answered,
"On March 8th, 1909."
But that was not true.
It was May 8th. How could any man make such an error unless to leave
a hidden message to the world outside that all was not as it seemed?
(6)
Peter
Fryer, Hungarian
Tragedy: PostScript (1956)
Look at the hell that
Rákosi made of Hungary and you will see an indictment, not
of Marxism, not of Communism, but of Stalinism. Hypocrisy without
limit; medieval cruelty; dogmas and slogans devoid of life or meaning;
national pride outraged; poverty for all but a tiny handful of leaders
who lived in luxury, with mansions on Rózsadomb, Budapest's
pleasant Hill of Roses (nicknamed by people 'Hill of Cadres'), special
schools for their children, special well-stocked shops for their wives
- even special bathing beaches at Lake Balaton, shut off from the
common people by barbed wire. And to protect the power and privileges
of this Communist aristocracy, the A.V.H. - and behind them the ultimate
sanction, the tanks of the Soviet Army. Against this disgusting caricature
of Socialism our British Stalinists would not, could not, dared not
protest; nor do they now spare a word of comfort or solidarity or
pity for the gallant people who rose at last to wipe out the infamy,
who stretched out their yearning hands for freedom, and who paid such
a heavy price.
Hungary was Stalinism incarnate.
Here in one small, tormented country was the picture, complete in
every detail: the abandonment of humanism, the attachment of primary
importance not to living, breathing, suffering, hoping human beings
but to machines, targets, statistics, tractors, steel mills, plan
fulfilment figures . . . and, of course, tanks. Struck dumb by Stalinism,
we ourselves grotesquely distorted the fine Socialist principle of
international solidarity by making any criticism of present injustices
or inhumanitites in a Communist-led country taboo. Stalinism crippled
us by castrating our moral passion, blinding us to the wrongs done
to men if those wrongs were done in the name of Communism. We Communists
have been indignant about the wrongs done by imperialism: those wrongs
are many and vile; but our one-sided indignation has somehow not rung
true. It has left a sour taste in the mouth of the British worker,
who is quick to detect and condemn hypocrisy.
(7)
Matyas
Rakosi, article in the Szabad
Nep (19th July, 1956)
My comrades frequently
mentioned in the past two years that I do not visit the factories
as often as I did in the past. They were right, the only thing they
did not know is that this was due to the deterioration of my health.
My state of health began to tell on the quality and amount of work
I was able to perform, a fact that is bound to cause harm to the Party
in such an important post. So much about the state of my health.
A regards the mistakes
that I committed in the field of the "cult of personality"
and the violation of socialist legality, I admitted them at the meetings
of the Central Committee in June, 1953, and I have made the same admission
repeatedly ever since. I have also exercised self-criticism publicly.
After the 20th Congress
of the CPSU and Comrade Khrushchev's speech it became clear to me
that the weight and effect of these mistakes were greater than I had
thought and that the harm done to our Party ,through these mistakes
was much more serious than I had previously believed.
These mistakes have made
our Party's work more difficult, they diminished the strength of attractiveness
of the Party and of the People's Democracy, they hindered the development
of the Leninist norms of Party life, of collective leadership, of
constructive criticism, and self- criticism, of democratism in Party
and state life, and of the initiative and creative power of the wide
masses of the working class.
Finally, these mistakes
offered the enemy an extremely wide opportunity for attack. In their
totality, the mistakes that I committed in the most important post
of Party work have caused serious harm to our socialist development
as a whole.
It was up to me to take
the lead in repairing these mistakes. If rehabilitation has at times
proceeded sluggishly and with intermittent breaks, if a certain relapse
was noticed last year in the liquidation of the cult of personality,
if criticism
and self-criticism together with collective leadership have developed
at a slow pace, if sectarian and dogmatic views have not been combated
resolutely enough - then for all this, undoubtedly, serious reponsibility
weighs upon me, having occupied the post of the First Secretary of
the Party.
(8)
Seftan
Delmer, Daily
Express (23rd October, 1956)
I have been the witness
today of one of the great events of history I have seen the people
of Budapest catch the fire lit in Poznan and Warsaw and come out into
the streets in open rebellion against their Soviet overlords. I have
marched with them and almost wept for joy with them as the Soviet
emblems in the Hungarian flags were torn out by the angry and exalted
crowds. And the great point about the rebellion is that it looks like
being successful.
As I telephone this dispatch
I can hear the roar of delirious crowds made up of student girls and
boys, of Hungarian soldiers still wearing their Russian-type uniforms,
and overalled factory workers marching through Budapest and shouting
defiance against Russia. "Send the Red Army home," they
roar. "We want free and secret elections." And then comes
the ominous cry which one always seems to hear on these occasions:
"Death to Rakosi." Death to the former Soviet puppet dictator
- now taking a 'cure' on the Russian Black Sea Riviera - whom the
crowds blame for all the ills that have befallen their country in
eleven years of Soviet puppet rule.
Leaflets demanding the
instant withdrawal of the Red Army and the sacking of the present
Government are being showered among the street crowds from trams.
The leaflets have been printed secretly by students who "managed
to get access", as they put it, to a printing shop when newspapers
refused to publish their political programme. On house walls all over
the city primitively stencilled sheets have been pasted up listing
the sixteen demands of the rebels.
But the fantastic and,
to my mind, really super-ingenious feature of this national rising
against the Hammer and Sickle, is that it is being carried on under
the protective red mantle of pretended Communist orthodoxy. Gigantic
portraits of Lenin are being carried at the head of the marchers.
The purged ex-Premier Imre Nagy, who only in the last couple of weeks
has been readmitted to the Hungarian Communist Party, is the rebels'
chosen champion and the leader whom they demand must
be given charge of a new free and independent Hungary. Indeed, the
Socialism of this ex-Premier and - this is my bet - Premier-soon-to-be-again,
is no doubt genuine enough. But the youths in the crowd, to my mind,
were in the vast majority as anti-Communist as they were anti-Soviet
- that is, if you agree with me that calling for the removal of the
Red Army is anti-Soviet.
(9)
Tass Soviet News Agency (24th October, 1956)
Late in the evening of
October 23 underground reactionary organizations attempted to start
a counter-revolutionary revolt against the people's regime in Budapest.
This enemy adventure had
obviously been in preparation for some time. The forces of foreign
reaction have been systematically inciting anti-democratic elements
for action against the lawfulauthority.
Enemy elements made use
of the student demonstration that took place on 23 October to bring
out into the streets groups previously prepared by them, to form the
nucleus of the revolt. They sent agitators into action who created
confusion and tried to provoke mass disorder.
A number of governmental
buildings and public enterprises were attacked. The fascist thugs
who let themselves go began to loot shops, break windows
in houses and institutions, and tried to destroy the equipment of
industrial enterprises. Groups of rebels who succeeded in getting
hold of arms caused bloodshed in a number of places.
The forces of revolutionary
order began to repel the rebels. On orders of the reappointed Premier
Imre Nagy martial law was declared in the city.
The Hungarian Government
asked the USSR Government for help. In accordance with this request,
Soviet military units, which are in Hungary under the terms of the
Warsaw treaty, helped troops of the Hungarian Republic to restore
order in Budapest. In many industrial enterprises workers offered
armed resistance to the bandits who tried to damage and destroy equipment
and to mount armed guards.
(10)
Janos
Kadar, Radio Kossuth (24th October,
1956)
Workers, comrades! The
demonstration of university youth, which began with the formulation
of, on the whole, acceptable demands, has swiftly degenerated into
a demonstration against our democratic order; and under the cover
of this demonstration an armed attack has broken out. It is only with
burning anger that we can speak of this attack by counter-revolutionary
reactionary elements against the capital of our country, against our
people's democratic order and the power of the working class. Towards
the rebels who have risen with arms in their hands against the legal
order of our People's Republic, the Central Committee of our Party
and our Government have adopted the only correct attitude: only surrender
or complete defeat can await those who stubbornly continue their murderous,
and at the same time completely hopeless, fight against the order
of our working people.
At the same time we are
aware that the provocateurs, going into the fight surreptitiously,
have been using as cover many people who went astray in the hours
of chaos, and especially many young people whom we cannot regard as
the conscious enemies of our regime. Accordingly, now that we have
reached the stage of liquidating the hostile attack, and with a view
to avoiding further bloodshed, we have offered and are offering to
those misguided individuals who are willing to surrender on demand,
the opportunity of saving their lives and their future, and of returning
to the camp of honest people.
(11)
Erno
Gero,
speech (24th October, 1956)
Dear Comrades, Beloved
Friends, Working People of Hungary! Of
course we want a socialist democracy and not a bourgeois democracy.
In accord with our Party and our convictions, our working class and
people are jealously guarding the achievements of our people's democracy,
and they will not permit anyone to touch them. We shall defend these
achievements under all circumstances from whichever quarter they may
be threatened. Today the chief aim of the enemies of our people is
to shake the power of the working class, to loosen the peasant-worker
alliance, to undermine
the leadership of the working class in our country and to upset their
faith in its party, in the Hungarian Workers' Party. They are endeavouring
to loosen the close friendly relations between our nation, the Hungarian
People's Republic, and
other countries building socialism, especially between our country
and the socialist Soviet Union. They are trying to loosen the ties
between our party and the glorious Communist Party of the Soviet Union,
the party of Lenin, the party of the 20th Congress.
They slander the Soviet
Union. They assert that we trade with the Soviet Union on an unequal
footing, that our relations with the Soviet Union are not based on
equality, and allege that our independence has to be defended, not
against the imperialists, but against the Soviet Union. All this is
a barefaced lie - hostile slanders which do not contain a grain of
truth. The truth is that the Soviet Union has not only liberated our
people from the yoke of Horthy fascism and German imperialism, but
that even at the end of the war, when our country lay prostrate, she
stood by us and concluded pacts with us on the basis of full equality;
ever since, she has been pursuing this policy.
(12)
Imre
Nagy, Radio Kossuth (25th October,
1956)
People of Budapest, I
announce that all those who cease fighting before 14.00 today, and
lay down their arms in the interest of avoiding further bloodshed,
will be exempted from martial law. At the same time I state that as
soon as possible and by all the means at our disposal, we shall realise,
on the basis of the June 1953 Government program which I expounded
in Parliament at that time, the systematic democratization of our
country in every sphere of Party, State, political and economic life.
Heed our appeal. Cease fighting, and secure the 'restoration of calm
and order in the interest of the future of our people and nation.
Return to peaceful and creative work!
Hungarians, Comrades,
my friends! I speak to you in a moment filled with responsibility.
As you know, on the basis of the confidence of the Central Committee
of the Hungarian Workers' Party and the Presidential Council, I have
taken over the leadership of the Government as Chairman of the Council
of Ministers. Every possibility exists for the Government to realise
my political program by relying on the Hungarian people under the
leadership of the Communists. The essence of this program, as you
know, is the far-reaching democratization of Hungarian public life,
the realisation of a Hungarian road to socialism in accord with our
own national characteristics, and the realisation of our lofty national
aim: the radical improvement of the workers' living conditions.
However, in order to begin
this work - together with you - the first necessity is to establish
order, discipline and calm. The hostile elements that joined the ranks
of peacefully demonstrating Hungarian youth, misled many well-meaning
workers and turned against the people's democracy, against the power
of the people. The paramount task facing everyone now is the urgent
consolidation of our position. Afterwards, we shall be able to discuss
every question, since the Government and the majority of the Hungarian
people want the same thing. In referring to our great common responsibility
for our national existence, I appeal to you, to every man, woman,
youth, worker, peasant, and intellectual to stand fast and keep calm;
resist provocation, help restore order, and assist our forces in maintaining
order. Together we must prevent bloodshed, and we must not let this
sacred national program be soiled by blood.
(13)
George Lukacs, Radio Kossuth (28th October,
1956)
I consider it of great
importance that a Government has been formed representing every shade
and stratum of the Hungarian people that wants progress and socialism.
It was a great mistake of the previous regime to become isolated from
those creative elements with whose help the Hungarian road to socialism
could have been successfully taken. The main task of the new Government
is to make a most radical break with narrow-minded and petty trends,
and to make use of every sound popular initiative, so that every true
Hungarian can look upon the socialist fatherland as his own. The task
of the Ministry of People's Culture is the realisation of these principal
aims in the sphere of culture. The Hungarian people have an exceptionally
rich tradition in almost every field of culture. We do not want to
build socialism out of air; we do not want to bring it into Hungary
as an imported article. What we want is that the Hungarian people
work out, organically, and by long, glorious and successful work,
a socialist culture worthy of the Hungarian people's great and ancient
achievements, and which, as a socialist culture, can place Hungarian
culture on even broader foundations with even deeper roots.
(14)
Imre
Nagy, Radio Kossuth (30th
October, 1956)
Hungarian workers, soldiers,
peasants and intellectuals. The constantly widening scope of the revolutionary
movement in our country, the tremendous force of the democratic movement
has brought our country to a cross-road. The National Government,
in full agreement with the Presidium of the Hungarian Workers' Party,
has decided to take a step vital for the future of the whole nation,
and of which I want to inform the Hungarian working people.
In the interest of further
democratization of the country's life, the cabinet abolishes the one-party
system and places the country's Government on the basis of democratic
cooperation between coalition parties as they existed in 1945. In
accordance with this decision a new national government - with a small
inner cabinet - has been established, at the moment with only limited
powers.
The members of the new
Cabinet are Imre Nagy, Zoltan Tildy, Bela Kovacs, Ferenc Erdei, Janos
Kadar, Geza Losonczy and a person whom the Social Democratic Party
will appoint later.
The government is going
to submit to the Presidential Council of the People's Republic its
proposition to appoint Janos Kadar and Geza Losonczy as Ministers
of State.
This Provisional Government
has appealed to the Soviet General Command to begin immediately with
the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the territory of Budapest. At
the same time, we wish to inform the people of Hungary that we are
going to request the Government of the Soviet Union to withdraw Soviet
troops completely from the entire territory of the Hungarian Republic.
On behalf of the National
Government I wish to declare that it recognizes all autonomous, democratic,
local authorities which were formed by the revolution; we will rely
on them and we ask for their full support.
Hungarian brothers, patriotic
citizens of Hungary! Safeguard the achievements of the revolution!
We have to re-establish order first of all! We have to restore peaceful
conditions! No blood should be shed by fratricide in our country!
Prevent all further disturbances! Assure the safety of life and property
with all your might!
Hungarian brothers, workers
and peasants: Rally behind the government in this fateful hour! Long
live free, democratic and independent Hungary.
(15)
Janos
Kadar, Radio Kossuth (30th
October, 1956)
My fellow-workers, working
brethren, dear comrades! Moved by the deep sense of responsibility
to spare our nation and working masses further bloodshed, I declare
that every member of the Presidium of the Hungarian Workers' Party
agrees with today's decisions by the Council of Ministers. As for
myself, I can add that I am in wholehearted agreement with those who
spoke before me, Imre Nagy, Zoltan Tildy and Ferenc Erdei. They are
my acquaintances and friends, my esteemed and respected compatriots.
I address myself to the
Communists, to those Communists who were prompted to join the Party
by the progressive ideas of mankind and socialism, and not by selfish
personal interests - let us represent our pure and just ideas by pure
and just means.
My comrades, my fellow
workers! Bad leadership during the past years has cast on our Party
the shadow of great and grave burdens. We must fully rid ourselves
of these burdens, of all accusations against the Party. This must
be done with a clear conscience, with courage and straight-forward
resolution. The ranks of the Party will thin out, but I do not fear
that pure, honest and well-meaning Communists will be disloyal to
their ideals. Those who joined us for selfish personal reasons, for
a career or other motives will be the ones to leave. But, having got
rid of this ballast and the burden of past crimes by certain persons
in our leadership, we will fight, even if to some extent from scratch,
under more favourable and clearer conditions for the benefit of our
ideas, our people, our compatriots and country.
I ask every Communist
individually to set an example, by deeds and without pretense, a real
example worthy of a man and a Communist, in restoring order, starting
normal life, in resuming work and production, and in laying the foundations
of an ordered life. Only with the honour thus acquired can we earn
the respect of our other compatriots as well.
(16)
Janos
Kadar,
Radio Kossuth (1st November, 1956)
In their glorious uprising
our people have shaken off the Rakosi regime. They have achieved freedom
for the people and independence for the country. Without this there
can be no socialism. We can safely say that the ideological and organisational
leaders who prepared this uprising were recruited from among your
ranks. Hungarian Communist writers, journalists, university students,
the youth of the Petofi Circle, thousands and thousands of workers
and peasants, and veteran fighters who had been imprisoned on false
charges, fought in the front line against Rakosiite despotism and
political hooliganism.
In these momentous hours
the Communists who fought against the despotism of Rakosi have decided,
in accordance with the wish of many true patriots and socialists,
to form a new Party. The new Party will break away from the crimes
of the past for once and for all. It will defend the honour and independence
of our country against anyone. On this basis, the basis of national
independence, it will build fraternal relations with any progressive
socialist movement and party in the world.
In these momentous hours
of our history we call on every Hungarian worker who is led by devotion
to the people and the country to join our Party, the name of which
is the Hungarian Socialist Workers Party. The Party counts on the
support of every honest worker who declares himself in favour of the
socialist objectives of the working class. The Party invites into
its ranks every Hungarian worker who adopts these principles and who
is not responsible for the criminal policy and mistakes of the Rakosi-clique.
We expect everybody to join who, in the past, was deterred from service
to socialism by the anti-national policy and criminal deeds of Rakosi
and his followers.
(17)
Joseph
Mindszenty,
speech (1st November,
1956)
Nowadays it is often emphasized
that the speaker breaking away from the practice of the past is speaking
sincerely. I cannot say this in such a way. I need not break with
my past; by the grace of God I am the same as I was before my imprisonment.
I stand by my conviction physically and spiritually intact, just as
I was eight years ago, although imprisonment has left its mark on
me. Nor can I say that now I will speak more sincerely, for I have
always spoken sincerely.
Now is the first instance
in history that Hungary is enjoying the sympathy of all civilized
nations. We are deeply moved by this. A small nation has heartfelt
joy that because of its love of liberty the other nations have taken
up its cause. We see Providence in this, expressed by the solidarity
of foreign nations just as it says in our national anthem: "God
bless the Hungarian - reach out to him Thy protective hand."
Then our national anthem continues; "when he is fighting against
his enemy." But we, even in our extremely severe situation, hope
that we have no enemy! For we are
not enemies of anyone. We desire to live in friendship
with every people and with every country.
We, the little nation,
desire to live in friendship and in mutual respect with the great
American United States and with the mighty Russian Empire alike, in
good neighborly relationship with Prague, Bucharest, Warsaw, and Belgrade.
In this regard I must mention that for the brotherly understanding
in our present suffering every Hungarian has embraced Austria to his
heart.
And now, our entire position
is decided by what the Russian Empire of 200 millions intends to
do with the military force standing within our frontiers. Radio announcements
say that this military force is growing. We are neutral, we give the
Russian Empire no cause for bloodshed. But has the idea not occurred
to the leader of the Russian Empire that we will respect the Russian
people far more if it does not oppress us. It is only an enemy people
which is attacked by another country. We have not attacked Russia
and sincerely hope that the withdrawal of Russian military forces
from our country will soon occur.
This has been a freedom
fight which was unparalleled in the world, with the young generation
at the head of the nation. The fight for freedom was fought because
the nation wanted to decide freely on how it should live. It wants
to be free to decide about the management of its state and the use
of its labor. The people themselves will not permit this fact to be
distorted to the advantage of some unauthorized powers or hidden motives.
We need new elections - without abuses - at which every party can
nominate.
(18)
Leslie Bain's interview with Bela
Kovacs appeared in the New York
Reporter on 13th December, 1956.
Late in the evening of
Sunday, November 4 - a night of terror in Budapest that no one who
lived through it will ever forget - I met Bela Kovacs, one of the
leaders of Hungary's short-lived revolutionary government, in a cellar
in the city's center.
Kovacs, as a Minister
of State of the Nagy regime, had started oft for the Parliament Building
early that morning, but he never reached it. Soviet tanks were there
ahead of him. Now he squatted on the floor opposite me, a fugitive
from Soviet search squads.
A hunched, stocky man,
with a thin mustache and half-closed eyes, Bela Kovacs was only a
shadow of the robust figure he once had been. Now in his early fifties,
he had risen to prominence after the war as one of the top leaders
of the Hungarian Independent Smallholders Party. Back in 1947, when
Matyas Rakosi began taking over the government with the support of
the Soviet occupation forces, Kovacs had achieved fame by being the
only outstanding anti-Communist Hungarian leader to defy Rakosi and
continue open opposition. His prestige had become so great among the
peasantry that at first the Communists had not molested him. But then
the Soviets themselves stepped in, arresting him on a trumped-up charge
of plotting against the occupation forces and sentencing him to life
imprisonment. After eight years in Siberia, Kovacs was returned to
Hungary and transferred to a Hungarian jail, from which he was released
in the spring of 1956, broken in body but not in spirit by his long
ordeal. After what was called his "rehabilitation," Kovacs
was visited by his old enemy Rakosi, who called to pay his respects.
Rakosi was met at the door by this message from Kovacs: "I do
not receive murderers in my home."
So long as Nagy's government
was still under the thumb of the Communist Politburo, Kovacs refused
to have anything to do with the new regime. Only in the surge of the
late October uprising, when Nagy succeeded in freeing himself from
his former associates and cast about to form a coalition government,
did Kovacs consent to lend his name and immense popularity to it.
I asked Kovacs whether
he felt the Nagy government's declaration of neutrality had aroused
the Soviet leaders to action. No, he thought that the decision to
crush the Hungarian revolution was taken earlier and independently
of it. Obviously the Russians would not have rejoiced at a neutral
Hungary, but so long as economic cooperation between the states in
the area was assured the Russians and their satellites should not
have been too unhappy.
In that regard, Kovacs
assured me, there was never a thought in the Nagy government of interrupting
the economic co-operation of the Danubian states. "It would have
been suicidal for us to try tactics hostile to the bloc. What we wanted
was simply the right to sell our product to the best advantage of
our people and buy our necessities where we could do it most advantageously."
"Then in your estimation
there was no reason why the Russians should have come again and destroyed
the revolution?"
"None unless they
are trying to revert to the old Stalinist days. But if that is what
they really are trying - and at the moment it looks like it - they
will fail, even more miserably than before. The tragedy of all this
is that they are burning all the bridges which could lead to a peaceful
solution."
How much truth was in the
Russian assertion that
the revolution had become a counter-revolution and that therefore
Russian intervention was justified?
"I tell you,"
said Kovacs, "this was a revolution from inside, led by Communists.
There is not a shred of evidence that it was otherwise. Communists
outraged by their own doings prepared the ground for it and fought
for it during the first few days. This enabled us former non-Communist
party leaders to come forward and demand a share in Hungary's future.
Subsequently this was granted by Nagy, and the Social Democratic,
Independent Smallholders, and Hungarian Peasant parties were reconstituted.
True, there was a small fringe of extremists in the streets and there
was also evidence of a movement which seemed to have ties with the
exiled Nazis and Nyilas of former days. But at no time was their strength
such as to cause concern. No one in Hungary cares for those who fled
to the West after their own corrupt terror regime was finished - and
then got their financing from the West. Had there been an attempt
to put them in power, all Hungary would haven risen instantly ..."
"What of the future?"
I asked. After some hesitation Kovacs said: "All is not lost,
for it is impossible for the Russians and their puppets to maintain
themselves against the determined resistance of the Hungarians. The
day will come when a fateful choice will have to be made: Exterminate
the entire population by slow starvation and police terror or else
accept the irreducible demand - the withdrawal of Soviet forces from
our country."
(19)
Marshall Zhukov, Tass Radio Station (7th
November, 1956)
Comrade soldiers and sailors,
sergeants and petty officers! Comrade officers, generals and admirals!
Working people of the Soviet Union! Our dear foreign guests I greet
and congratulate you on the occasion of the 39th anniversary of the
Great October Socialist Revolution! ... Rallied closely behind the
Party and the Government, which are resolutely implementing Lenin's
behests, the Soviet people will spare no efforts or creative energy
in the struggle for the continued flourishing of our socialist homeland.
In its foreign policy,
the Soviet Union has invariably proceeded from the principle of the
peaceful co-existence of countries with different social systems,
from the great aim of preserving world peace.
However, the enemies of
socialism, the enemies of peaceful co-existence and friendship of
the peoples, proceed with their actions designed to undermine the
friendly relations between the peoples of the Soviet Union and the
peoples of other countries, to frustrate the noble aims of peaceful
co-existence on the basis of complete sovereignty and equality. This
is confirmed by the armed aggression by Britain, France and Israel
against the independent Egyptian State and by the actions of the counter-revolutionary
forces in Hungary aimed at overthrowing the system of people's democracy
and restoring fascism in the country. The patriots of people's Hungary,
together with the units of the Soviet Army called in to assist the
revolutionary workers' and peasants' Government, firmly barred the
road to reaction and fascism in Hungary ...
Long live our mighty Soviet
Homeland! Long live the heroic Soviet people and its armed forces!
Long live our Soviet Government! Glory to the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union, the inspirer and organiser of all our visitors!
(20)
Milovan
Djilas, New Leader (19th
November, 1956)
The experience of Yugoslavia
appears to testify that national Communism is incapable of transcending
the boundaries of Communism as such, that is, to institute the kind
of reforms that would gradually transform and lead Communism to freedom.
That experience seems to indicate that national Communism can merely
break from Moscow and, in its own national tempo and way, construct
essentially the identical Communist system. Nothing would be more
erroneous, however, than to consider these experiences of Yugoslavia
applicable to all countries of Eastern Europe.
The resistance of the
leaders encouraged and stimulated the resistance of the masses. In
Yugoslavia, therefore, the entire process was led and carefully controlled
from above, and tendencies to go farther - to democracy - were relatively
weak. If its revolutionary past was an asset to Yugoslavia while she
was fighting for independence from Moscow, it became an obstacle as
soon as it became necessary to move forward - to political freedom.
Yugoslavia supported this
discontent as long as it was conducted by the Communist leaders, but
turned against it - as in Hungary - as soon as it went further. Therefore,
Yugoslavia abstained in the United Nations Security Council on the
question of Soviet intervention in Hungary. This revealed that Yugoslav
national Communism was unable in
its foreign policy to depart from its narrow ideological and bureaucratic
class interests, and that, furthermore, it was ready to yield even
those principles of equality and non-interference in internal affairs
on which all its successes in the struggle with Moscow had been based.
The Communist regimes
of the East European countries must either begin to break away from
Moscow, or else they will become even more dependent. None of the
countries - not even Yugoslavia - will be able to avert this choice.
In no case can the mass movement be halted, whether if follows the
Yugoslav-Polish pattern, that of Hungary, or some new pattern which
combines the two.
Despite the Soviet repression
in Hungary, Moscow can only slow down the processes of change; it
cannot stop them in the long run. The crisis is not only between the
USSR and ifs neighbors, but within the Communist.
(21)
Jean
Paul Sartre, Simone
de Beavoir, Roger Vaillant, Claude Roy, and others, France-Observateur
(15th November, 1956)
The undersigned who never
harbored unfriendly feelings to the U.S.S.R. and socialism, today
consider themselves justified in protesting to the Soviet Government
against the use of guns and tanks to suppress the uprising of the
Hungarian people and its striving to independence, even taking into
account the fact that some reactionary elements, which made appeals
on the rebel radio, were involved.
We consider and always
will consider that socialism, like freedom, cannot be carried on the
point of a bayonet. We fear that a government, imposed by force, will
soon be compelled, in order to stand its ground, to resort to force
itself and to the injustices against its own people which ensue from
this.
(22)
Mikhail Gorbachev,
Memoirs (1995)
Khrushchev's secret speech
at the XXth Party Congress caused a political and psychological shock
throughout the country. At the Party krai committee I had the opportunity
to read the Central Committee information bulletin, which was practically
a verbatim report of Khrushchev's words. I fully supported Khrushchev's
courageous step. I did not conceal my views and defended them publicly.
But I noticed that the reaction of the apparatus to the report was
mixed; some people even seemed confused.
I am convinced that history
will never forget Khrushchev's denunciation of Stalin's personality
cult. It is, of course, true that his secret report to the XXth Party
Congress contained scant analysis and was excessively subjective.
To attribute the complex problem of totalitarianism simply to external
factors and the evil character of a dictator was a simple and hard-hitting
tactic - but it did not reveal the profound roots of this tragedy.
Khrushchev's personal political aims were also transparent: by being
the first to denounce the personality cult, he shrewdly isolated his
closest rivals and antagonists, Molotov, Malenkov, Kaganovich and
Voroshilov - who, together with Khrushchev, had been Stalin's closest
associates.
True enough. But in terms
of history and 'wider polities' the actual consequences of Khrushchev's
political actions were crucial. The criticism of Stalin, who personified
the regime, served not only to disclose the gravity of the situation
in our society and the perverted character of the political struggle
that was taking place within it - it also revealed a lack of basic
legitimacy. The criticism morally discredited totalitarianism, arousing
hopes for a reform of the system and serving as a strong impetus to
new processes in the sphere of politics and economics as well as in
the spiritual life of our country. Khrushchev and his supporters must
be given full credit for this. Khrushchev must be given credit too
for the rehabilitation of thousands of people, and the restoration
of the good name of hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens who
perished in Stalimst prisons and camps.
Khrushchev had no intention
of analysing systematically the roots of totalitarianism. He was probably
not even capable of doing so. And for this very reason the criticism
of the personality cult, though rhetorically harsh, was in essence
incomplete and confined from the start to well-defined limits. The
process of true democratization was nipped in the bud.
Khrushchev's foreign policy
was characterized by the same inconsistencies. His active presence
in the international political arena, his proposal of peaceful co-existence
and his initial attempts at normalizing relations with the leading
countries of the capitalist world; the newly defined relations with
India, Egypt and other Third World states; and finally, his attempt
to democratize ties with socialist allies - including his decision
to mend matters with Yugoslavia - all this was well received both
in our country and in the rest of the world and, undoubtedly, helped
to improve the international situation.
But at the same time there
was the brutal crushing of the Hungarian uprising in 1956; the adventurism
that culminated in the Cuba crisis of 1962, when the world was on
the brink of a nuclear disaster; and the quarrel with China, which
resulted in a protracted period of antagonism and enmity.
All domestic and foreign
policy decisions made at that time undoubtedly reflected not only
Khrushchev's personal understanding of the problems and his moods,
but also the different political forces that he had to consider. The
pressure of Party and government structures was especially strong,
forcing him to manoeuvre and to present this or that measure in a
form acceptable to such influential groups.
(23)
George Milkes, The Hungarian Revolution (1957)
The connection between
Russia's decision to crush the Hungarian revolution and the Anglo-French
attack in the Middle East is, and will be, keenly debated. What effect
did the Anglo-French attack in Suez have on the Soviet attitude to
Hungary? Would Hungary have been crushed if the Israeli attack on
Egypt had come, say, a month later?
My own answer is that
the Anglo-French attack did in fact play a large part in persuading
Russia to intervene in Hungary and I believe that had the Anglo-French
ultimatum been sent to Egypt a month later, Hungary would be a second
Poland today.
World opinion has always
counted for much with the Russians in spite of all appearances to
the contrary. They were not keen to appear lone ruthless aggressors
and flouters of the authority of the United Nations and be sermonised
by the West from a high pulpit.
(24)
Archibald
MacLeish, Time-Life Magazine (10th December, 1956)
We do not speak of a Hungarian
Revolution. We speak of the Hungarian agony. From the moment when
the Communist regime in Budapest fired upon an unarmed crowd and turned
its quarrel with the Hungarian people from a political quarrel which
if could not win into an armed revolt which, with Soviet aid, it could
not lose, the suppression of the Hungarian resistance was inevitable.
The world seemed to feel that it had no choice, short of atomic war,
but to sit back and watch, in horror and disgust, the brutal, methodical
destruction of an angry people by overwhelming force and conscienceless
treachery.
It is understandable,
certainly, that we in the United States should feel shamed by our
inability to act in this nightmare. Nevertheless, we should not forget,
in all the suffering and pain, that we owe the people of Hungary more
than our pity. We owe them also pride and praise. For their defeat
has been itself a triumph. Those Hungarian students and workers and
women and fighting children have done more to close the future to
Communism than armies or diplomats had done before them. They have
given more and done more. For what they have done has been to expose
the brutal hypocrisy of Communism for all of Asia, all of Africa,
all the world to see. So long as men live in any country who remember
the murder of Hungary, Soviet Russia will never again be able to pose
before the world as the benefactor of mankind. The Hungarian dead
have torn that mask off. Their fingers hold its tatters in their graves.
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