Hungary 56

54 Pages·1964·7.688 MB·English

by  Andy Anderson

HUNGARY 56
By Andy Anderson
25p
A Solidarity Book
1
1
ANDY ANDERSON
H·UNGARY 56
.. We slaall dn1 the blood-soaked Hunprlan mud
on to tlle carpeu of your dnwlaa rooms.
· la Y8ln do yoa take us lato your homn-we still
nmala homeless. la vain do you dress us ln new
clothn-we nmala ln n1L From now on a hundred
thoaaad question marks coafront you.
If )'Oa wlsh to llve ln the Illusion of a false peace,
do not heed as. ln oar stnets there an still cobble
stoaes from whlch to bulld barrlcadeL From our
· wooélsw e caa sdll 1et stout sticks. We still han clear
consciences wlth whlch to face the auns.
But If you wlll heed us. llsten. And at lona last
understand. We not only want to bear witness to the
sufterlnp of the Hunprlan people ln thelr flaht for
freedom. We want to draw the attention of all people
to the simple truth that freedom can oaly be achlned
throuah struaale,
Peace ls not slmply an absence of war. No people
have lon1ed more passlonately for peace than we. But
lt must not be the peace of quiescence. This ln,·olns
compllclt)' ln oppression. We promise the world that
we shall remaln the apostles of freedom.
Ali worken. soclallsts. even communlsts. must at last
undentand that a bunaucratic state bas nothina to do
with Socfallsm,n
Nemzetôr. 15 January. 195i.
SOLIDARITY
c/o 27, Sandringham Road, London NW11,
First published 1964
Second impression 1968
(Publ.t shed in Japan 1966)
Third impression 1972
HUNÇABJ
CSSCHOSLOVAk IA.
L-..f
The devastated area of over 2 square miles in which hardly a buildina in the main street
remained undamaaed, is shown in black.
These m&PS are reproduced by kind permission of Dobson Book Ltd. from
Hunaorian Tra11td11 by Peter fryer.
J
CONTENTS
1
INTRODUCTION
2
EAST-WEST AGREEMENT ...
3
LIBERATION? ...
7
SALAMI AND REPARATIONS
8
METHODS OF EXPLOITATION AND SUBJUGATION
10
RESISTANCE GROWS
12
NEW COURSE?
13
POLAND ERUPTS
15
NEARING FLASHPOINT
THE FIRST DEMANDS 17
THE OCTOBER 23 -DEMONSTRATIONS. .. 18
20
NAGY CALLS IN RUSSIAN TANKS
.,. 22
THE BAT TLE IS JOINED ...
THE MASSACRES 24
THE WORKERS· COUNCILS 25
27
THE REVOLUTIONARY PROGRAMME
DUAL POWER 29
31
THE SECOND RUSSIAN INTERVENTION
THE PROLETARIAT FIGHTS ON ... 33
THE NAGY ABDUCTION ... 35
'THE PROLETARIAT CRUSHED 36
.>
FASCIST COUNTER-REVOLUTION? 38
WHY? .. ·. 39
THE MEANING OF THE HUNGARIAN REVOLUTION 41
APPENDIX I 43
APPENDIX II 44
APPENDIX III . 45
APPENDIX IV . 48
SOLIDARITY PAMPHLETS
MODERN CAPITALISM AND REVOLUTION by Paul Cardan. A fundamental critique of the traditional l~ft.
The problems or our society ( bureaucratisation, political apathy, alienation in productioh, consumption and
leisure). What are revolutionary politics today? 25 p.
THE MEANING OF SOCIALISM by Paul Cardan. What is a socialist programme? The real contradiction
. in capitalist production. Socialist values. A re-statement of socialist objectives. The case for workers'
:management of production. 5 p.
SOCIALISM OR BARBARISM. A re -definition or socialist objectives in the light of the events of the last
fifty years. 5 p.
THE FAT E OF MARXISM by Paul Cardan. . Can a theory which set out 'not only to interpret the world but
to change it' be dissociated Crom its historical repercùssions? 3 p.
THE WORKERS OPPOSITION by Alexandra Kollontai. A Cullya nnotated account of the anti-bureaucratic
struggle or 1919-1920 within the Bolshevik Party. 80 pages. 20 p.
THE KRONSTADT COMMUNE by Ida Mett. The full story or the 1921 events. The first proletarian
uprising against the bureaucracy. Contains hitherto unavailable documents and a full bibliography. 20 p.
KRONSTADT 1921 by Victor Serge. An erstwhile supporter of the Bolsheviks re -examines the facts and
draws disturbing conclusions. 3 p. ·
PROM BOLSHEVISM TO THE BUREAUCRACY by Paul Cardan. Bolshevik theory and practice in relation
jo the management of production. An introduction to A. Kollontai's 'The Workers Opposition'. 5 p.
THE BOLSHEVIKSA ND WORKERS CONTROL 1917-1921 (The State and Counter-Revolution) by Maurice
Brinton. 'Workers control' or workers' self-management? The story or the early oppositions. An analysis
of the formative years of the Russian bureaucracy. 25 p. ·
THE COMMUNE (PARIS 1871) by P. Guillaume and M. Grainger. The first proletarian attempt at total
self-management. An analysis of the various interpretations (Crom Marx to Trotsky). 5 p.
FROM SPARTAKISMT O NATIONAL BOLSHEVISM. A 'Solidarity' (Aberdeen) pamphlet. The flood and
ebb of the German Revolution between 1918 and 1923. The strengths and weaknesses of the Workers Councils
in an advanced industrial country. 8 p.
THE GREAT FLINT SIT-DOWN STRIKE AGAINST GENERAL MOTORS, 1936-37. How to struggle ... and
win. 8 p.
G. M. W. U, : SCAB UNION by Mark Fore. A close look atone of Britain's biggest unions. Are the unions
still working class organisations? 5 p.
SORTINGO UT THE POSTAL STRIKE by J'oe J'acobs. An ex-postal worker describes a bitter, prolonged
and unsuccessful strike. How NOT to wage the industrial struggle. 3 p.
STRAT EGY FOR INDUSTRIAL STRUGGLE by Mark Fore. How to link the struggle at the place of work
with the overall objective of workers' management or production. 10 p.
'
HISTORYA ND REVOLUTION (A Critique of Historical Materialism) by Paul Cardan. A further 1 11
enquiry into the 1unmarxist in Marx'. Can essentially capitalist conceptual categories
be applied to pre-capitalist and non-capitalist societies? 1Sp.
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Also available from the same address:· SOLIDARITY, the monthly paper for rank-and-file
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Introduction
"Soclallsm is man's Positive self-consclouaness.n
K. Marx. Economie and Philosophie Manu
scripts (1844).
At 3.00 a.m. on November 4, 1956, fifteen Russian armoured Most of ail it shocked those honest workers and intellectuals
divisions comprising 6,000 tanks massed at key points in who sincerely looked to Russia as the defender of socialism.
Hungary to make final preparations for their second assault To them a treasured ideal, an ideal for which they had fought
on a relatively defenceless people. The first assault, little and suffered for many years, and for which many of their
more than a week earlier. had been a confused affair. Moscow comrades had died, had proved to be worm-eaten.
pretended not to have been consulted. Hungarians had not The Hungarian Revolution was the most important event in
been expected to fiidit the tanks almost with their bare bands. working class history since October 1917. It marked the end
Russian soldiers had not been expected to go over to the of an era and the beglnning of a new one. lt irrevocably
side of the Hungarian workers in such numbers. This time. destroyed any moral advantase the Kremlin and those who
there were to be no mistakes. At 4.00 a.m. the tanks went support it may ever have had. But it was much more than
in. this. It was a verv positive event. From the Hungarian
It took them nearly two weeks to crush the main centres Revolution can be drawn tessons of the utmost importance
of armed resistance. One of the greatest proletarian for ail who wish to bring about the change to a classless
revolutions in history was drowned in blood. It is bitter society in Britain or anywhere else in the world.
irony indeed that those who ordered this massacre claimed In 1956 the Hunsarlan working class inscribed on its
to be the standard bearers of the glorious revolution of banner the demand for workers' management of production.
October 1917. Thirty nine years earlier. Russia had for a It insisted that Workers' Councils should play a dominant
white been the headquarters of world revolution. From role in ail realms of social life. It did soin a society in which
there the clarion call had gone out to the toiling and oppressed the private ownership of the means of production (and the
people of the world to overthrow their masters and to join old ruling class based on it) had been largely eliminated.
bands with the Russian workers in building a new societv, And it did so in a society in which political power was held
Today, however. it is not the midwives of the Revolution who • on behalf of the working class ' by a sèlf-styled working
occupy the Kremlin, it is its undertakers. class party. In putting forward these two c;lemands under
After World War II. the Russians succeeded in enforcing these particular circumstances, the Hunsarlan workers blazed
their • socialism ' along the banks of the Danube and up to a trait. ln the second half of the twentieth century their ideas
the frontiers of Austria. They ruled an area extending from will become the common heritage of ail workers, in an lands.
the Baltic in the north to the Balkans in the south. Over a The Hungarlan Revolution was far more than a national
bundred million people of various nationalities had fallen uprising or than an attempt to change one set of rulers for
witbin the embrace of the new Russian bear. For many another. It was a social revolution in the fullest sense of the
years these people had been bullied, oppressed, manipulated. term, Its obiect was a fondamental change in the relations
managed, either by Czarist Russia or one of the Western of production, in the relations between ruler and ruled in
States. Under Stalinist rule they fared no better. Their factories, pits, and on the land. The elimination of private
chains were if anything tightened. To them the word property in the means of production had solved none of these
• socialism ' came to mean its very opposite. problems. The concentration of palitical pawer into the
ln March 1953, Stalin died. ln June the workers of East bands of a bureaucratie • elite ' had intensified them a
Berlin rebelled. The revoit, remarkable for the political thousandfold.
character of the demands put forward, was soon quelled by By its key demands, by its heroic example, and despite its
Russian tanks. By 1956. these subiect nations were becoming temporary éclipse, the Hungarian Revolution unset an
more and more of a political liability to Russia's rulers. previous political classifications and prognoses. lt created
The Russian bureaucracy recognised the danger: at the 20th new lines of demarcation not only in the ranks of the workina
Congress Krushchev himself debunked the Stalin myth and class movement, but in society in general. It exposed the
promised to liberalise Stalin's methods. But Krushchev and theoretical void in the traditional • left ' A mass of old
bis supporters soon found themselves in a dilemma. lt is problems have now become irrelevant. Old discussions are
difficult to continue practising a religion after you have now seen to be meaningless. The time is up for terminological
destroyed its god. Although Russia's rulers attempted to subtleties, for intellectual tight-rope walking, for equivocation
break with some of the worst evils of their past, they were and for skilful avoidance of facing up to reality. For years to
(and remain) incapable of coping with the root causes of these come ail important questions for revolutionaries will boil
evils. down to simple queries: Are you for or against the pro
The workers of Poznan, in Poland, were the first to gramme of the Hungarlan Revolution? Are you for or against
demonstrate what they thousht of the • chansed ' road to workers' management of production? Are you for or against
'socialism'. The Hungarians were surprised and later elated the rule of the Workers' Councils ?
to see how leniently these rebellious workers - and even their Most people have only a very superficial knowledge of
'leaders'- were treated. In their turn they rose. They these weeks of October and November 1956. They have less
were victorious. And then they were crushed by the very knowledge still of the events which led up to them. We feel
methods Krushchev had denounced only a few months earlier. this book may contribute to a better knowledge and under
Many throughout the world were shocked at this butchery. standing of what really took place.
l
East-W est Agreement
..... From die tint moment of vlctory, mlstrast malt be dlrected no lonaer asalnst the eonqaered
reaedonuy pudea, bat aplnst die worken' prevloas ailles. aplmt the party that wllhes to
exploit tlae c:ommon vletory for ltseU atone • • • The worken malt pat dlemselves at the eom
maad not of die State aadlorlty but of die revoladonary eommanlty eoanel11 wbleh the
worken wlll bave maaaaed to 1et adopted • • • Arma and ammunldon must not be sanendered ·
on any pretext." · ·
K. Marx & F. Engels. Addre&& to the Central Committee of the Communiit League (1850)
. .
Prior to 1939, aU the pawerflil capitalist nations, includina With the defeat of Nazi Germany, the whole of Europe was
Hitler'• Germany, were aareed tbat the USSR was the real seething for revolutionary change. Nothing like it had been
vlllain. on the stage of lûatory. Then the nature of their felt since 1917. We shall later see how the Rùssian leaders
economies led them into war with one another. ln 1941 maintained • order ' in their own sphère of influence in the
Hitler invaded Russia and the western capitalist 'democracies' face of this proletarian threat, to their power. ln the West,
contracted a union· with the • villaüi ', with the USSR. But the communist parties (and in some cases, the . social-·
tbis was no love-match. lt wu a marriage of expediency, democratic parties) helped the ruling classes maintain their
coloured b:, the fond hope tbat Russia and Germany would kind of order.
mutuall:, annihilate one another. Strategy was planned ln FRANCE, considerable power was in the bands of
towards tbis end. But this stategy failed. The grandiose Resistance groups. These were dominated by • communists '
dreams of the rulers of Britaln and America of emerging from and ' socialists •. Ail that really stood between the French
the war as undisputed masters of the world did not materialise. workers and effective power were a few shaky bayonets in the
The:, had reckoned without the heroic resistance of the bands of British and American soldiers, most of whom only
Russian people against German fascism. ~nted to go home. ·
Russia paid a staggering price. The Nazi invaders caused On the. instructions of the Communist leaders, the
incalculable damage-t o buildings and to machinery. ln the Resistance groups handed over their arms to the so-ealled
early montbs of the war, when the Red Army was in retreat. National Liberation Government headed by General de Gaulle.
a ' scorched eartb ' palicy was carried out. Millions of On January 21, 1945. Maurice Thorez, General Secretary of
Russians gave ail they had - their very lives. Yet while the the French Communist Party, announced that the Patriotic
battles of World War Il were still being fouaht the causes of Militia had served well aaainst the Nazis. But now, be said.
World War III were already maturing. the situation had changed. "Public securlty should be assured
Russia emerged from the war the second most powerful bv a reaular oolice force. Local Committees of Uberation
nation in the world. ln throwina back the German army should not substitute themselves for the local governments."1
to the borders of the Elbe, it had acquired half a continent. His statements and actions closelv resembled those of
These were spoils indeed and hardly the outcome bargained l.ieneral de Gaulle.
for by the West. Their failure to contain ' the red menace ' The Communist Party was instructed to continue the
led to near panic in their ranks. campaign of wartime • unity ', Thev abandoned the class
Veiled tbreats were made. Two hundred thousand people struggle, They preached the virtues of production. They
were murdered in Hiroshima and Nagasaki by atom bombs. denounced workers defending their wages and conditions.
The real purpose of this crime was to warn Russia's rulers - "The strike", they said, "was the weapon of the trusts". On
to show them there would be no Jimit to the ruthlessness! of November 17. 1945, they entered the coalition government
the Western ruling classes should they feel their interests formed by General de Gaulle. Thorez was one of the five
threatened. But the Western powers were not strong enough Commun'st leaders in a cabinet of twenty-two members. He
to challenge the situation in Europe itself. They were in no was appointed Minister of State.
position to dispute the established fact. Eastern Europe
The French Communist Party's programme in 1945 can be
belonged to the USSR ' by virtue of conquest '. summarised as follows: (a) control of the trusts : (b) liberty
Formai recognition of the new real'ty was given at the of conscience, press and association ; Cc) the right to work
Yalta Conference, in February 1945. Those parts of Europe and leisure ; (d) social securitv for workers to be orovided
' liberated ' by the Red Army (the satellite states) would by the state ; (e) aid to the peasants throush the syndicates
remain in the Russian sphere of influence. Western Europe and co-ops, Hardly the programme of a revolutionary party !
ana Greece would be left to Stalin's Western • allies '. No liberal-minded Tory would have had qualms about
Persia was also recognised as being within the •Western' supportlng it.
sphere. During the war the Red Army had • liberated •
ln ITALY, the Communist leaders propped up the old ruling
northem Persia. After hostilities ended, it withdrew.
class in much the same way. The Communist Party, of which
Togliatti was the General Secretary, had representatives in
the governments of Bonomi and of Marshal Badoglio. They
1. In July 1945, the Japanese hacl offered to negotlate on • uncondltlonal
surrender ' tenna. They were Jgnored. The A-bombs were dropped on enthusiastically protected the capitalist state against révolu-
August 6 and !I. Paradoldcally, the Russlans were not opposed to thls.
They were curlous to see the result : they were already workln&
dlll&ently to produce thelr own nuclear weapon1. 2. Pohtlcs, New York Times, Marc:h 1!145.
~ .... J
2
tion. The New York Times in a report during September Interior was never within their grasp. In France, Duclos
1944, stated: "A good many Italian fascists seek refuge in the reached out for this post. But the bid failed. It did not have
Communist Party. Communists take over the party head the backing of the Red Army.
quarters and institutions of the former reslme like the Balila,
Why did these Communist Parties act in this way ? What
etc .• thereby soothing the transition from the old to the new.'
social interests did they represent 7 Had they ceased to be
Nor were the ' communists ' deterred when unable to enter true parties of the working class ? The Hungarian events of
bourgeois coalition llOYernments. Indeed, they helped them 19S6 were to gjve clear-cut answers to these questions. But
as much as possible by calling on the masses to support these already the answers were beinA hinted at. The Communist
wartime alliances. Prior to the General Election of 194S, the leaders knew that if the state machines in Western Europe
British Communist Party declared itself in favour of a were to collapse, social revolution would certainly follow. And
coalition govemment with • progressive ' Tories, like Eden without the backing of the Red Army, the Communists would
and Churchill ! have been powerless to control the workers.' While Com
ln EASTERN EUROPE, as we shall · see, the Communists munists have from time to time proclaimed ' ail power to the
were able to gain comolete contrai. This they did by workers !' they always added - if only under thèir breath -
appointing Communist ministers to take char!le of the state • ••• under the leadership of the Communist Party•. • Under'
security forces via the Ministries of the Interior. But in is tlie operative word. How far under was demonstrated in
the West (France, ltaly and Belgium) although the Communists Eastern Europe, from 1944 on. There they dld have the Red
participated in national governments the Ministrv of the Army.
3
at
3. Wlth the advent of Marshall Ald two yean later, tbey were ltlcted· 4. Tbat 1enulne l'ffOludon by the people must be avolded ail COits,
out of thne. aovemments, wlthout a wonl of thanks for the services wu a point on wblch botb • communlst • parties and capltallst ones
tbey bad rendered to tlle capltallst class. were completeb' 11Dlted.
Liberation?
.. Uader SoclaUsm au wlll sovera ha tara aad wlll
IOOD become accaatomed to ao oae soverala1 ".
V. I. Lenin. The Stttte t111d Rnolution (1917).
Some people still believe that the Red Army carried the be expected from the statement. but guerilla armies who had
tide of social revolution with it as it entered Eastern been fiahtinà the Nazis. These guerillas had orilinally been
Europe in 1944. This is quite untrue. Not on)y was the · organized by the Peasant Party of which the leader was Iuliu
real essence of the regjmes (social exploitation) left unchanaed, Maniu. Maniu became a member of the new government.
but for a long while even the existin1 political set-up was When he orderecl bis auerillas to clisbana and tum in their
kept in being with '.only a few superficial changes. Even anns Moscow Radio commented: " Maniu's declaration is
the same policemen were often ke!>t on. As far as the belated. Even before this order the Red Army Command
masses were concemed ail was the same as before. Only had tiquidated ail bandit groups ••• "
the language spoken by the occupying army had changed.
Under the Nazis these guerillas had been • brave resistance
The reason for the Russian Govemment's collaboration with fighters '. Under the Kremlin they were • bandits '. Could
the "class enemy" was, according to Molotov, "to maintain their cnntinued resistance have been spurred on by the
law and order and prevent the rise of anarchy ". Rumania. compasition of the 11ew ,wvemment ?
Bulgaria and Hungary provide clear examples of whose • law '
and what • order ' was maintained. Molotov's auarantee not to interfere with the existina
social order encouraged King Michael to appoint a reactionary
(a) RUMANIA aovemment. General Sanatescu was made Prime Minister,1
The first Eastern Eurooean state to be occupied by the Red an office he was to hold for seven months. During this time,
Army was Rumania. The Russian Govemment immediately the workers showed what they felt. There were many uprisings
announced its intention of maintaining the status quo. and revolts against the govemment. The Kremlin, with an
" The Soviet Government declares that it does not pursue army of a million men now in the country, then decided
the aim of acquiring any part of Rumanian territory or of that if Sanatescu could not eontrol the people, be should go.
changing the existing social order in Rumania. It equally Vyshinski travelled to Bucharest. Soviet artillery was
declares that the entry of Soviet troops is solely the con posted in front of the royal palace. This was bardly
séquence of military necessities and of the continuation of necessary. His Majesty promptly complied with Russian
resistance by enemy forees,"!
demands. Sanatescu's ministry was dissolved and replaced
The " enemy forces " were not Nazi desperadoes as might
S. Molotov speech of April 2, 1944. 6. August 23, 1944.
3
with one headed by Petru Groza.7 Gheorghe Tatarescu tb) BULGARIA
became Vice-Premier.
When the Red Army occupied Bulgaria the Russian-backed
Both Groza and Tatarescu had been members of pre-war 'Fatherland Front' Government took over. It was headed
riaht-wing gao vernments. In 1911 Tatarescu had led the sup by Colonel Khimon Georgiev. Colonel Demain Velchev was
pression of peasant uprising in which 11,000 peasants had Minister of War. Both had been former leaders of the
been murdered. He was Minister of State at the tiJne of Military League, a fascist organisation sponsored by
the anti-Jewish pogroms of 1927. He was world-famous as Mussolini.H
an exponent of extreme right-wing doctrines. The British
Colonel Georgiev had also been the instigator of the fascist
Communist Party itself had called hiJn " the leader of the
coup of 1934 which had dismissed Parliamént, dissolved the
Right pro-Hitler wing of the National Liberal Party ",a the
unions and declared them illégal. He had then become
party which helped King Carol establish his fascist régime
Prime Minister and had beaun a reign of terror which. in its
under Marshal Antonescu.
ruthless ferocity, surpassed even that of 19:?3. The Minister
Prime Minister Groza's government was assisted by two lead of the Interior of the new ' Fatherland Front' Government
ing members of the Communist Party, comrades Gheorge was Anton Yugow, a Communist leader. He controlled the
Gheorghiu Dei and Lucretiu Patrascanu. They were allotted state security forces and was responsible for maintaining
the respective posts of Minister of Public Works and Com • order •.
munications and of Minister of Justice. Patrascanu soon made
When the Nazi military machine eventually collapsed, the
bis ' socialist ' position clear: " lndustrialists, businessmen
great rnaiority of the Bulgarian people were naturallv over
and bankers will escape punishment as war criminals under
joyed. Although tired of war and oppression. their relief did
a law being drawn up by Lucretiu Patrascanu, .Minister of
not lead them to inactivity, Revolution-the opportunity
Justice, and Communist members of the Government.
at last to become the masters of their own destiny - now
Rumania could not afford to loose the services of merchants
appeared possible. During the autumn months of 1944, in
and industrialists, M. Patrascanu said. He expressed the
Sofia and other towns. workers' militias arrested the fascists
opinion that the country would pursue a more liberal policy
and clamped them in gaol. They held mass demonstrations.
towards this class than the French have ".
9 They elected full democratic people's tribunals. The police
''Premier Groza said bis government did not in tend to apply were disarmed and in many cases disbanded.
either collectfvisation of the land or nationalisation of the
The soldiers' feelings were in harmonv with those of the
banks or industries and that the mere question showed
people: " Reports on the Bulgarian forces of occupation in
ignorance of its programme ". Stalin himself advised Groza
10 Western Thrace and Macedonia vividly recall the picture of
" to keep the system of private enterprise and private
the Russian Army in 1917. Soldiers' councils have been set
profit ".11 up. Officers have been dexraded, red flags hoisted, and normal
So, factories and enterprlses owned by foreign capital were saluting has been abclished.?!- This similarity to 1917 was
also allowed to remain intact. Capitalists who had worked anathema to the Russian and B1*i!rian ' Communist ' leaders.
hand-in-glove with the Nazis were permitted to keep their Backed bv the Russian High Command. the Minister of War.
wealth and continue their activities. That this happened with Colonel Velchev. issued a strict order to his troops. "Return
Groza as Prime Minister is hardly surprising, He was a immediately to normal (sic) discipline. Abolish Soldiers'
banker and owned many factories and a large estate. Before Councils. Hoist no more red ftags."
the war be had been a minister in two right-wing governments
Sincere Bulgarian Communists denounced the hypocnsy of
under General Averescu (1920-1, 1926-7).
the Russians. Molotov atternpted to que li the ensuing furore:
Politically-conscious Rumanian workers did not expect such "If certain Communists continue their présent conduct, we
a government to represent interests other than those of the will bring them to reason. Bulgaria will remain with ber
big landowners and financiers. Nor did they wonder why democratic government and her present order ... You must
Groza was openly opposed to measures of social reform and retain ail valuable arrny officers from before the coup d'etat.
why he staunchly upheld the sanctity of private property, You should reinstate in the service ail officers who have been
But that a government carrying out a poliey of suppressing dismissed for various reasons."!'
workers and peasants should have been virtually appointed
The sinister ring of these words echoed throush Bulgaria,
by Soviet Russia forced many Rumanian revolutionaries to
In 1934, the fascist Colonel Georgiev had attacked the
think. lt forced them to change opinions and ideals they
workers. He. had suppressed strikes with loss of life and
had held for years. Eventually, even Maniu and bis
declared them illegal. In 1945, the same Colonel Georgiev,
supporters withdrew from Parliament. But such were the
now a Communist stooge, attacked striking workers as
rumblings among the people that even this trivial demonstra
'fascists.' "In March 1945 a number of coal miners struck
tion of independence could not be tolerated by the government
for higher wages. They were immediately branded as
and its Communist supporters. Maniu was promptly charged
• anarchists ' and ' fascists ·, and rushed into jail by the
with being • anti-monarchist ',12 a • fascist • and an • enemy Communist-controlled state militia.?"
of the people •.
Maniu was tried and sentenced to solitary confinement for (c) HUNGARY
life.11 The President of the tribunal was the wartime Director In 1918, the feeling in Hungary had been strong for
General of prisons and concentration camps. He owed his revolutionary change. These feelings had for a time been
appointment to the tribunal to a leading member of the peacefully channelled through the Government of Count
Communist Party, Patr.ascanu. Karolyi, who had a reputation for being some kind of a
Socialist. The· Karolyi Government made some concessions
7. 1be JCremlln'se zplanatlon to the British Government wu that the to the people. ln March 1919. the Allies brouaht about the
Sanatescu Govemment wu unable to malntaln control over 'fuclsts' fall of the Karolyi Government. They issued Hungary with
and 'pro-Hltlerlte elements• ln the country, an ultimatum concerning the frontier with Czechoslovakia
a. World Nev,• and Vieul•,N ovember 19, 1938. which Hungarians felt would be • crippling the cripple ·.
9. Nw, Yo,.k Timu, March 17, 1945. Patriotic and revolutionary feelings combined and Bela
10. Nw, Yo,.k Tinw•, September2 6, 1945,
11. Radio Bucharest reDOrted that Groza had made thls statement when
desc:rlblng hls talka wfth Stalln ln autumn 1945. 14. In 1923, the Militai')' League organlsed a coup d',tat and overthrew
12. At an electlon meeting ln Bucharesto n November1 7, 1946, Gheorghiu the progressiver eglme of Stambullnskl. Stambullnsltl was assasslnated.
Del Oeader of the ComlQunlst Party) ended hls speech wlth the slogans: Tens of thousands of hls supporters, together wlth many Communlsu
" Vote for the Klng's govemment I Long live the King I Long live hls and soclallsts, were murdered. ·
commandera and soldlers I Long live the Army whlch ls hls and the 15. The Economi•t, October 7, 1944.
pUenowpllen',s p1. 1"4 1.[)Y gael Glucksteln, Stalin'• Satellite• in Erm,r,e, Allen & 16. New Yo,.k Time•, January 16, 1945.
13. Manlu dled ln 1955. 17. The Nation, June 23, 1945.
Kun's" Government rode in on the crest of a new révolu have claimed that Horthy's regime was not truly fascist. But
we must remember that fascism in power may take a variety
tionary wave. Communists dominated the ne:w administra
of forms. Although basical)y similar, the régimes of Hitler,
tion, although it contained a number of Social Democrats.
Mussolini, Franco and Salazar also · differed in several
In March 1919. the new govemment proclaimed the particulars. Perhaps Horthy's regime could best be called
Hungarian Soviet Republic. This was not imposed on the • rule by aristocratie fascists '. Whatever its name, its sicken
country by a Russian arms. There was no direct contact ing bestiality, as far as the ordinary people were concerned,
between Hungary and Russia, Russia had quite enoush to remains as a scar on the body of humanity.
contend . with at this time. The Horthy reglme took part in World War II on Hitler's
Prisoners of war returnins from Russia gave accounts, side. However towards the end of this war a movement
excitedly and with undisguised admiration, of the Great developed which sousht to detach Hungary from its alliance
Revolution. news of which inspired the. people with hope for with Nazi Germany. Nazi troops then occupled the country
a new way of life. . How badly the Hungarians needed to and the terror ruled again, Left-wing militants were ruthlessly
cling to such a hope ! hunted out and exterminated. Sorne 400,000 Hungarian Jews
were deported to asonv and death in Nazi concentration
Hunpry was a predominantly peasant · country in which
the distribution of land was more uniust than in any other camps.
part of Europe. Almost ail the land was owned by Despite this long history of misery, the Hungarian people
aristocrats and by the Church. The maioritv of the people had noi given up their hope of a better life. When in 1944
were landlcss. unemployed and close to starvation. · To end the Red Army began to occupy the country the. people were
the feudal land structure nt this time would have been a well disposed towards it. They sincerely held Russia to
truly revolutionary aet, be a friend. They trusted the promise of liberation. Many
Russians had given their. lives in bitter battles to drive out
Bela Kun's Government lasted a litt)e over four months.
the German Nazis. The g)orious ideals of 1917 were not
Some argue there was .no tlme. for such measures. But
forgotten. So trusting were the few Hungarian Communists
ilot even the promise was made. Had such steps been taken,
that they helped to -organise the dividing up of large estates
Bela Kun·s regime miltht have lasted longer. lt would have
among the peasants. · .
been difficult, if not impossible, for successive govemments
to take the land away frem the peasants again, without facing In December 1944, a 'Hunsarlan. government was formed
the prospect of prolonged civil war. As it was, the Kun at Debrecen in the Russlan-occup'ed area. A shudder went
. regime was overthrown as soon as the Rumanian Army had through the people. The First Minister was the Hungarian
occueied Budapest. Bela Kun fted to Russia on August 1, Commander-in-Chief General · Bela · M.iJdos de Dolnok. Bela
1919.• Miklos had been the first Hungarian: personally to receive
from Hitler the greatest Nazi honour :· Knilht Grand Cross
The demise of the Kun Government had been planned at
of the Iron Cross. Only a few mcatbs.earlier, in July 1944,
Szeyed bv Admirai Nicholas Horthv and bis supporters.
General Bela Miklos had held the highly trusted job of
Representatives of the Rumanian Army had been present. A
messenger between the principal organiser of the White
White Terror was let loose · on Hunarv by Horthy's foreign
Terror. Admirai Horthy, and the vilest Nazi of them all,
assisted counter-revolution. The first fascist regime in
Adolf Hitler.• · · ·
Europe was set up. For the Hunsarlans, ail former horrors
were now surpassed. Thousands of Communists and There were two other generals in the· Gov.ernment : Voros
Socialists were rounded up by fascist gangs, beaten. tortured, and Paragho. General Janos VtSros, Bela Miklos's ex-Chief
killed. The Trade Unions were violently suppressed. Those of-Staff, became Minister for Defence. Imre Nagy became the
merely suspected of socialist sympathies were tortured and Min;ster for Agriculture. The rest of the Government was
finally murdered. Thousands of people, quite unconnected formed of members of the Communist, Social Democratic and
with such ideas, suffered persecution and death. So frightful Smallholders Plll"ties. The Economist described it at the
were the reports of atrocities that even the British (who knew time as " a queer collection of the local denizens and the
ail about atrocities in India) were moved to send a parties of the left ".
Parliamentary Commission to Budapest. The Commission The new govemment still considered Admirai Horthy the
reported that " the worst stories of mutilation, rape. torture legitimate ruler of Hungary. The Minister for Defence,
and murder " were proved. General Voros, ended bis first speech over the Russian radio
The activities of the Hungarian Communist Party at this with the contradictory slogan: "Long live a free and demo
time are referred to by Peter Fryer in bis book Hungarian cratic Hungary, under the leadership of Admirai Horthy!".
Traged11: "The tiny Communist Party carried out its work The first declaration of the Russian-sponsored govemment
in deep illegality. It made the kind of sectarian mistakes that as broadcast by Moscow radio on December 24, 1944,
are so easy to make under sueh conditions, with leaders in proclaimed : " The Regent of our country, Nicholas Horthy,
iail and murdered" (p.291. The movement was • decapitated' bas been seized by the Germans. The mercenaries now in
and floundered. This is inevitable under conditions of civil Budapest21 are usurpera. The country has been left without
war, whenever revolutionary movements are obsessed with leadership at a moment when the reins of govemment
the cuit of leadershio. It is a pre-requisite of success under must be taken in strong bands • • ; Vital interests of
such conditions, that the leading activities of a movement be the nation demand that the armed forces of the Hungarian
spread.as far and wide as possible throughout its membership. peoples, together with the Soviet Union and democratic
No one should be indispensable. Arrested ' leaders ' should eeoples, should help in the destruction of Hitlerism. The
always be replaceable by others. Provisional Government declares that it regards private
For the Hungarian people the following years under Horthy's property as the basis of economic life and the social order of
fascist tyranny were full of dread and suffering. Sorne people the country and will guarantee its continuity ".
General Miklos, Knight Grand Cross of the Iron Cross, had
read the proclamation. It sounds incredible. How could
18. Kun was Foreign Mlalster, but he domlnated the Government. such a man call for " the destruction of Hitlerism "? To 0
19. Kun opposed Stalln durina the great purges of the mlddle thlrties people like Bela Miklos, the privileges, prestige and power
and was necuted. ln February 1962 a nadonal delegate coaference of
Kadar's Hungarlan Journallsts' Union • cleared ' Kun's name. The that go with leadership, were the paramount considerations.
Unlon's President, Dr. ~ad Szakaslts, pald hl&h tributes to Kun, hls The nature. of the leadership, its policy, methods and aims,
.. great central commlttee, ' and hls Voro.s Ut.roi-the ftrst Huagarlan were of secondary conséquence. But how could Soviet Russia
Communlst newspaper. lt was also reported (Feb. '62) that Bela Kun's
wldow and son, who live on a farm ln the Soviet Union, had been lnvlted
by JCadar to retum and settle In Hungary. (Szakaslts was an ex-Social
Democratlc leader and edltor of Nq1zouo ln 1944. He succeeded Tlldy 20. See Admfl'fll Nir:llola Hortllr,-M.tlffltlln, p.m,
as President of Hungary ln 1948. Became a vlctlm of Rakosl's • Salami 21. At thls dme the GermaDI atlll occupled the capital. Tbey fou&ht ID
tactlcs' (see Chapter 41 and was lmprlsoned for four years,) ffffY street, leavin& a devastated clcy behlnd them.
s