Richard Lettis: The Hungarian Revolt

VIGILANCE AND CONCERN

MISKOLC
Yesterday, October 30th, we were the first to inform the population of the country of Marshal Zhukov's order to the Soviet troops to begin their withdrawal from the territory of Hungary. As reported, the withdrawal of Soviet units has begun. However, for reasons that we and the people of the country do not understand, large Soviet forces -anti-aircraft units, tanks, and troops- have changed their direction and again entered the territory of Hungary from Zahony, in the direction of Nyiregyhaza. The reason for this circular movement of Soviet troops is incomprehensible to us. We observed the movement of Soviet troops all night . . . and we informed the President of the Council of Ministers of the happenings during the night. We spoke by telephone with the Minister of State, Zoltan Tildy, and with the Deputy Minister of Defence, and we earnestly requested them to take up the matter with the Soviet Commanders most energetically. We requested them to obtain the withdrawal of Soviet troops as soon as possible, and to give priority to their answer to Radio Miskolc, so that this answer may immediately be transmitted to the population of the country. At our request the Council of Ministers was called together, and we received the following answer this morning:
"I can reassure you of the creation of an independent, free, and democratic Hungary."
Radio Free Miskolc [154/159]

BUDAPEST
In Budapest, as in the whole of Hungary, a feverish struggle for the masses is under way. . . . A process of political differentiation is going on. The prevailing majority of those who went into the streets last Tuesday to demonstrate against Stalinism did so to develop Hungarian socialism and to rid it of its shackles.
All parties which have joined Imre Nagy's coalition -the Smallholders Party, the Peasants Party and the Social Democratic Party- have begun to organise themselves. Since in principle a multi-party system has been endorsed, consideration is being given to creating or re-forming some more parties, first of all the Catholic Party, which was formerly very powerful and influential. Thus, it is hard to say what the political outcome of the developments now taking place in Hungary will be.
Disorder still prevails in the streets. In fact there is no real authority as yet, at least not a centralized one. Bloodshed had not yet been stopped. In front of the Opera House, bodies of twelve policemen, members of the AVO who were killed during renewed unrests yesterday, still lie on the pavement. A number of Communists whom I contacted are frightened because more and more often one hears that Communists are being assassinated.
Today I went to the "Csilaga" [?] printing works. I was told, and not only there, that in Budapest today real anarchy prevails in the publication of newspapers and leaflets. A group of 20 armed men enters a printing shop, taking control of it for a half hour or an hour, and print what they want.
Of course, there are some people who refuse to leave the printing shops, who occupy them. Thus, a group of insurgents led by Dudas, a former deputy of the Smallholder Party, took full control of the badly damaged building of the Szabad Nep.
Nobody can find out what is going on. One paper appears and then is stopped; others are published under new names, or an old one appears with new editors. The picture changes every minute. There are newspapers which appear only once. Today the situation was as follows: for the last two days no copies of the Szabad Nep appeared, the organ of the Hungarian Workers Party. It is questionable whether it will be published at all any more. The organ of the United Hungarian Youth Organization no longer appears and the organization itself has been dissolved. At first Szabad Nep appeared under the name Magyar Szabadsag, but then it was also discontinued when the printing plant was captured.
Today the Communists are said to have succeeded in arriving at an agreement with Dudas to print a Communist paper there. The paper Magyar Nemzet, former organ of the People's Front, is still being published, but as an independent paper and organ of a group of progressive intellectual anti-Stalinist Communists. So far the editor-in-chief is a member of the Cabinet, Losonczy, a man who was kept in prison a long time by Rakosi's supporters. The army organ, Szabadsereg, has been renamed Magyar Honved and it comes out as the organ of the Revolutionary Council of the Hungarian Armed Forces, which was formed yesterday and which has unanimously and decisively sided with Imre Nagy and his present government. . .
For the last two days the streets have been flooded with the Magyar Fuggetlenseg, which is being published in the printing works of the Szabad Nep and is edited by a group of insurgents around Dudas. This is a paper in which the most varied elements mix. . .
Very popular, perhaps most popular is a paper called Igazsag, published by a group of Communists and progressives who were the first to side with the insurgents. From the very start almost all the insurgents considered the paper as their own because it emerged from their midst and was striving for the abolition of Stalinism in Hungary. This paper is now supporting Nagy. [159/160]

LONDON
The Hungarian revolution began as a student movement. This I can say with absolute conviction, having just returned from Budapest, where I discussed the matter with the insurgents themselves.
The events in Budapest on that Tuesday evening had in fact been slightly preceded by uprisings in two other university towns -Szeged and Pecs. There the students had simply called upon the town councils to resign and had re-elected emergency committees from their own numbers. These committees of 15 to 30 members containing professors and students, had a single president, who in more cases than not was an undergraduate. The attitude of the older members of the community was that this was a student movement, and as such should be led by them. That youth was willing to ask the advice of age was very apparent. This advice was readily forthcoming. Following the student's lead the factory workers took similar action in the non-university towns.
I did not discover whether or not these revolutionary committees are in any way coordinated from one single centre. Gyor, halfway between Vienna and Budapest, claims to be rebel headquarters. Certainly it has a nationalist-held station and is in a good position to press its claim. I was assured by the revolutionary committee of Sopron that they, and for that matter other towns, are not directed by Gyor. .
The purpose of these committees ... is one of maintenance at the moment. In face of the general strike it is up to them to keep the food supplies running. The responsibility with which this has been taken on is fantastic. Where one would expect [160/161]

BUDAPEST
The last Soviet tanks were just moving out of Budapest when we reached the outskirts after a long journey interrupted by innumerable security checks. The tanks had not put out white flags, as the Hungarians had boldly demanded; but they had the air of a defeated army all the same. Their guns were masked. Their turrets were closed, the crews hidden inside. Nobody looked out. Not I think, because they were afraid of being shot at; rather that they could not bear to see the ruin they had caused. It was already dusk. Candles were burning in every window. They were the only lights in all Budapest-the torches not of victory but of thanksgiving.
It had been a strange journey. The road was jammed with convoys carrying medical aid and food. It would have been hard for us to get through without two students, Ferko and Pista, armed with the inevitable guitars , who acted as our personal bodyguards and helped us to fight our way through the check points manned by Freedom Fighters.
They told us a great deal about the first days of the uprising. The Freedom Fighters, they said, had arrested all the AVOs they were able to round up. Many of the secret police had been killed in the process, but only a few had been victims of revenge: most had died in action. The Party apparatus had disintegrated completely on the very first day of the rising, but there had been no massacre of Party officials. "We raided the Party offices, took away their weapons and told them to go home. Only a few were held. In fact, many of them joined us."
They were also very definite about the Jews. There had been reports of pogroms, all the more easy to believe in that so many leaders and officials of Party and police were Jews. "It simply isn't true about pogroms," they cried. "The Jewish community suffered as much as any other. They are all with us fighting for our freedom. Go and see for yourself! You will find thousands of Jewish boys and girls among the Freedom Fighters, especially in Budapest. Hundreds have died fighting."
These two were typical of so many we were to meet -both members of the Communist youth organisation, both totally rejecting everything it stood for, and totally unaffected by the teaching of the Leninist gospel. Their ideas of right and wrong were a good deal clearer, in spite of the vaunted conditioning process, than one normally meets among the youth of the West. Nor were they perturbed by the future. "There will be no chaos when the Russians leave," they said, "we all know now what we want."
In Budapest, all the same, there was a good deal of chaos. In that autumn twilight we heard mothers calling tremulously and vainly for their vanished children. And we saw the graves. Every park, every garden, every patch of earth had its little cemeteries.
We stopped at one near the Margit Bridge. Small boys in their very early teens were standing guard over the graves, carefully dressed in Honved uniforms which had probably belonged to their elder brothers. Instead of rifles they clutched "guitars" almost as big as themselves. Candles were burning on the newly-dug graves.
These small Hungarian boys, with their devoted, incomprehensible and wholly self-appointed activity, were, for me, the most astonishing and moving aspect of the Budapest scene in those days of brief triumph. Next day, Peter Strasser and I found ourselves guarded not only by Ferko and Pista, our companions of the journey, who would not leave us, but also by a whole gang of small boys, all armed to the teeth, who refused to let us out of their sight and glorified in the privilege of acting as a private army for two middle-aged "foreigners." [165/166]

HOPES AND FEARS OF THE REVOLUTION

BUDAPEST
There was lively activity in Parliament today. In the last two or three days the Parliament has become the center to meet and decide things. Imre Nagy, members of the Government, leaders of the newly formed parties and representatives of "Revolutionary Committees" are constantly present. Arriving every day are delegates with demands of newly-formed authorities from all over the country. The immediate withdrawal of Soviet troops is a common characteristic of all these demands. They have an ultimative character. "Otherwise the strike will continue". And this means the paralysis of communications and the stoppage of all production...
This morning we succeeded in getting in to the secretariat of Imre Nagy. The Prime Minister was too busy to see us. He was meeting with representatives of many organisations which in these days have seized arms and thus power. They arrived with information on new movements of Soviet troops across the Hungarian frontiers. An astonished representative of the Revolutionary Military Committee asks: "How is it possible that this now happens after we have gone so far towards calming down the situation?" He was very dejected.
Pressure by the newly-established political parties has a strong influence on the decisions of Prime Minister Nagy. But their demands are in harmony with the general atmosphere in the country. Dissatisfaction increased from hour to hour, when it was learned that Soviet troops, after withdrawing from Budapest, have taken up positions at the approaches to the capital. That is why the general strike is still in force in Hungary . . . More and more one hears: "We are not moving in a circle but rushing toward a catastrophe. We cannot start production, nor force the people to surrender their arms before foreign troops are withdrawn. And we have coal only for the next two days. This also means that we shall be left without light. The consequences will be felt more and more. We shall arrive at the brink of economic collapse!"
The hands of the trade unions are still tied. The old T.U. organisation was disbanded. The new one was formed only recently. The new organisations are energetic and clear-headed as far as denouncing everything that was formerly customary is concerned. But they have also made their call on the workers to return to work contingent upon the withdrawal of Soviet troops.
Only the workers' youth organisation is calling for a resumption of work...
There is acute fear. People are constantly in the streets . . any dramatic news threatens to start riots. Today former members of the secret police are objects of attack, tomorrow others will be attacked as well. A certain psychosis of uncertainty is being born. Today, for instance, long queues formed in front of banks and post-offices -people who want to withdraw their savings.
But today many more soldiers may be seen maintaining order . . . They patrolled the streets together with members of the newly-established National Guard -formed from the old police and students. Armed insurgent groups were seen more rarely, and then only in certain districts. This success is undoubtedly due to yesterday's meeting of the representatives of insurgent forces. . . After many efforts the progressives succeeded in reaching an agreement among them. Among these forces the most important and most positive role is played by Colonel Maleter.
... Yesterday he was appointed deputy to the Minister of War and is most energetic in the re-establishment of peace and order. An important role is also played by the chief of the police Kopacsi, who during the riots refused to attack the insurgents. Today both are leading members of the Military Revolutionary Committee.
Today various parties have, so to speak, shown their identity cards . . . The Smallholders Party and the Social-Democrats . . . are energetically defending the idea of a complete neutrality like [169/170] Switzerland and Austria. It is interesting that this is also the attitude of all other groups and organisations which have appeared until now, including the most progressive forces among the youth and the workers, who carried the main burden of fighting during the four bloody Budapest days.
The secretary-general of the Social-Democratic Party Kelemen received a group of Yugoslav journalists today. We learned that this party will fight most resolutely for the maintenance of the acquisitions of the working class, and that it will aid Workers Councils ...
At present only the Communists are behind the time. The Party of Hungarian Workers does not seem to exist. It seems that this party is unable to recover from the heavy blow. According to information, the party wants to reorganize itself completely, that is to say, to start again from scratch. Its new name will be 'Hungarian Revolutionary Workers Party" .
Vlado Teslic, Borba (Belgrade), 2 November

BUDAPEST
The nearer we got to Budapest the more frequently we were stopped by armed guards of freedom fighters. They were young boys, students and industrial workers, very polite and very pleased to see us. These youngsters were carrying their guns not from any joy of fighting but from a deep conviction that they must get rid of Russian domination and Moscow's hated henchmen, the secret police.
"What will happen after your final victory?" we kept asking. And again the answer was surprisingly unanimous, especially as concerted leadership was so obviously lacking: "There should be several parties, and elections as soon as possible." We then tried to find out their views on how far the economic changes of the present regime should be reversed. They left us in no doubt that they certainly did not want the big landlords to come back to their estates but that they also did not want the enforced collectivisation of the peasants on their newly acquired land to continue. And what should become of the big industrial plants which had been erected in recent years and were the property of the state? Certainly, they should remain state-owned and so should all the key industries. But the rest of the economy should go back to its former owners, especially where the small man was concerned.
In Budapest everyone seemed to be out in the streets. Old men and young kids, housewives and workers, gathered in crowds round our cars, eager to talk, eager also to try and get some share of almost forgotten luxuries. As we were passing the crowds on a bridge I pulled off my modestly red scarf to wave it at them and immediately noticed heads turning away. A young motor-cyclist who was showing us the way immediately whispered to me: "Not with a red scarf."
We were deeply impressed by the way in which Hungarian youth took up arms against the Communists. In a hospital there were wounded boys of twelve, thirteen and fourteen years of age who had thrown hand grenades and bottles of petrol at Russian tanks or had stood in ambush armed with guns. We were also strongly impressed by the completeness and discipline of the general strike. As long as the resistance movement was in power all essential services were performed without fault. The food shops were open, potatoes, bread and flour seemed to be in sufficient supply; there were no traces of plundering or demoralisation. At the central bus station where I filled up my car with petrol for the return journey they refused to take money -it being state-owned, they could not issue me with a bill! -and would not even accept a tip. No alcohol was allowed to be served, not even with a meal.
When we left Hungary on November 1st we had not seen one single Russian soldier. We were told by people who watched them that the Russians had taken an hour to get out of Budapest. Near Gyor a Russian division was in barracks with the gates locked. The fears of Communist officials then may be deduced from the fact that we had to refuse a Hungarian diplomat's plea to take him, his wife and plenty of luggage with us across the boarder. [sic] We left with the delusion that the fight had been won.
Correspondent, The Economist (London), 17 November [170/171]

VIENNA
From Budapest I brought Anna Kethly, leader of the Hungarian Social Democrats, and former vice-chairman of the Hungarian Parliament, to Vienna today by car. She is attending a meeting of the bureau of the Socialist International. This is the first sight of the free world which this gentle and indomitable woman has had since her long years of imprisonment under the Communists.
The streets of Budapest are strewn with glass and telephone wires, and last night as we drove into the semi-deserted city the only people to be seen were groups of victorious Freedom Fighters checking our documents at every street corner. There are crowds of boys between 16 and 18, armed with tommy guns and army rifles, rather self-consciously got up like revolutionaries in a film. At one corner some of them pointed out a Communist secret policeman hanging dead from a tree on a side walk and insisted on our inspecting the body.
They looked and behaved like people in a film, and yet these are the youngsters who in seven days of desperate fighting forced the monster of world communism to give way and acknowledge defeat. Later we went to the lobby of the St Margit Palace Hotel where we saw about thirty of these youngsters with caps flung backwards over their heads and hand grenades in their belts sitting in the lobby in an animated discussion with some Hungarian poets and actresses. They were discussing the future of mankind.
By contrast I met the famous woman leader of the Social Democrats at her party headquarters where the Hungarian Social Democratic party was refounded two days ago. She had been trying to fly to Vienna in the morning but Soviet troops had reoccupied the road to the airport and she could not get through. Now she was standing in her black over-coat, grey-haired, receiving delegations of Social Democratic workers from all over the country, "Kethly Anna" as the Hungarians say, putting the surname before the Christian name, is the idol of those thousands of workers who never gave way to communism.
The Hungarian Social Democrats have reorganised their party, and have rigidly excluded all members who have supported the merger with the Communists, such as the former State President, Szakasits. The Social Democrats have now joined the new coalition Government of the "National Communist" Premier Imre Nagy. They may do so later, but that will depend on their own democratic decision.
Manchester Guardian, 2 November [171/172]

BUDAPEST
Reports reaching here said that for three hours early today Soviet tanks, guns and lorries were crossing into Hungary at Zahony. Hungarians said there was a flow in both directions, but more entered than went out. Other Russian troops were reported to be digging in to form a cordon around Budapest, from which they withdrew yesterday. They were 15 to 25 miles from the city.
Hungarian troops arriving here from the southeast reported seeing Russian tanks on the outskirts of the city. The insurgents had issued an ultimatum to the Soviet forces to withdraw to the line of the River Tisza by November 15, and completely evacuate Hungary by December 31. If the Russians do not agree the rebels will resume fighting. Workers of Csongrad, South-East Hungary, have decided to stay on strike until Soviet troops leave the country . . . Groups of rebels still prowled the streets of Budapest and the city's sewers to-day. They were searching for members of the Hungarian secret police. When they found them in the sewers they shot them and dumped their bodies. Eye-witnesses reported that when the insurgents had shot secret police-men in the streets they poured petrol on the bodies and burned them. Despite pleas by the Government, nobody was back at work in the factories. There was no public transport. Nearly everything was at a standstill.
The Catholic People's party resumed its activities in Budapest. Cardinal Mindszenty, Roman Catholic Primate of Hungary, who returned here yesterday after eight year's imprisonment, said that he would not decide whether to support a broad coalition Government for a few days.
Prince Paul Esterhazy, the Hungarian former landowner, has been released from prison and is back in Budapest, according to press reports. He was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in February, 1949, for alleged treason and espionage.
Budapest radio reported that Hungarian officers, now attending the Signals Academy in Leningrad, said in a telegram that they were putting themselves at the disposal of the new Government and the Revolutionary Council of the Army. The officers asked the Government to recall them immediately...
Daily Telegraph (London), 2 November [172/173]

BUDAPEST
Soviet tank units which left Budapest yesterday have dug in 10 miles outside the capital and encircled the city, except for a small stretch leaving the road open to Vienna for the medical and food supplies coming in from there. They have also forcibly occupied the large civilian airport at Ferihegy and requisitioned all civilian aircraft. Western military attachés who were able to go there this afternoon confirm the Russian move.
This news, after the relief following the withdrawal of the Soviet. troops from the capital, has caused great dismay among the heroic citizens of Budapest. It is not quite clear what this Russian move means; it may be in connection with the flying visit of Mr. Anastas Mikoyan and Mr. Mikhail Suslov -the second in the last seven days- who arrived here this morning for talks with members of the Hungarian Government, including Janos Kadar...
While the Soviet leaders hesitate and may or may not cut their losses in Hungary, Budapest itself, which looked like being lost only 48 hours ago, is now firmly in the hands of the insurgents.
I had a talk today with the commander of the newly-formed Budapest forces, Major General Bela Kiraly, who is super-intending the organising of the army, the police, the workers' brigades and the university students into one unit. He said that they will resist any attempt to undermine the revolution's achievements, whether it comes from inside or outside the country. Their aim is to preserve these achievements intact pending new elections and the formation of a new Government. Budapest is now full of units of the Hungarian Army coming up from the provinces and has taken on the appearance of a fortress.
There is no sign, of jubilation or joy as one might have expected. Are the Russians returning to Budapest or not? Are the Russians going to stay in Hungary or not? Those are the questions which every body asks in Budapest.
Lajos Lederer, Observer Foreign News Service (London), 1 November

BUDAPEST
Cardinal Mindszenty, Primate of Hungary, received Hungarian and foreign Press, radio and television representatives at his Buda palace and made the following statement: "After long time imprisonment I am speaking to all the sons of the Hungarian nation. In my heart there is no hatred against anyone. It is an admirable heroism that is at present liberating the fatherland. This struggle for liberty is unexampled in world history. Our youth deserves all glory. They deserve gratitude and prayers for their sacrifices. Our army, workers and peasants have shown an example of heroic love of the fatherland. The situation of the country is very serious; conditions for the continuance of life are lacking. The path of fruitful development must be found as speedily as possible. I am now gathering information, and in two days' time I will broadcast to the nation about the means of achieving this development."
Hungarian News Agency [175/176]

BUDAPEST
Representatives of Western newspapers called on Maj. Gen. Pal Maleter, military commander of the insurrection and Deputy Minister of Defence, at the insurgents HQ . . . First of all, he informed the foreign journalists that according to military reconnaissance new Soviet forces have entered Hungarian territory during the past few days. "The view of the Hungarian Army", said Maleter, "is that we want to live in friendship with all peoples. Our Army, however, has weapons, and if necessary it can defend itself against the intruders. In the interests of putting the situation in order we stand behind the National Government, behind Imre Nagy and Zoltan Tildy. But the Army makes its further support for the Government dependent on whether the Government fulfils its promises.
"What negotiations has the Government entered into up to now with this end in view?" asked the journalists.
"Zoltan Tildy conferred on Wednesday with Mr. Mikoyan, who promised that those troops who are in Hungary not for the purposes of the Warsaw Treaty will be withdrawn from the country."
Question: Does this mean that the so-called Warsaw troops will remain?
Answer: This is out of the question. Tildy has informed Mikoyan that we shall repudiate the Warsaw Treaty in any event, and our Government demanded that negotiations in this respect should begin as soon as possible.
Question: What will happen to those troops now coming to Hungary?
Answer: Naturally, we shall regard them as being outside the Warsaw Treaty and shall treat them accordingly. I must declare, however, that the people of Hungary are mature enough not immediately to regard tardiness in connection with promises made by foreign leaders as an act of provocation. Nonetheless, we shall not throw away our arms before national independence has achieved complete victory.
The journalists then asked Maj. Gen. Maleter to speak about the insurrection, the fighting, and the relations between the insurgents and the Army.
Answer: This insurrection was organised by nobody. The insurrection broke out because the Hungarian people wanted peace, tranquillity, freedom and independence -to which the foreign occupiers replied with weapons. At the beginning of the struggle unarmed single groups, independent of each other, attacked the intruders, and achieved their successes with the weapons they thus obtained. Hungarian youths made their own weapons.
Maj. Gen. Maleter then showed such a weapon. It was an ordinary siphon bottle from the tap of which hung two 15-cm. ribbons. The siphon was filled with petrol which saturated the ribbons. With such bottles many Russian steel monsters were rendered harmless. The burning petrol, flowing from the siphon, set the tanks on fire and burnt them out.
Question: Please tell us something about your part in the battles.
Answer: In the early hours of last Wednesday I received an order from the then Minister of Defence to set out with five tanks against insurgents in the 8th and 9th city districts and to relieve the Kilian barracks. When I arrived at the spot I became convinced that the freedom fighters were not bandits but loyal sons of the Hungarian people. So I informed the Minister that I would go over to the insurgents. Ever since, we have been fighting together and we shall not end the struggle so long as a single armed foreigner is in Hungary.
Free Radio Kossuth [176/177]

BUDAPEST
Today I talked to Janos Kadar, first secretary of the new Hungarian Communist Party. He told me it was the first interview he had given to a Western journalist. Kadar is 44 years old. He is of medium height, has light brown hair, speaks very slowly, almost in an undertone.
Question: What type of Communism do you represent, Mr. Kadar?
Answer: The new type, which emerged from the Revolution and which does not want to have anything in common with the Communism of the Rakosi-Hegedues-Geroe-group.
Q: This "new Communism," if it can be termed as such- is it of the Yugoslav or Polish type?
A: Our Communism is Hungarian. It is a sort of "third line," with no connection to Titoism nor to Gomulka's Communism.
Q: How would you describe this "third line?"
A: It is Marxism-Leninism applied to the particular requirements of our country, to our difficulties and to our national problems. It is not inspired either by the U.S.S.R. nor by other types of Communism, and I repeat that it is Hungarian National Communism. This "third line" originated from our Revolution during the course of which, as you know, numerous Communists fought at the side of students, workers, and the people.
Q: Will your Communism be developed along democratic lines, if they can be termed as such?
A: That's a good question. There will be an opposition, and no dictatorship. This opposition will be heard because it will have the national interests of Hungary at heart and not those of international Communism.
Q: Prime Minister Imre Nagy, with whom I had an interview yesterday, told me in reply to a particular question, that it was not he who had called [177/178]

Richard Lettis: The Hungarian Revolt