Hungary's Revolt in Retrospect

...People who believe in power but do not believe in tragedy are victims of a perverted form of historic materialism which could be—and was—applied just as much to the irresistible Hitler as the irresistible Stalin or, today, the irresistible Khrushchev...

...and, conversely, by showing that Russia could destroy the independence of Hungary—an independence which had been encouraged and fostered by Americans and Europeans...

...Freedom is a matter of commitment, and the responsibility it demands is that one should be responsible for it with one's whole conscience and, if necessary, one's life...

...there are cells of the Hungarian Republic...

...But the argument "they went too far" applies, in fact, more appositely to the West than to the Hungarian rebels in those days...

...What do all these reactions show except that, from the very first moment, opinion in the West played the role of spectator...

...You cannot occupy a whole nation, it was said—the suppression of the new free Hungary would prove too expensive and be too brutal an act for Khrushchev's new, enlightened post-Stalinist government to Stephen Spender, co-editor of the British magazine Encounter, has written several political boohs as well as his world-famous poetry...

...And human tragedy in the cause of freedom is, of course, the supreme assertion of principle...

...They include some of the most talented minds in Europe, and wherever they go their influence will be felt, those who welcome and help them will benefit—as has happened to the hosts of such guests at other times and places...

...If this kind of realistic thinking had obtained throughout history, it is quite clear that history would simply be the history of tyranny...

...It was the British and French who went too far in choosing that moment for their adventure in Suez...

...No one outside the Iron Curtain should ever say a word to encourage a thought of independence in the mind of anyone behind it, for fear he will have it on his conscience later that he encouraged a fruitless revolt in which he could do nothing to assist the rebels...

...But it leaves out of account that people rebel because they want other things than power, want them so much that sometimes they will even fight when they appear to be powerless...

...During the first inspiring days of Hungarian revolt in October 1956, the reaction of democratic opinion outside Hungary went through several phases...

...Where the refugees are...

...Thus I think the Hungarian Revolution was not just an ephemeral episode lasting a month and followed by a wave of refugees, but was an assertion of principle which will eventually thrust above the changings of Eastern and Western policies...

...This attitude has the merit of being realistic, if one considers realism to consist of assessing which forces are likely to win and which to lose, in a game of power politics, and then acting according to the possibilities in terms of such a reckoning...

...If we think that there are peculiar circumstances today which make tragedy (in the sense of the tragic defeat leading to a final victory) impossible, then, surely, there are events even in our own lifetime which prove us wrong...

...Among us, they should be free...

...undertake...

...What they believe is that there is something peculiar and special about modern tyranny, when it is directed by a totalitarian system, which makes it irresistible until it can be resisted, and, in the case of Russia, this means never...

...But a wide aspect of the Revolution is the refugees...

...Their argument ought to be taken into account, because if one does not consider it then one is likely to be irresponsible...

...The "realistic" argument amounts to saying that no one should ever express his wish to be free until he feels strong enough to establish his freedom, and no one should encourage him to wish for freedom unless he is strong enough to come to his assistance...

...Incredulous spectator who did not believe the little nation could free itself from the clutches of the big one, credulous spectator who believed the impossible had happened, helpless spectator who stayed on to see the powerful gather together his forces and destroy the weak, ashamed spectator who reflected that the weak had after all gone too far, commiserating spectator consoling himself by playing the role of Good Samaritan among the refugees...

...The truth is that history changes, time changes, men change, but tragedies are submerged growth in history driving up from out of the past below the surface and capable of finding their way through the shifting waters and mud above them...

...No one behind the Iron Curtain should revolt because, without help from outside, revolution is impossible, and there can be no such help...

...There is a place at which the politics of power are submerged in the truth of tragedy...

...And what survives of an independent Hungary in the world challenges us with the constant problem of refugees—many of them shut up in Austria and unable to obtain assistance or visas to get abroad...

...Today there are those who take the view that the Hungarian rising should never have happened...

...We can do little to help those in Hungary for the time being...

...And I think that governmental propaganda agencies which make it their business to stir up revolts which their governments have no intention of supporting do bear an unpleasant responsibility, because they conduct a campaign for human liberty with the same kind of businessman's indifference as an advertising agency conducts a campaign for the products of a client...

...But, really, it challenges us at several points and levels: by demonstrating our inability to save Hungarian independence and to carry out the resolutions of the United Nations...

...It was the Americans who went too far in evading every issue that might cloud the optimistic atmosphere necessary for the Eisenhower electoral campaign...

...By this I mean that the cause of freedom has not died in the past just because it has been defeated in the lives of those who have, at a particular time, fought for it...

...First, there was the phase of the "Hungarian miracle...

...I was about to write "challenge to the conscience of the West...

...Too far or not far enough— unfortunately, no course of action was possible which is not one or the other...

...The unbelievable had happened, but having happened it at once became accepted "quia incredibile," and arguments were soon being found to show that "the Russians could do nothing about it...

...But, this being so, one need not deplore or discourage the attempts of men to be free—even when these appear to fail...

...Even "realists" know this...

...I cannot pretend that I see clearly what, in the circumstances, the West ought to have done...

...There are stronger things in the world than power, because power, although impressive, is forever shifting, changing hands and lost to those who once had it because they die, decay or lack principle...

...Then the Russian tanks moved in, the Nagy Government was thrown out, and there were many voices in the West, sympathetic to Hungarian freedom, yet willing to say: "The Hungarians went too far...

...The West can at least help Hungarian freedom by giving the widest opportunities to these...