Hungary's Changing Leadership

...It was three months after the crushing of the rebellion, in February 1957, that we began to learn the composition of the new Central Committee of the Party, now called the Worker-Socialist party...

...6. In July 1956, the time of Rakosi's resignation, there was still another re-modelling of the Politburo and the Central Committee...

...And a year later the fall of Imre Nagy naturally brought about the mass return of the numerous "creatures" into the higher ranks of the Party...

...Several Communist leaders—Kadar among them—who were unjustly imprisoned came back into the Politburo and important changes were made within the Central Committee, where the game of in-and-out continues...

...Thanks to democratic reforms, the THOMAS SCHREIBER, a broadcaster for the French Radio and a correspondent for Le Monde, is the author of several articles on Hungary...

...The list of these last is very long...

...19 of these are at present members of the National Assembly...

...3. Of the eight members of the Party Secretariat in 1948, Rajk was executed in 1949, Marosan and Szakasits were imprisoned in 1950, Kadar was condemned in 1951, and Mihaly Farkas was arrested in 1956 (he is still in prison for "violation of socialist legality...

...Nor, of course, do the partisans of Imre Nagy, the "revisionists," appear among the leading personnel...

...It is impossible in a short article to enter into a deep analysis of the personnel changes that ensued in the heart of the Party during the rising of October 1956...

...or work in some enterprise, Imre Nagy and some of his principal collaborators were murdered...

...These men were officials of the Party apparatus, such as Andras Hegedus (who in 1955 became President of the Council), Bela Szalai, Istvan Denes and Laszlo Piros (Minister of the Interior at the moment of the outbreak of the 1956 revolt...

...Now, three years afterward, the situation seems to have been consolidated...

...Less well known is the fact that in 15 years the Communist party has not only managed to liquidate its enemies—often by force—but that the same party has completely transformed itself...

...It is not impossible that some of those who have disappeared are in subordinate posts, in charge of some local village council or section of the Party, but their names do not appear on a list which names the occupants of about 800 political, economic and cultural posts in Hungary...

...Hungary's Changing Leadership In the 15 years since the Red Army moved into Budapest, the Communist party has managed to liquidate its enemies and completely transform itself By Thomas Schreiber WITH VERY great solemnity, the 15th anniversary of Hungary's liberation by the Red Army was celebrated on April 4. After the sufferings of World War II and the many atrocities committed by the Nazis and their Hungarian acolytes, an immense majority of the population—especially those in disfavor with Admiral Nicholas Horthy's regime or those persecuted because of their religion—eagerly awaited the Soviet soldiers...

...However, while the "creatures of Rakosi" and, in a general way, all the "activists" of the Stalinist regime are at liberty, have positions of some kind in the administration of the state (local councils, ministries, etc...

...However, apart from the often atrocious events that accompanied the arrival of the Soviet troops, what occurred in 1945 was a liberation...

...It seemed that, after the conclusion of a peace treaty and the withdrawal of the Red Army from the country, all elements would reunite and the Hungarian Republic would become a free, independent and prosperous country, where the rights of individuals and the interests of society would be respected...

...As for the Politburo, besides the members of the Secretariat we find Imre Vajda (imprisoned in 1950), Joszef Harustyak (expelled from political life), Antal Apro and, lastly . . . Imre Nagy...

...Now, after 15 years, memories of those days are still extremely vivid among the population, and contribute much to Hungarian anti-Soviet feelings...

...Actually, the internal structure of the Party has undergone significant changes...

...Erno Gero and Matyas Rakosi have been living in Russia since the crushing of the 1956 rebellion, and Joseph Revai, the "Hungarian Zhdanov," died in 1959...

...At first sight, then, the present regime seems to want to pursue a sort of "middle" policy, and is fighting on two fronts...

...Others are still imprisoned and are not even allowed the possibility of replying to the accusations against them...

...2. Of the 64 members elected to the Central Committee of the Hungarian Workers' party (the name of the CP after its "absorption" of the Socialists in June 1948), 15 are still members of the Central Committee at the present time, and four of them— Janos Kadar, Gyula Kallai, Gyorgy Marosan and Arpad Szakasits—were imprisoned for several years as "imperialist agents...

...But although, in 1954, it was Nagy who presided over the Government, and his supporters tried to eliminate Stalinists (who had been losing ground since 1953), the latter were still powerful and remained influential...

...reconstruction of the war-ravaged country made considerable progress...

...Nevertheless, it is a characteristic fact that certain persons—e.g., Antal Apro, who is now first vice president of the Council and is the only Hungarian Communist leader to have belonged to the Politburo without interruption since 1945 —were taking part in the management of the Party even during the insurrection...

...Its undermining work, already begun in 1946, was practically achieved toward the end of 1948 when the non-Communist parties were liquidated...

...The Central Committee elected at the Seventh Congress of the Party (in December 1959) again consists of 71 members, but 50 of these played no important part in national affairs before the events of 1956...

...All of them had taken part in the anti-Fascist movement that developed during the war...

...5. The Third Congress, which took place in May 1954, again provided an opportunity for a considerable reshaping of the Central Committee...

...4. At the time of the Second Congress of the Hungarian CP held in February 1951, several new members came into the Central Committee who, until then, had been completely unknown to most of the people...

...Their successors, "creatures of Rakosi," are those young officials of working-class or peasant origin who were sent to Moscow in 1949 for staff-college training and who returned to Hungary in 1951...

...Ten others who were in the Central Committee of 1948 occupy positions in the administration of the state, but the fate of the others is unknown...

...But the Communist party, led by refugees returning from Moscow, wanted the complete Sovietization of Hungary...

...Numbered among those arrested and condemned by means of prefabricated trials conducted behind closed doors were not only members of the Politburo and the Central Committee but also most of the superior officers of the police and the Army, Communist groups in the ministries of Foreign Affairs and of the Interior, and groups formed by the anti-Fascist resistance...

...But at first this Central Committee had no more than 37 members, compared with 64 in 1948, 69 in 1951 and 71 in 1954...

...It is equally interesting that the present Central Committee includes practically no members known for their activity during the Stalin period: "Creatures of Rakosi" are almost without exception eliminated...

...In November 1945, for the first time in the country's history, entirely free elections were held (in spite of the presence of the Soviet Army) and the non-Communist parties obtained 83 per cent of the votes...

...Thus it seems that, so far as this was possible, the Kadar regime appealed to new cadres...

...A new chapter was opened in the millennial history of Hungary, and the auspices for the new regime were promising...

...Unfortunately the latter's behavior, with rather rare exceptions, strangely resembled that of the Nazis or the Hungarian "Silver Arrows...

...To gain some idea of the changes one has to examine the composition of the Party Central Committee from 1945 until 1960, as well as some lists that enumerate the personalities taking an active part in Hungarian public life...

...The stages of Hungary's Bolshevization are so well known that they need not be recounted here...

...The Communist party came out of hiding and loyally played the game of governmental coalition...

...Perhaps some people in the West think the old ruling clique is still in power, except for a few "traitors to the Party" who have been executed, like Laszlo Rajk in 1949 or Imre Nagy in 1958...

...Here are some that are particularly striking: 1. During the first legislative elections held after the liberation (November 1945), the Communist party obtained 67 seats, reserved for members of long service to the Party...

...Of this number, only 23 still occupy some position today, but not necessarily within the Central Committee...

...and several of the new members had no political past of any note...

...and they were soon to take the places of the old stagers of the Party, who were eliminated and in some cases liquidated...