Notes of a Native Hungarian
KENEZ, PETER
20 YEARS AFTER THE REVOLUTION Notes of a Native Hungarian BY PETER KENEZ We Hungarians who left the country following the Soviet intervention in 1956 now return there to visit by the thousands....
...And people are obviously not afraid to discuss sensitive subjects in public places...
...I was surprised, for I had never heard much praise for East Germany, and I objected that Hungary was a much freer place...
...Those arriving in Budapest from Amsterdam or Zurich will certainly not see the city in the same way as those approaching it from Bucharest...
...We want to admire Hungary, for we derive much of our self-image from our heritage: Most of us believe that our people has a special genius, an unusual spirit, a remarkable wit, and, not least important, an unsurpassable cuisine...
...This man is a Leftist in the sense that he deplores the embourgeois-ment of Hungarian society...
...I spent a great deal of time with one old and good friend, never mentioning political matters...
...In good Soviet style the political elite rode in curtained limousines, shopped in special stores, vacationed in places where trains carrying ordinary people did not bother to stop...
...He feels the Soviet dictator saved his life in 1945—which is true enough —and is prepared to remain grateful for the rest of his days...
...While he agreed, he did not seem to care...
...The media, who continue to toe the Soviet line in foreign affairs, have at least stopped sounding silly...
...their feelings were expressed indirectly...
...and lawyers who have profited from the reopening of the free market, along with doctors who have lucrative private practices, can afford to buy weekend houses for $30,000-40,000...
...But the two components?economic equality and political freedom—are far from simple concepts in this context and require explanation...
...He refused to come inside, saying he knew I would speak Russian and he could not bear to hear that language...
...A third man, whose political views I found most intelligent, considers himself a Leftist Communist...
...Most of my acquaintances, moreover, spoke of buying a car or moving into a larger apartment, two enormously expensive investments that require years of planning and saving...
...The distance between the real thing and the imitation was too evident: Miniskirts, blue jeans and mod haircuts were jarring in an obviously poor capital...
...This knowledge has had a considerable impact and affects everyone, including those who have never left the country...
...it is pointless to become involved in public affairs when having a real voice is out of the question...
...True, Hungary was far from an undifferentiated society during the Stalinist years...
...He wholeheartedly accepts Soviet criticism of China, I suppose, because his agreement with it allows him to subtly express his disapproval of some features of the Soviet and Hungarian states...
...Newspapers occasionally report the arrest of a prominent person for embezzlement or smuggling, but that must be only the tip of the iceberg in a country where standards of public service have always been conducive to shady deals...
...The gradual rise in the standard of living has meanwhile undoubtedly contributed to the calm...
...Once, though, I had to go to the Soviet travel office to buy a ticket...
...and many of the buildings that were under scaffolding for renovation last summer remain unfinished as well...
...On one occasion I saw two boys aged 12 or 13 trying to get on a streetcar...
...Where one happens to be coming from is significant, too...
...No less important, of course, are one's expectations...
...Not that criticism of the bureaucracy is always permitted...
...Although the Russians, as a concession, have made their price increases quite gradual, they still must be paid: Sooner or later the higher costs will be passed on to the consumer...
...My friend obviously has a moral blind spot...
...But the Hungarian leaders are afraid to initiate drastic steps, remembering well that in Poland outraged workers have taken to the streets twice to protest prices...
...The outspokenness of these films places the government in a peculiar predicament...
...In any event, I found it an odd experience to be defending China's equalitarianism and nonexpansion-ist policies in Budapest...
...To begin with the economic sphere, after a brief stagnation in the mid-'60s, Hungary was until very recently doing quite well...
...It is amazing how our impressions differ—as if we were not seeing the same land...
...Factory directors can receive 10 times larger bonuses than their workers...
...The Hungarians realize that under existing circumstances they can expect no more concessions...
...if the regime has succeeded in motivating the factory manager, it has failed with the construction worker and the salesgirl...
...He is now a well paid engineer who drives his own car, does not hesitate to buy dollars on the black market and likes Western goods...
...A recently completed film, The Witness, about the show trials of 1949, has not been distributed...
...In film, the most political art and the one with the broadest appeal, the Hungarians have unquestionably done the best work in Eastern Europe over the last decade or so...
...Perhaps the best test of freedom in a Communist country is the condition of culture...
...Perhaps this is a rational response...
...whatever the Party line is going to be, he will have little trouble accepting it...
...More important, people who realize there is an alternative to staying in Hungary are less likely to compromise their basic beliefs...
...He also admitted he knew little about China and was not in a position to learn much more...
...He points out that Hungarians buy expensive machinery from the United States when similar equipment, good enough for their purposes, can be bought from the USSR at a fraction of the cost...
...Granted, civil liberties are not the sole reason for this achievement, yet it is remarkable to what an extent liberalization has served as an inspiration for filmmakers...
...Although he is quite uninformed about China, he has a strange preoccupation with the country that expresses itself in a personal hatred of the Chinese government...
...This time, it was hard to tell the foreigners from the natives...
...The chances of the conductor actually being Jewish were close to zero, since this is not a job dominated by Jews...
...tales of Stalinist terror do not shock him...
...Yet we also want to find reassurance that we acted wisely as well as courageously when we crossed the border 20 years ago...
...people who make sweaters, belts, neckties, or shirts and sell their products in fashionable shops earn amazing incomes...
...In his mind there was no question that if he had to choose between economic equality and political freedom, he would take the former...
...It may be that this optimism is at least partially based on ignorance of the problems in store for them, but it was a pleasant contrast to the gloom I found in Western Europe...
...In foreign policy, nobody seems to resent or even care that Hungary has followed an absolutely orthodox Communist line...
...But the present regime cannot make a completely clean break with the past...
...How we arrange our impressions, what ultimately emerges from our ambivalence, often depends on accidental, trivial circumstances: A threatening border guard or a surly waiter might make a decisive difference...
...In 1976 he had no difficulty saying: "It was better to kill innocent people than to allow the enemies to operate and subvert the system...
...Oil is particularly important...
...My Stalinist friend, who must have experienced many similar situations, believes the Communist Party works for the people without trusting them, and he finds this very congenial...
...Hungary is still poor enough for otherwise intelligent people to believe that happiness depends on their next major purchase...
...I was struck, in any event, with how they differed from one another, with the variety of views that could come under the heading Communist...
...Descriptions of the Israeli raid in Uganda, for example, were quite matter-of-fact...
...Hungarians who travel pick up "subversive" ideas, realize how poor their native land is and bring back Western ideas and fashions...
...In the '60s Hungarians tried to ape Western fashions, but then there was something pathetic about their efforts...
...The foregoing is meant to place in perspective the fact that during my trip to Hungary this past September, I was favorably impressed...
...My most interesting conversations were with Communists, possibly because they felt it necessary to justify themselves to someone they now regarded as an ideological opponent...
...and Europe...
...Foreign newspapers are sold exclusively in hotels and are meant for foreigners, but I saw many Hungarians come into my hotel lobby to ask for the International Herald Tribune...
...on the other, there is no organized opposition, genuine political participation is nonexistent, the Soviet Union cannot be criticized, and if some adventurous intellectual touches on a very sensitive matter he will be harassed or arrested...
...One of my oldest friends has always been a Stalinist...
...one searches in vain for signs like "Hungary is not a crack, but a strong bastion on the battlefront of peace," or "Lenin lived, Lenin lives and Lenin will live...
...He tries to keep up with the news and listens to Radio Free Europe and the Voice of America, but he is politically rather naive—he has not changed his views since the '50s...
...Hungary's political climate is somewhat more difficult to describe than its economy...
...A second friend of mine, from a very different social milieu, has very different concerns...
...The large red banners, so conspicuous in the '50s, have disappeared...
...He was one of the best informed people I talked to: From meetings of his Party cell he had learned the details of the Polish protests, he could discuss Soviet Middle East policies and realize the extent of their failures, and he felt no need to glorify Stalin...
...This year I was prepared: The same streets did not seem so bad, and I would sit holding the receiver patiently for 10 minutes while trying to make a call...
...No one seemed afraid to do so...
...Budapest, for instance, has been torn up by Metro builders for decades, yet only one section of one line has been completed...
...In sensibly arguing that only higher productivity can bring about a better life, spokesmen for the regime speak to the real concerns of Hungary's politically apathetic population...
...The Soviet Union?and Eastern Europe, to a lesser extent—achieved remarkable economic growth in Stalin's day because it could disregard what the people thought...
...It is admittedly risky to search out psychological motives for ideological tendencies, yet in my friend's case it is rather clear that the source of his unrepentant Stalinism lies, ironically, in his Jewishness...
...Still, his being both a Stalinist and a partisan of Israel has amusing consequences...
...A journalist who considers himself a liberal, he takes great pride in the changes that have taken place—one of his favorite phrases is, "Well, today it is different...
...The movie was made with official permission, but when the authorities saw the finished product they decided it had gone too far...
...after all, Janos Kadar, who now heads the Party, spent the years 1951-54 in jail...
...Reduced demand for Hungarian goods has exacerbated the chronic shortage of foreign convertible currency, and higher prices for raw materials present great problems to a small country that must import them...
...Never in my lifetime has the gap between Vienna and Budapest appeared smaller than today...
...By and large liberalization has resulted in political noninvolvement rather than an increased demand for freedom...
...Most of the newly rich, though, are self-employed...
...Because the liberal reforms have made the Hungarian economy dependent upon the West, it has also been dealt a heavy blow by the current depression in the U.S...
...Hungary has never been the homeland of the work ethic, and the near-impossibility of firing a loafer has added to inefficiency at the same time that it has eliminated unemployment...
...He can justify Stalin's murder of millions, but cannot accept Soviet support for the Palestinian cause...
...While the citizens themselves clearly know the extent of their freedom—what is allowed and what is forbidden—the signals are sometimes confusing to a stranger...
...He is not worried about the present direction of Hungarian society...
...Directors are particularly fascinated with the period 1948-56, when the regime of Matyas Rakosi attempted to control every aspect of human life, and most films dealing with that time are anti-Communist, strongly denouncing the crimes of the era...
...Time and again this stalwart of the regime expressed his concern to me, the ideological enemy, that a new Jimmy Carter administration might not support the Jewish State as strongly as the one Henry Kissinger, a Jew, participated in...
...One suspects that the new atmosphere is breeding corruption of fantastic proportions, especially upon learning that someone who makes $200 a month can buy a $20,000 car...
...How ironic it is that now a Communist state cannot pursue policies that make sense because it fears the reaction of the public...
...When I visited Hungary last year, I was appalled by the shabbiness of many districts of the capital, and every time I tried to telephone someone I became furious—the system barely functions...
...A few months ago, after due preparation, the government did raise some costs without political consequences...
...Most of the latter are old people who suffered tremendously during the Rakosi era and have not forgotten the experience...
...But not far beneath the surface, we are all ambivalent...
...Besides acquisitiveness and stability, unfortunately, the new wealth has brought with it increased social stratification...
...They do so despite the serious restrictions on tourism that remain: Young families are sometimes not permitted to go together...
...In 1968 the Party introduced a far-reaching liberalization program: Factory managers received a great deal of independence, the private sector was allowed to operate in a wider field than ever before, and trade with the West was expanded...
...It has, of course, dissociated itself from Rakosi's clique...
...The broad limits are straightforward enough: On the one hand, there are no concentration camps, no arrests at night, no phoney show trials...
...Therefore, since Hungarian films generally lose money, the state is actually subsidizing its own subversion...
...Budapest is graced with its own traffic jams, and in the more fashionable parts of the city, half the people in the streets could melt into any European crowd...
...In present-day Hungary the word apparently means little more than a person who accepts the regime as essentially just and desirable...
...They echoed Solzhenitsyn: If the West is unable or unwilling to oppose Soviet tyranny, then it is morally bankrupt...
...It is obliged to consider the "events" of 1956 as a counterrevolution, for Kadar himself came to power as a result of the suppression of the Revolution by Soviet arms...
...He was most impressed by German work discipline and the fact that young couples there receive an apartment when they get married (the contrast with Hungary in this respect is great indeed...
...Peter Kenez is an associate professor of history at the University of California's Santa Cruz campus...
...and Hungarian Jews have a passionate commitment to the state of Israel...
...Newspapers, radio and television exhort people to work harder by emphasizing self-interest, not by appealing to ideology...
...Furthermore, he fears the anti-Semitism of the Hungarian people and regards the regime as his protector (in Hungary, Jews still hold middle-level leadership positions in the Party...
...the number of times a person may go abroad is limited...
...His fears are not unfounded: To my dismay, I found evidence of increased anti-Jewish feeling among the people...
...I even heard the perhaps apocryphal claim that one of the richest people in the country is a langos (pizza) baker...
...Maybe this, too, is a consequence of freedom...
...one is allowed to buy only a ridiculously small amount of convertible money from the State Bank...
...Most of my Hungarian friends and acquaintances did not appear to be interested in politics and did not overtly discuss it...
...The country seemed to have come closer than any other in Eastern Europe to the goal of "Socialism with a human face"—to the combination of a nationalized economy, promising a relatively even distribution of wealth, and a measure of freedom...
...His much-younger and usually adoring wife winced at this point...
...Labor productivity has remained low...
...Yet in order to fully understand today's Hungary, one must examine more sensitive indicators of freedom...
...From his point of view the country is deteriorating: People are not working hard enough, the leadership shows no moral example and discipline has relaxed too much...
...The government encourages this materialism...
...Instead, they are cheerful and optimistic...
...The relatively small group was thus cut off from the rest of the population, however...
...Another indication of the general relaxation is that hundreds of thousands of Hungarians travel to the West every year...
...But these moves did not go far enough, and the regime cannot continue subsidizing consumer items for long...
...There are signs, too, that the economy is headed for trouble...
...He is disgusted by the conspicuous consumption and corruption, and he believes that the mindless admiration of the West —widespread even among Party leaders—makes it difficult to pursue a wise economic policy...
...Now the rich are highly visible and the many signs of conspicuous consumption produce resentment...
...These men do not consider an East German or a Russian car good enough: They want to drive a Mercedes, and are willing to pay the up to $30,000 it costs in Hungary...
...Only two exceptions come to mind: Some people are concerned about the condition of Hungarians living abroad, notably in Rumania...
...Communists and unreconciled opponents of the regime were exceptions to the rule of silence on political matters...
...Carpenters and plumbers who work on private construction charge as much as they want...
...On the whole, though, his fellow Hungarians do not seem to give much thought to such matters...
...The results of the policy are now visible...
...Nevertheless, if someone decides he wants to defect, he can rather easily, and simply going abroad has profound consequences...
...As the automatic door closed in front of them, one of them shouted at the conductor, "Dirty Jew...
...Meaningful, albeit impressionistic, criteria are the quality of public discussions, the tone of news broadcasts and the level of journalism in general...
...And the few of us who have spent extensive periods in the Soviet Union cannot help being struck by the contrast with Hungary...
...The Leftist praised East Germany...
Vol. 59 • November 1976 • No. 22
