Fáklyaláng, 1971. január-október (12. évfolyam, 1-10. szám)
1971-10-23 / 10. szám
FÁKLYALÁNG 11 WITH WORRY AND FAITH On December 28, 1956, soon after the crushing of the Revolution and Freedom Fight, 250 members of the Hungarian Writers’ Association assembled in Budapest and 237 of them adopted a resolution entitled: “With Worry and Faith.” Hereafter follows its English translation: “Many a storm has battered our nation in a thousand years. Nevertheless two lights always remained faithful to us in the darkness of the storms. One of them was the star of the nation the shine of which showed through the darkness of tempests; the other was the torch-light of our watchful poets which again became teaching for the Hungarian nation. For us it means more because it is a mandatory heritage. We would like to carry out this heritage faithfully. Though, it is difficult. Its carrying out is, however, the only way for us because there can be no absolution. Thus, here we stand under the moral compulsion of reckoning and confession. Here we stand over the bloody hill of the freedom fight of October which is being besieged by the hope of a people. If we look back to the last decade from this hill we see the people suffering and expecting. It suffered because the ideas of its time which it greeted with hope ten years ago were attempted to be forced upon their lives in an alien form and tyrannical manner. During the long oppression the historic wounds reappeared on its character and saw that its national independence is being lost. It was yearning with hope for healing while suffering in its undeserved fate and languished to become a nation. The spring that erupted from the depth on October 23 comes from this hope and longing. As the renowned witnesses of this spring we have to tell it with bitter heart that the Soviet Government committed a historic blunder when it has painted with blood the water of our spring. The living spirit of our glorious poets and human justice help us to make a prophecy: the time will come when the Soviets will confess to their sins just like the tzars had to repent for the crushing of the Hungarian freedom a hundred years earlier. We warn everybody against the misconception, convinced and knowing our people that the revolution would have destroyed the achievements of Socialism without the Soviet arms. We know that this is not true. Because the workers’ class, the peasantry and the majority of the intelligentsia was and invariably is the follower of democracy and of the achievement of Socialism in society which they did not want to emaciate but rather to make it more living. It wanted to make it more living, i.e., to cut it to its Hungarian shape and also to fill it with the spirit of its national traditions. That is what we wanted and this is what we still want today, we who preach the words of the hope of the people and who wager our writer’s fate for a better future. This is what we stand for, individually and in mass, for the popular law of the 1945 landreform; similarly in the case of the mines, plants and banks that they should flourish in the property of society. But does the land produce enough if the peasant does not find his pleasure in the methods of production? And does the commonweal flourish if the society is not healthy? Yes, indeed, the worker and the peasant, the hand and the intellect, are discouraged by the lack of national independence. Without a healthy society the commonweal does not grow. We must, therefore, gain the national independence and especially in the interest of social progress; and through popular self-government we must create the healthy society. National independence and the democratic structure of social order: these are the hopes of the Hungarian people which we also share and try to put in work. And while this intent fills our hearts and the future days of our writers’ life, we interpret it to everyone from besides the cradle of national unity. In caring for the common aim we offer our hands to the workers, we send our greeting from our souls to the peasantry and from our hearts to the youth. Let us convince the leaders of policy together that policy cannot be an end in itself but a means for the salvation of the people; let us enduce them to use this means in accordance with the unanimous desire of the Hungarian people. In other words, for one, for attaining independence, as for our internal life, domestic affairs for the building of the united Hungarian society on the stock of workers and peasants, with the help of the intellect and the intelligentsia, on the democratic way of self-government. Only thus can the strong and rich state come into being, the friendship of which with other countries is true and longlasting and which not only banishes human exploitation but it does not weigh upon the people with its oppressive burden. The nation thus will be a certain trustee over the quiet and working society, over the state safeguarding the welfare of the people. We have spoken in brief in these words about our Hungarian worries and we declare our adherence to our opinion. The literary words will be our words, our worries go into the eternity of time, our opinion moves in the letters of public writing and literary works. We pledge allegiance before the flag which signaled to us that from the revolutionary unity of the people the nation was reborn. According to our declaration of faith we shall care for and protect the spirit of the Hungarian people. Morale be the foundation stone of our work, the creative force of the people shall find reason intellect and form in our works, the era shall find harmony with mankind and its ideas. Only thus shall we be worthy of the great ancestors and only thus may we become the worthy guardians of future generations.” HUNGARIAN WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION
