Hungarian Church Press, 1957 (9. évfolyam, 14-15. szám)

1957-11-30 / 14. szám

BCfffl? XI05G,1957, Vol,XZ/ll- 14 -170

füled one with horror* Íven if we wish to disclaim, infallibility end full comprehension, we may at least say this; those events indicated an inter-irduig]ing of mutually contradictory forces, and what appeared in the outward phenomena could not be reduced to only one factor. I shall try to enumerate the meet important factors » as I see them today,

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One was bitterness and dissatisfaction with those things which, in contrast to the undoubtedly great accomplishments, had been committed in the government and administration of the country. I emphasise tixat this was not tho only factor and, in my opinion, not even the most decisive factor in causing explosion« But it is necessary to take this factor first, Vfriat -were the main faults which, while being made use of and stirred up by outside factors, become an inflammable material that subsequently exploded? I name tliree of these faults, l.e first was the method of employing forcible means in order to hasten the transition to the new economic and political order of socialism* This me suit tint education rnd persuasion were displaced by the so-called "edminis irat ive means". The second fault was the concentration of power in the hands of one person, the so-called "culte of personality", that is obviously the source of the biggest mistakes, for no matter how big the man may be, the consciousness of having monopoly on paver, will make him lieble to intensify force, as only this would make him able to carry on his work*, The third fault issued from the former two: it was, over years, the suppression of serious criticism ard honest discussion., /ml this might even include even a fourth: when, beginning with 1955, the most important fatbits were exposed and criticism began, mai,s mind3 hitherto unaccustomed to sober criticism were swayed by unbridled passions nnd by ansensate demand for something outirely new.-, Then later the debates no longer aimed simply at correcting the mistakes made, but passions of destruction flared up to do away with everything tiiat Lad been achieved since the end of the war in construction, in collective spirit, in economic and social progress. This was one of the factors that contributed to the autumn events of 1956« But I must say very emphatically: v.erc we to emphasise any other factoi*s - real and well-recognised factoiu-in a wry as to remote our own fault from the first place or probably deny it altogether, tint whould foreclose the possibility of recoverjng from our fallen state. If, however, wo recognize this, then we may state that the work of correcting the mistakes end healing the wounds actually began in our country in 1953 and, ex on if with interruptions, it kept on linking progress, until it could have become clear to all sober-minded and v/ell-meaning men, from the spring of 1956 onwards, that we had on opportunity to correct our mistakes, with our own exertions and peacefully and to make up and make amends fox* our faults, no matter how serious they had been,

Now, it is obviously here that we must face the second factor: it was upon us that tho electric cloud of world tension caused by the conflicts of the great pavers discharged its bolts. Then the big apparatus of the so-called western powers, especially designed for such ends, was set in motion in order to ignite the inflammable material, to stir up the fire and cause an explosion^ There developped over the struggles against mistakes and faults, an atmosphere of hatred and vengeance in which one could feel the presence of demonic farces. Unfort iriatc'' y the Church, particularly our Reformed Church in Hungary in this atmosphere, did not prove that force which God could have made of it, had it stood ready, with a heart purged in true repentance, for loving and serving men, I repeat that I would prefer to cast a veil over those unfortunate days and the whole series of events which began then and caused for months a feverish excitement in the life of our church,. However, the most important facts must be stated here. On the 1st of November, 1956, a statement, a so-called analysis of the situation, was broadcast and then printed which began as follows: "For the spiritual and constitutional re