Fraternity-Testvériség, 1956 (34. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1956-12-01 / 12. szám
12 FRATERNITY garians unlucky enough to get caught alive by the carload to Russia and eventual oblivion? Throughout this whole miserable performance the United States has assumed a detached position of sanctimonious distress except for the usual easy words of condolence and the magnanimous gesture of offering refuge. A whole nation is being desecrated, the criminals go unpunished, and our President mutters about “faith in peace”. Does he or anyone believe that even if a temporary cessation of action can be achieved in the Middle East that it means peace? Does anyone consider that once the Soviet murderers have drowned Hungary in a sea of blood, withdrawn their butchers from what’s left of that country and leaving it in the noose of another Kremlin clique that peace will have returned to Hungary? Is that the kind of “peace” we are supposed to have faith in? Soviet might and confidence grow daily at the satisfying spectacle of their easy successes while the United States, the one power left today capable of curbing the Red pestilence, speaks not the first warning but only of “faith in peace”. My agony for the Hungarian people is assuaged only by the knowledge that I, too, would prefer to go down fighting for a cause as worthy as the freedom and honor of my country than to continue an existence in a world seemingly devoid of human compassion, courage and honor. Arlington, Va. F. D. Simpson ★ ★ ★ NATIONAL CONSCIENCE? What has happened to our national conscience? How can we sit back and merely watch while the Soviets cruelly suppress the Hungarians’ heroic and desperate attempts to regain their freedom and independence? How can we tolerate the wholesale slaughter of defenseless people by the ruthless military intervention of the Kremlin, and the mass deportation of innocent men, women and children to Siberia by the thousands, and still confine our participation to the usual heartfelt sentiments and vague offers of economic aid? How can our President, who was elected in 1952 on a platform endorsing liberation of the captive peoples, today maintain that we have never favored rebellion by the satellite nations? Why do we promise to keep alive the spirit of freedom behind the Iron Curtain if we are neither willing to intervene ourselves nor in agreement with armed revolts by the oppressed inhabitants? How can we reconcile the conditions under which our own state was founded with our present attitude of objecting to rebellions by freedomseeking peoples against superior forces? Is it that today we approve only such insurrections as are guaranteed to succeed? When will we realize that the cause of freedom is universal and that the efforts expended in defense of liberty are far exceeded by the advantages we derive from its continued enjoyment? Ft. Bragg, N. C. Hubert Korbet
