Fraternity-Testvériség, 1962 (40. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1962-04-01 / 4. szám

FRATERNITY

9

Paul Nadanyi:

THE REVOLT

THAT ROCKED THE KREMLIN

(Continuation)

The writers’ revolt thus spread to every segment of intellectual field. But the revolt was still confined to the Party. The masses only listened and watched. Popular interest, however, has manifested itself in many ways. Newspapers and periodicals, which for years existed only on government subsidy, now found an eager public. The “Irodalmi Újság” (Literary Gazette), official organ of the Writers’ Federation and a chief vehicle of the articles which exposed deceit and lies, was sold out as soon as it reached the newsstands. A witness heard by the UN Special Committee related that in a village the peasants payed as much as 100 forints for a copy of this paper, which was priced at only one forint by the Writers’ Federation, and handed the paper from one family to the other.

But not only the press came to life again in these months, following Moscow’s XXth Party Congress. Factory and youth meetings also became livelier. Much attention was paid to the debates of the Petőfi Circle, a forum of the Party intellectuals. The public was invited to listen to these debates, and by the end of June thousands surged toward the hall where the debates took place. Those unable to get seats or standing room, listened to loudspeakers outside the building.

Will iam E. Griffith in an essay, “The Petőfi Circle: Forum for Ferment in the Hungarian Thaw”, published in the January 1962 issue of “The Hungarian Quarterly”, reviews the debates of the Petőfi Circle which brought forth the following comment from the Communist Party’s official paper, the “Szabad Nép”,