Fraternity-Testvériség, 1962 (40. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1962-05-01 / 5. szám
FRATERNITY 5 death, the Soviet leaders sought raprochement with Tito. On May 26, 1955, a Soviet delegation, headed by Khrushchev and Bulganin, left for Belgrad. Khrushchev, who at the height of Stalin’s anti-Tito campaign, called the Yugoslav leader “a chained dog of imperialism”, “a murderer and a spy”, now signed a joint communique with Tito which acknowledged that “different forms of Socialist development are solely the concern of the individual countries.” The Belgrade statement had far-reaching consequences. The re-establishment of friendly Soviet-Yugoslav relations called for a sweeping revision of sentences passed out by Communist courts during the Titoist purges. Mátyás Rákosi, who led the anti-Tito campaign in the Comintern, tried to hold off the rehabilitation of the victims in Hungary. When Moscow’s pressure and developments in other satellites compelled him to admit that a number of Communists were arrested and sentenced under false charges, he tried to pass the blame on the former head of the political police, who meantime was also arrested. Slowly hundreds of Communists emerged from jails. One of those released at this time was János Kádár. The rehabilitation of the victims of the Titoist purges was accompanied by emotional outbursts. Julia Rajk, widow of László Rajk, who herself was jailed for years, at a meeting of the Petőfi Circle strode to the platform and turning directly to the pale-faced party functionaries on the rostrum, said: “You not only killed my husband, but you killed all decency in our county. You destroyed Hungary’s political, economic and moral life. Murderers cannot expect rehabilitation. They must be punished.” (To be continued)
