Fraternity-Testvériség, 1962 (40. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1962-11-01 / 11. szám
8 FRATERNITY any popular support in Hungary, and when the masses, after years of forced silence, had an opportunity to express their opinion, they made their contempt clear and unmistakable. Not since November 1945 were they able to speak freely. After World War II there was a general election in Hungary. It was a free election, in which all the anti-Nazi, democratic parties and the Communist Party participated. Though the Communists alone had all the facilities to conduct an extensive, country-wide campaign and were greatly aided by Soviet authorities, who placed large quantities of food at the Party’s disposal — they suffered a resounding defeat at the polls. They received only 17 percent of the votes, while their chief opponents, the Smallholders, received 57 percent, the rest going to the Social-Democratic and the Peasant Party candidates. Though the Smallholders had won an absolute majority and a clear mandate from the people, a pre-election agreement, reached by the leaders of all the political parties, called for the formation of a coalition government. Grave problems were confronting the nation and all the parties were expected to do their utmost to rebuild the war- devastated country. But it soon became evident that the Communists’ first aim was to destroy their partners in the Government and establish a Communist dictatorship. Rakosi’s “salami tactics” achieved this end in two years. The anti-Communist political leaders were imprisoned, or forced to flee. On paper the membership of the Communist Party soared to close to a million. In reality, Rakosi’s policies recruited only opportunists for his Party. The second reason for the complete breakdown of the Communist Party in the last days of October was that the disillusionment of the Party intellectuals reached the point of utter disgust and abhorence. When AVII men turned
