The Eighth Tribe, 1975 (2. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1975-04-01 / 4. szám
Page Ten THE EIGHTH TRIBE April, 1975 the stars of the east, that is the oppressed nations, will become the suns of liberation. And the next time you wake you’ll find the flowers of joy on your grave.” This was my vision. My soul kept me awake and I prayed: “Heavenly Father, if I am worthy to make this plea, take the cup of suffering from my Magyar people and hand it to me.” And it seemed as if I heard a whispered “amen” about me. This sleepless dream of mine was partly a glance into the future, partly a prophecy. At any rate it was a determination. As I related to you before, none of our war dead lost their lives on March 15th. For not a drop of blood was shed to sully the glory of our struggle for Freedom. Our casualties were the victims of the oppressor’s breach of faith, betraying the freedom of <dl humanity. Those Hungarian heroes now languishing in foreign prisons as far as the deadly Siberian camps or lead mines are, in fact, a burning wound on the conscience of the entire civilized world. With your permission I wish to present a short sketch of the situation in Hungary four years ago. We, duly elected representatives of the nation, quietly but determinedly worked in the legislative chambers of Pozsony, ancient coronation city of Hungary. We passed our reform bills in concise, correct form, proposing that the people be free from foreign domination, that the country’s age-old democratic institutions be restored, and that discrimination against the poor classes be abolished together with the whole criminal concept of serfdom. Moreover, the sharecropper peasant should be aided in becoming an independent farmer, owner of the land he tills. Equality of public duties and rights should be made basic law and political, civic, social and religious liberty should be enjoyed by all, irrespective of mother tongue or religion. A fully responsible national cabinet was to carry out these far-reaching reforms, assuring Hungary’s independence in accordance with our ancient constitution, simultaneously helping her to become again one of the leading bastions of European civilization. Two days before the Ides of March, 1848, Austria’s good people shed their yoke and ejected the oppressor’s tool, Chancellor Metternich. On March 14th I announced the news received from Vienna to the parliament in Pozsony*.. . The momentous development was soon carried down the Danube by that great democratic institution, the steamboat. First it reached old Buda town, then youthful Pest. Both cities were jubilant at having reached the threshold of a new era. And while we, the legislature, passed the laws for freedom and justice for all, the population of Pest, in a peaceful and respectful declaration demanded its own 12 points of liberation. As a result, the obstacles placed in the way of our reform bills collapsed. I repeat, not a drop of blood was shed in all Hungary on March 15th, 1848! One Patriot, thrown into jail by the emperor’s lackeys because he dared to write a political essay, was set free by the masses and escorted to his home in a torchlight parade. To assure public safety, a Hungarian Home Guard was organized. In the cities and towns windows were illuminated, and bonfires were lit in the village to celebrate the portentuous event. There was rejoicing everywhere. As soon as the news reached Pozsony, the ice was broken in the solemn legislature. The Hungarian aristocrats, comprising the upper chamber, voted on the reform bills of their own accord, voluntarily renouncing their privileges for the benefit of the nation as a whole. Few ruling classes in the history of any nation can point to such a genuinely noble gesture. Jubilation entered the most inaccessible homestead, whether on the Alföld plains, so similar to your own great Mid-West, or in hilly Transdanubia, the Wisconsin of Hungary. The country’s national minorities, living mostly in the valleys of the Carpathian Range, shared their Magyar brethren’s joy, from the waters of the Vág to the snow-capped peak of Transylvania’s Hargita. For they shared a common mission in the Danube Basin: adherence to the Western way of life. For the first time in centuries the great mass of agricultural laborers were imbued with the reassuring feeling that they hold their destiny in their own hands, working the land for themselves. It was a great relief to know that the squire cannot take oneninth and the bishop one-tenth of their crop, known as “élet” in the Magyar tongue, for it means life itself. As both landowners and hierarchy renounced their shares on their own free will, the air at once became radiant with the rays of liberty. And the earth, that good earth of Hungary, had every promise of turning into a veritable paradise. Such is my memory of March 15, 1848. Editor: The above article was sent in by Mr. Joseph Huttka, from Omaha, Nebraska.
