The Hungarian Student, 1957 (1. évfolyam, 2-8. szám)
1957 / 7. szám
The Hungarian Student 13 Violations of Human Rights The Kadar Regime's Record Since November 4, 1956 D uring the revolution which broke out on October 23, 1956, the Hungarian people fought for human rights and for the country’s independence. These aims were essentially achieved on October 28, 1956, because at that time the Hungarian people were in a position to express their views freely, to publish newspapers, to hold meetings without restrictions ; political parties were formed, labor councils and revolutionary committees were created in a democratic fashion, churches functioned without disturbance, the principle of private property was not violated and above all the will of the Hungarian people gained expression in matters of public interest. In other words, before the Soviet Union launched its attack against Hungary and her legal government in the small hours of November 4, 1956; before the Soviet lords placed the power in the hands of Janos Kadar; the Hungarian people enjoyed complete personal and organizational freedom. Beginning with the Soviet attack and the installation of the Kadar regime all these rights were gradually withdrawn; in the following text we shall show, step by step, how the reign of terror has taken over in Hungary. Immediately after the so-called “Revolutionary Worker and Peasant Government” assumed power, the total liquidation of Hungarian revolutionary resistance was launched with an extermination campaign unequalled in Hungarian history and with the deportation of Hungarian youths to the Soviet Union. A front-page article in the November 20, 1956 issue of the New York World Telegram and Sun is devoted to the heroic deeds of the residents of Cegled. The people of Cegled have stopped a train taking deportees to the Soviet Union and set the prisoners free. The entire world is proud of this deed and the names of the people of Cegled will never be forgotten by humanity. The only ray of hope amidst the plentiful bad news is the slowing-down of the pace of deportations. This resulted from the desperate protests of world public opinion. A secret ham radio station operating in the County of Szabolcs- Szatmar reported that between November 14 and 16 a total of 10,000 Hungarian deportees passed through this area on their way to the Soviet Union. The same radio station announced that 2,500 deportees rebelled against their Russian guards near Kisvarda on November 15, disarmed the guards and escaped. According to reliable information, approximately 10 to 15 thousand persons, mainly young boys and girls, have been deported to the Soviet Union. Both “the Hungarian and Soviet governments denied that deportations have taken place.” However, the regime was unable to solve the Hungarian question by deportations alone. Despite the fact that Stalin termed the Hungarian question a question of boxcars —in a statement made after World War II—the national unity shown by the Hungarian people and the indignation of world public opinion have made it impossible for the reds to solve the Hungarian question by deportations alone. They could not very well drag 9 million Hungarians to the steppes of Siberia, and so Hungary had to be kept in a state of intimidation with the most radical methods. The following decree serves to bear out this contention: Section I of Decree No. 4/1957, with the force of a law, rules : “ ... those who deliberately disturb the functioning of public utility services, water, gas, electricity, or obstruct the activities of organizations declared essential for the public by the government, are punishable by death.” All these measures and the steady grip of the harsh and unmerciful Russian military intervention were unable to break the resistance and determination of the Hungarian people. The official newspaper of the government and of the party, Nepszabadsag, had been forced to admit that the second 48-hour strike was one of the biggest in the history of the workers’ movement. The workers resisted any attempts to break the strike, caused shop-managers to close open shops, forced trolleys and buses to stop, attacked Russian tanks with hand grenades and the police with their bare fists. On December 4, 1956, one month after the Soviet invasion of Hungary, 30,000 women marched to Heroes’ Square to deposit wreaths under the monument of the unknown soldier. On December 6, 1956, Soviet tanks fired upon unarm(Continued on page 14)
