William Penn Life, 2010 (45. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2010-10-01 / 10. szám
Tibor's Take with Tibor Check, Jr. The Revolution 54 Years Later IT'S 1956. LIKE MOST YOUNG HUNGARIANS, you have a job. It may be a crummy, low-paying occupation, but if you work and manipulate the Communist system, you can survive. If you are cutthroat, the "Stalin cronyism" will reward you with a better job. Of course, all you have to do is renounce your religion. Like most young people under 30, you are fed up with the way things in Hungary have been playing out. But, what can you do? Television is virtually non-existent in the Soviet Bloc. For news, you turn to censored radio broadcasts and newspapers. You hear that the streets in America are paved with gold. Your grandparents tell you those same type of stories about how great America is. You also doubt the truth of the stories. Are these tales just another ploy of Russian propaganda? As a young adult, you suffered through the Depression. Most of Europe is still in a shambles from World War II. Things are bad in Hungary, but you conclude that things are terrible all over the world. You have your family, friends, wife, children. Why or how could you leave the land of your ancestors? You know family members, friends or neighbors who suddenly went missing after the AVO (Communist Hungary's version of the KGB) stormed their homes on a cold winter's night. You are afraid to discuss anything political or anti-government. You never know who is listening or whether the person you are talking to is an agent of the state. Just a few generations ago, your család had a huge farm about a two-hour train ride from Budapest. The government took away your family's farm years ago. Now, you and 11 relatives live in a three-room house with one electrical outlet that has the electricity turned on for only five hours a day. You can't complain to anyone out of fear of a midnight visit and abduction from the AVO You work in a factory as a machinist, and you devise a more efficient way to make a metal part. You are told to forget that idea. A few months later, you see your idea being used at work. The person who got credit for the innovation worked right next to you. He received a promotion for a great idea. His uncle is a local official in the Party. You are told not to complain or you will be out of a job, or even worse. You move to Budapest. You have heard through good friends that there are many factory jobs. If you give a certain person some cash, they can get you that factory job. You learn that cash-especially American dollars-opens doors of opportunity for you. You make more money in the city, but the cost of living is much more. You save up some money to send back home to your struggling parents. You soon learn the letters arrived home, but the money was missing. You learn that some students are gathering at a park tonight to discuss things. You are not a student but a worker. Should you go? What the heck, it's a Monday evening, and you have nothing to do. You arrive at a dimly lit field where you see a few oldstyle Hungarian flags being waved in a frenzied fashion. The crowd is loud and boisterous. More people arrive. The crowd is mostly young like yourself. Suddenly, a coworker named Sándor taps you on the shoulder and tells you: "I would leave this place if I were you." With little money and few friends, you take heed and go home. Work begins early the next day. By 10:00 a.m. you hear rumors of riots and killing. By lunchtime, several coworkers suddenly leave their jobs. At 2:00 in the afternoon the bosses tell you to go home early. As you leave, coworker Sándor hands you a freshly printed newspaper called Igazság. The revolution has begun. You don't think of it as a revolution, but as a bunch of overzealous students venting off steam. The next day you return to work only to find the doors closed shut, with a hastily written note nailed to the entrance: "Closed until further notice." As you walk back to your apartment, you hear rifle shots and the rumbling sounds of Soviet tanks. Suddenly, 8 0 October 2010 0 William Penn Life
