Fraternity-Testvériség, 1956 (34. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1956-12-01 / 12. szám
FRATERNITY 3 THE GLORY OF THE CONQUERED By Ruth Taylor Gloria Victis — the glory of the conquered. We have just witnessed this. The unconscienceless, bestially inhuman overlords of the Soviet may crush the resistance and massacre to a man — though they include women and children in their outrages — the heroic Freedom Fighters of Hungary —- but their glory they cannot destroy. It will go down through the ages as an example and an inspiration. It can well be Russia’s “Waterloo”, if not that of Communism. The glory of the conquered is that they are unconquerable! The aggressor may make a conquest of a country, but never of a soul! Some time ago I wrote an article on freedom and integrity, which was based on a quotation from the Hungarian. “Freedom is the ability to preserve one’s integrity against power.” How can any tyranny destroy a people who have that ideal in their hearts? The downfall of the dictators of the past has not been due to their overthrow by opposing armies. They have fallen — from Alexander on — through the uprising of the conquered, the rebellion of the little people, who, crumpling before the unexpected onslaught and force of arms, were contemptuously regarded by the power-drunk aggressor as “lesser folk”. The Soviet leaders are making the same mistakes as their predecessors — as did those other Mongol hordes that devastated the world, and sank into oblivion. They underestimate the conquered. Because of their ruthlessness, they cannot rule them. Their merciless treatment has done what all the preachments throughout the years failed to do — united the people in a common bond of shared suffering. The unity of the conquered is a terrible thing. It is an invisible wall, an intangible, mobile wire, strung from person to person. They have nothing left but their lives — and even those are lost if they do not fight. They may face extinction, but they face it with supreme courage and exalted spirit. It is this spirit that confronts the invader wherever he turns. He feels the contempt of the man, who, having lost all, still possesses his own soul. The invader knows that wherever he goes, he is despised. Hate he could understand — but not the corroding contempt of him as lower than man. Who will again ever be so sanguine as to believe the protestations of the Soviet, their talk of peace, their promises of friendship? The Soviet in the eyes of the world is again branded as a hypocrite and a liar — a lurking footpad among nations, seeking a victim whom he may stab in the back. Who could again accept the word of the Soviet? They are forsworn forever. The glory of the conquered is that they are unconquerable. They may not be permitted to read or to listen to aught but their master’s voice. But they can remember and repeat. Persecution can be a vitalizing force. The glory of the conquered is that they will rise again!
