Puppet Play

HUNGARY Puppet Play Premier Janos Kadar went off to Moscow so that his puppet regime could be rehearsed in a new Hungarian dance routine: soft lights to hide the scars, schmalzy music to lull the world's suspicions. At the little marionette's elbow in Moscow were such big-time choreographers as Khrushchev, Premier Bulganin, First Deputy Premier Mikoyan, Foreign Minister Shepilov, and Red China's Chou Enlai. Before the act could be tried out, there were rude noises from the audience back in Budapest.

Budapest workers, quiescent for the past few weeks, staged a series of wildcat strikes. It was their only way to protest the prospect of reduced wages in plants where production fell below the "norm." As the strike developed, Soviet tanks and armored cars (guns uncovered for the first time in weeks) blocked off Budapest's factory area. When 5,000 Csepel Island iron and steel workers demonstrated in the streets, trigger-nervous Hungarian militiamen began shooting in the air, bounced a few volleys into the crowd. Casualties: two dead, at least four wounded. Two days later the Kadar government decreed the death penalty for strikers.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.