Loosening the Noose

More than five years since Russian tanks crushed the Hungarian revolution and Janos Kadar took over as the country's ruler, the secret police still make dead-of-night arrests, and land mines along the Austrian frontier still deter potential escapes. But, imitating Nikita Khrushchev's methods, Communist Kadar has begun to loosen the noose around the Hungarian people. While forced collectivization of agriculture continues, luxury and hard goods are more abundant, even though prices are high. Last week Kadar announced a policy of peaceful coexistence between Hungary's Communist rulers and non-Communist majority.

"We must bear in mind how many people with different pasts and with different points of view have remained here." he said, in a statement reported by the official party newspaper Nepszabadsag. "They live peacefully and work honestly. What shall we do? Shall we live with them on a war footing? Why should we? They don't rise against us. and we only want to combat those who try to overthrow the people's power."

Kadar acknowledged that there were still "class enemies" in Hungary, but said that "whatever the class enemies may do, they cannot do us as much harm as we can do ourselves with our own mistakes. The people demand humane treatment and confidence." Kadar even paid a backhanded compliment to democracy. Although Hungary has a one-party system, he said, "we must work as if we had a 20-party system and a secret election every day, because only then will the people support us."

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