The Hungarian Revolution, ed. Melvin J. Lasky

[p034] Hungarian Revolution The Hungarian Revolution. A White Book. Edited by Melvin J. Lasky (Congress for Cultural Freedom and Secker and Warburg, 25s.) ‘BEFORE comfortable lies are produced . . .’ So Luigi Fossati began a message from Budapest to his paper, Avanti, on Nov- ember 4, 1956. Fossati went on to describe how the steel workers of Csepel had been and remained ‘the strongest vanguard of the insurrection’. Fossati understood well the power of the trained falsifiers of history who have stage- managed the Russian Ministry of Propaganda this last thirty years to make sincere communists in the western world believe 190 that black is white, that truth is error, that revolution is counter- revolution. Fossati was not the only observer or participant who understood, on that fateful Sunday morning when Russian tanks crashed into revolutionary Budapest, that the truth about the Hungarian Revolution would have to fight hard to remain alive. Had not the communists (and many other socialists and democrats of the world) been successfully lied to many times before? From now on, in the editorial offices of the Daily Worker, Humanité, Unita and a hundred other Communist Party journals in the capitalist world, the Hungarian Revolu- tion would be slandered and smeared. The sloganized ‘truth’ had been invented: “The Hungarian revolt was a counter- revolutionary, fascist, Arrow-Cross-Horthyite rebellion, planned, organized, financed and supplied with arms from outside, by the American State Department.’ From now on, the task of the Communist Parties in the capitalist world was to try to convince the workers that this is the truth about Hungary. So they would assert it, manufacture ‘evidence’ to prove it, select quotations and doctor them to prove it, expel people who wou!d not believe it, smear the Hungarian workers’ leaders, slander those who deny it. After a while, the lie would be built into the communist journalists’ stock phraseology, a calm assump- tion that the lie is the truth. ‘Young Anna Kiraly, whose father was murdered by Horthyite agents in the counter-revolutionary rising last October, yesterday broke the record for .. .” “The steel workers of Csepel, who, as is well known, last October fought so bitterly to defend their factories against the on- slaughts of the American-organized fascist uprising, yester- day attended a mass meeting to celebrate the . , Vv The ‘comfortable lie’ will have taken hold. But I wonder. The old technique, this stereotyped approach to propaganda, ignores the far-reaching impact of the Khrushchev revelations upon the Communist Parties of the world. The old calcula- tions of how to turn truth into lies will have to be given a New Look if ever they are going to be successful again. These old, experienced falsifiers of history press on as if they had never ‘proved’ that Tito was an American-fascist spy, never ‘proved’ that Rajk and Kostov and their fellow- victims were fascist wreckers, had never ‘proved’ that Trotsky, Bukharin, Zinoviev and countless thousands of other leading communists were ‘judicially’ murdered because they opposed Stalin’s rule, were ‘fascists’, ‘Nazis’ and ‘counter-revolutionaries’. Surely even the most faithful King Street dupe is now on guard against Moscow’s propensity to ‘prove’ guilt by loud- mouthed slandering of the innocent. The old falsifiers of communist history are today meeting with scant success in putting over their Big Lie on Hungary. Nevertheless it is also true that among some honest people there is much confusion on what the Hungarian Revolution really was about. Stalinism has never taught them to examine revolutions dialectically, in their living reality, but to try to fit them into neat, lifeless formulas. But listen to what the Bolshevik who was in charge of organizing the October 1917 uprising in Petrograd has to say about real-life revolutions! ‘The most indubitable feature of a revolution is the direct intervention of the masses in historic events. In ordinary times the State, be it monarchical or democratic, elevates itself above the nation and history is made by specialists in that line of business—kings, Ministers, bureaucrats, parliamentarians, journalists. But at those crucial moments when the old order becomes no longer endurable to the masses, they break over the barriers ex- cluding them from the political arena, sweep aside their traditional representatives and create by their own inter- ference the initial groundwork for a new régime... . _ The revolution is te: ifically chaotic . . . Everywhere aimless movements, conflicting currents, whirlpools of people, individuals astounded as though suddenly gone deaf, unfastened trench coats, gesticulating students, soldiers without rifles, rifles without soldiers, boys firing into the air, a thousand-voiced tumult, hurricanes of wild rumour. false alarms, false rejoicings. Enough, you would think, to lift a sword over all that chaos and it would scatter apart and leave never a trace. But that is a crude error of vision. It is only a seeming chaos. Beneath it is proceeding an irresistible crystallization of the masses around new axes. These innumerable crowds have not yet clearly defined what they want, but they are saturated with an acid hatred of

[p035] what they do not want. Behind them is an irreparable historical avalanche. There is no way back... . ‘The revolution begins a search for enemies. Arrests are made all over the city—‘arbitrarily’ as the Liberals will say reproachfully later . . . “we are witnessing the death of a great country” ... ‘Those who lose by a revolution are rarely inclined to call it by its real name. For that name, in spite of the efforts of spiteful reactionaries, is surrounded by the historic memory of mankind with a halo of liberation from all shackles and all privileges. The privileged classes of every age, as also their lackeys, have always tried to declare the revolution which overthrew them, in contrast to past revolutions, a mutiny, a riot, a revolt of the rabble. Classes which have outlived themselves are not distinguished by originality.’! The Hungarian Revolution of 1957 was certainly not a revolution made to measure in the Stalinist text book—but it was a revolution nevertheless. Neither was it any ‘purer’ than any other revolution. Of course it is true that the Hor- thyite fascists crept out of their holes to pay off old scores and even to attempt their restoration. Of course the western imperialists, gravely embarrassed by the world-wide uproar against their action in Suez, shrieked their support for this ‘anti-Russian’ uprising. But no careful selection of incidentai events and speeches, no proof of ‘guilt by association’, no amount of plain lying (and the communist Press has certainly done a lot of this) can ever alter the essential truth—that \Leon Trotsky, ‘History of the Russian Revolution’, quoted in ‘The Hungarian Revolution’, p. 256. the main force of the Hungarian uprising was the Hungarian working class, who were fighting against a foreign-imposed bureaucracy for workers’ power, workers’ democratic control of industry, a workers’ State and socialism. Let communists who read this book ignore the introduction if they prefer, because Hugh Seton-Watson is not a Marxist or a socialist (though, truth to tell, it is not a bad introduction at all). But they have a duty to read the rest of this big and well-produced book. It consists of hundreds of sub- stantial extracts of newspaper reports, radio-transcripts, eye- witness accounts, official pronouncements of all the govern- ments concerned, army orders, admirably put together in chronological order. There has, of course, necessarily been selection, but it is clear as you read ‘on, fascinated by the richness of history in the process of its making, that the selection is well-balanced and includes, in as favourable light as the events themselves make possible, the views and news. stories of all those participating in the events—whatever their political colour or interests. Read this book, estimate and re-estimate the significance of each report and piece the whole together in any way you like. Study the facts not as segments of dry formulas but in their reality: Then never, never, never, will you be able to make fascist counter-revolution out of the glorious deeds of the Hungarian people who in October and November 1956 “stormed heaven’. The immortal words of Marx on the Paris Commune ring out again on this first anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution: ‘The workers have been beaten, but they have not been defeated. History will prove that it was quite others who suffered defeat.’ JACK FORSTER Index to Volume Two Authors Page ATKINS, George First Bitter Fruit 183 BANDA, Michael The Chinese CP and Hungary $7 Three Speeches 103 BOSTOCK, Anna Soviet Verse 123 COATES, Ken After the Thirties no. 1, p. ili [Letter] no. 2. p. ii C.S. A Question of Dialectics 127 C.v.G. Colour, Colonies, Capitalism 30 DALY, Lawrence Fryer’s Inflammatory Tone 182 DANIELS, John A Letter to a Member of the Communist Party 7 The Communist Party and Democratic Centralism 46 The Eclectic Professor 185 DAVIES, R. W. The Inadequacies of Russian Trotskyism 111 DEAN, David Pretty Poor Answers ” 189 EDITORIALS Introducing LABOUR REVIEW 1 Towards a Discussion on Principles 33 The Debate Goes On 65 Hammersmith and After 67 The Future of the Forums 97 The New Phase of the Stalinist Crisis 99 Towards the Labour Party Conference 100 Soviet Reality 129 Socialism, the H-bomb and War 131 Labour and Nationalization 132 40 Years 161 FORSTER, Jack Hungarian Revolution — 190 FRYER, Peter An Undelivered Speech 70 The Birth of Marxism 94 Lenin as Philosopher 136 GELDEREN, C. van The Lessons of Hungary 4 Left against Right at Brighton 134 GRACCHUS The Manchester Guardian and the Suez Crisis 37 The Iconoclast 160 GRANIN, D. Private Opinion 89 GREEN, A. [Letter] no. 4, p. ili GRAY, George [Letter] no. 4, p. iii HEATH, Edwin Necessary and Salutary 182 HEFFER, Eric S. [Letter] no. 4, p. iii HILLMAN, E. S. Zionism and the State of Israel 81 Three Speeches 157 HUNTER, H. and R. Strong on Stalin 123 HUNTER, William Stalinism, Socialism and Democracy 20 HUSSEY, Leonard Inside Russia Today 43 It Still Goes On... 93 A Comment 115 J.A. Deakin as Guinea-Pig 187 J.D. Sturdy Annual 126 Sanity on the H-bomb 186 JOHNSON, Jim Trotsky’s Classic 189 K.M. Hungarian Tragedy 29

[p036] KEMP, Tom Problems and Prospects of British Capitalism 72, 118 Marxism, Stalinism and Political Economy 155 KIDRON, Michael [Letter] L.N. Studies of Capital LAUCHLAN, John — A Careerists’ Textbook M.G. Peasants in Revolt M.H. Automation and Society McLEISH, John : The Works of Freud: A Marxist Critique MARSHALL, T. Genuine Mistakes? MERCER, Tom Strachey versus Marx REED, Peter Strachey versus Marx REDMAN, J. British Communist History From ‘Social-Fascism’ to ‘People’s Front’ The Case of André Marty British Labour History S. A Valuable Reprint SHAW, Robert The Engineers’ Strike and the Labour Movement SHERWOOD, R. The Stalinist ‘Turns’ SOUTH AFRICAN, A Apartheid: the Class Basis STEWART, E. Joining the Labour Party T.K. Unofficial Marxism THOMAS, S. Fabian Elegance TROTSKY, Leon Radio, Science, Technique and Society WARDE, William F. The Law of Uneven and Combined Development The Coming American Revolution A Question of Dialectics WHITAKER, John Mr Gluckstein’s China Subjects CHINA 13, 51, The Chinese CP and Hungary, by Michael Banda Three Speeches, by Michael Banda COMMUNIST PARTY A Letter to a Member of the Communist Party, by John Daniels Towards a Discussion on Principles The Communist Party and Democratic Centralism, by John Daniels Hammersmith and After The Future of the Forums British Communist History, by Joseph Redman From ‘Social-Fascism’ to ‘People’s Front’, by Joseph Redman ECONOMICS Strachey versus Marx, by Tom Mercer and Peter Reed Problems and Prospects of British Capitalism, by Tom Kemp Marxism, Stalinism and Political Economy, by Tom Kemp 72, no. 2, p. li 187 159 9S 96 176 158 26 26 106 148 171 184 96 76 183 153 159 126 188 166 85 85 127 186 57 103 33 46 67 97 106 148 FRANCE The Case of André Marty, by Joseph Redman 171 HUNGARY The Lessons of Hungary, by C. van Gelderen 4 An Undelivered Speech, by Peter Fryer 70 The Chinese CP and Hungary. by Michael Banda 57 ISRAEL Zionism and the State of Israel, by E. S. Hillman 81 LABOUR MOVEMENT Introducing LABOUR REVIEW 1 The Engineers’ Strike and the Labour Movement, by Robert Shaw 76 Towards the Labour Party Conference 100 Labour and Nationalization 132 Left against Right at Brighton 134 PHILOSOPHY The Law of Combined and Uneven Development, by William F. Warde 13, 51, 85 The Coming American Revolution, by William F. Warde 85 Lenin as Philosopher, by Peter Fryer 136 Radio, Science, Technique and Society, by Leon Trotsky 166 PRESS The Manchester Guardian and the Suez Crisis, by Gracchus 37 PSYCHOLOGY The Words of Freud: A Marxist Critique, by John McLeish 176 SCIENCE Radio, Science, Technique and Society, by-Leon Trotsky 166 SOCIALIST FORUMS The Future of the Forums 97 SOUTH AFRICA Apartheid: the Class Basis, by A South African 153 SOVIET RUSSIA Stalinism, Socialism and Democracy, by William Hunter 20 Inside Russia Today, by Leonard Hussey 43 The Debate Goes On 05 The New Phase of the Stalinist Crisis 99 Soviet Reality 129 40 Years 161 SUEZ The Manchester Guardian and the Suez Crisis, by Gracchus 37 TROTSKYISM Towards a Discussion on Principles 33 The Inadequacies of Russian Trotskyism, by R. W. Davies 11 A Comment, by Leonard Hussey 115 USA The Coming American Revolution, by William F. Warde 85 WAR AND PEACE Socialism, the H-bomb and War 13] Books Reviewed ALLEN, V. L.