WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 1957. Hungary

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28255, 17 April 1957, Page 12

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 1957. Hungary

The Hungarian Government’s willingness to admit a United Nations observer (five months after it was called upon to do so) argues some confidence that the revolutionary spirit of the people and the army is now well under control. The Secretary-General (Mr Hammarskjold) is not likely to learn much if he does accept this belated, and therefore insulting, invitation. If he goes to Hungary he will have to discount everything he is shown and everything he is told. More, he must be careful that his mere presence in the country is not used to give some appearance of United Nations approval to the repressions practised by the Kadar Government arid its masters in the Kremlin. The SecretaryGeneral might even find himself in Hungary at the time of a carefully-staged treason trial. Mr Kadar has recently hinted at something dramatic, possibly prosecution of his ill-fated predecessor, Mr Imre Nagy, who could not hold back the Hungarian demand for independence. These hints have been interpreted by Mr Vlako Begovia, director of the Jugoslav Institute of International Affairs, as suggesting the organisation of a “ show trial ” like those of the great Russian purge, with Mr Nagy “con- “ fessing ” that he helped to organise the abortive revolution last October “as an agent of “the imperialists and Jugo- “ slavia ”.

That is so much European speculation; but one thing Mr Hammarskjold would certainly see in Hungary would be the Russian troops that put Mr Kadar in power and keep him there. He might see little overt resistance to what the “ Manchester Guardian ” has described as “ a cold retreat to

“Moscow”, because the people are too dejected to cope with calculated repression. For this Mr Kadar depends on more than Russian soldiers. In spite of his promise, the secret police have not been abolished but, on the contrary, are now referred to as “ heroic ”. A new force of “ workers’ guards ” has been recruited to maintain discipline in factories. In addition, a “ security check ” is to be made on the whole population between now and September. Some minor concessions have been made to Hungarians. Wages have been increased, and the shops have more goods. Peasants have been promised that their taxes will not be increased and that their grievances will be considered. The ability of the Government to keep these promises depends partly on the success of the next harvest and partly on the continuance of Russian aid. When Mr Kadar visited Moscow recently (with ceremony appropriate to his services), he was promised about £ 20,000,000 in commodity credits and convertible currency to finance his slightly more liberal policy. But, according to “ The Times ”, the concessions Mr Kadar has been able to make are not enough to stifle discontent. “ The system of ‘ norms ’ con- “ tinues in factories—payment “by the hour being denounced “as ‘ wages demagogy ’ —and “in the countryside there is no “ retreat from the principle “of collectivisation ”, “ The “ Times ” says. “ Basically, “therefore, Hungary is back in “the condition of a year ago, “before the first stirrings to- “ wards more freedom took “ place. It is a condition that “ cannot last ”, Still, Mr Kadar is evidently quite sure that it can last until Mr Hammarskjold has had time to come and go.