FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES

What errors led to
Hungary uprisings?

HE daily press, naturally, is
T exaggerating and_ distort-

img the events in Hungary

But making the maximum
allowance for lies and hysteria
the hard facts must remain
hard for progressives to take.

What is the basis for the dis-
satisfaction — dissatisfaction
which both the Polish and
Hungarian governments have
admitted to exist and to be at
least partially justified?

In attempting to answer
this question I may seem to
stress negative things — the
grim mistakes. Let me make
this clear: at the outset that I
believe that only the most
blind can fail to see that the
whole picture is a wonderful
one of the world’s surge to-
wards the new life which lies
before us.

There have been terrible er-
rors and terrible barbarities
in the building of that new
world. But they are not even
a tiny fraction of the cruelties,
suffering and iniquity which
are perpetrated daily and de-
liberately in the old order.

The socialist world is pain-
fully exposing its own crimes

as a warning that they must.

never be allowed to happen
again — but the western world
can only exist by the contin-
uation of its crimes and mer-
ciless cruelties; the hangings
in Cyprus, the mass shooting
in Algeria are regular pages
in the bloody history of im-
perialism.

And in our own country we
know of the daily injustice of
innocent people herded into
jails, of mothers separated
from their families, of people
torn from their homes and
livelihoods at the whim of a
cruel dictatorship.

The local newspapers which
are so oblivious to the evils
which stem from racialism
have a hopeless task in trying
to turn the Non-European peo-
ple (of South Africa) against
the people’s democracies with
hypocritical cant about the ab-
sence of civil liberties in Hun-
gary.

It is because it is so self-
evident-that the Soviet Union
and the People’s Democracies
are the allies of every people
struggling for freedom that
many progressives have been
reluctant to see the faults in
these countries. And where
they have seen the faults they
have wanted to explain them
away or brush them aside as
unimportant.

I lived and worked in one
of the most advanced of the
People’s Democracies for two
years during the “Stalin” per-
iod and I'll put down my im-
pressions now — belatedly —
in the hope that they will as-
sist-in understanding what is
happening.

It was the period when Tito
was being described — by me
as well — as a U.S. agent and
fascist; when the security
stranglehold was at its stron-
gest, and heavy sacrifices were
being demanded of the peo-
ple.

I worked in an international

organization with a large num-
ber of other young people from
all over the western world —
and we all developed a cyni-
cism towards the things about
us that was a nagging worry
to every one of us.

One had.the choice of being
cynical or bitterly critical —
and it didn’t as much as enter
our heads to be bitterly criti-
cal. (The reason for this is
another question—it certain-
ly was not cowardice, for
among us were Spaniards and
Germans and resistance fight-
ers who had fought and been
prepared to die for liberty.)

Almost each day we sat —
often by candlelight — and
discussed the grotesque ex-
amples of red tape, inefficien-
cy and buck-passing which
marked the work of almost ev-
ery civil servant and minor
official we had dealings with.

We sat by candlelight be-
cause large sections of the
city were plunged into: dark-
ness for hours while the power
plant rested — and we won-
dered how it could be that so
many years after the war one
of Europe’s greatest and weal-
thiest cities should.suffer such
blackout for lack of a gener-
ating plant.

We watched the production
statistics soar and were happy
at this clear proof of the effi-
cacy of socialist planning. But
it was a standard topic of dis-
cussion that apart from basic
essentials — which were cheap
—everything else was incred-
ibly expensive or unobtain-
able.

And every time one of us
made a trip to the west his
notebook was full of requests.
Bring back some razor blades,
a decent can opener, a pot
scourer.

And how could we make
light of the censorship? No
everyday western publications
could be obtained, and there
were even times when you
couldn’t get the Daily Worker.

Or the steady monotony of
the films? The few films from
the west were always packed
to capacity. At a trivial French
show which had drawn capa-
city crowds for ages I got into
conversation with the man
next to me and asked for the
reason for the film’s popular-

ity. “There’s nothing about
peace in it,” he said. “Our
films — peace, peace, peace.

It makes you sick!” And he
was wearing a Communist
party badge.

Worst of all, perhaps, and
something we couldn’t explain
away very easily was the fact
that the Soviet delegates who
worked with us were privi-
leged people, expected to be
respected and to have the best
of things and — let’s face it
— they looked down on every-
one else! (How noticeable it
was, and what a constant topic
of discussion, that the Chinese
were always modest and un-
assuming and lived together
with the other delegates, re-
fusing to accept any privil-
eges.)

I have listed well known

The Soviet tanks stood between the Hungarian people and

things — very small things
and quite big things. Things
which had good reason and
things which had no reason,
and probably mainly things
which fall somewhere between
the two extremes.

But even when there were
things which were obviously
bad, instead of recognizing
them as bad, I blamed my own
middle-class “intellectual”
background as the reason for
my fault-finding. Others did
the same.

All these big things and little
things explained the phenom-
enon that we so often discuss-
ed. The fact that while there
was on the one hand a big
body of politically-conscious
enthusiastic and vigorous peo-
ple backing the regime, there
was an alarmingly large num-
ber of ordinary citizens who
were against it.

Tell the tram-driver you’re
going to England and he shakes
you with his, “Ah, it’s better
there.”

OPEN FORUM

Issues not tackled

DR. J. B. BLUMES, Van-
couver, B.C.: Reluctantly I
was not a candidate for Van-
couver School Board in this
year’s civic election.

The issues on which I have
campaigned in the past few
years are still very much be-
fore us, however. Because
of the lack of satisfactory op-
position to the NPA, especial-
ly on the school board, I have
come to the conclusion that
many vital problems facing
us in the field of education
cannot be properly brought
forward in the electoral arena
at this time.

The problem of low milk
consumption is worse than
ever and in spite of lip ser-
vice to the idea of free milk in
the schools, nothing has been
done about it.

There has been some speed-
up in-school construction, but
there is still much overcrowd-
ing in classrooms, particularly
in high schools. Economies
practiced through building
larger high schools make it
impossible to give proper at-
tention to many teen-agers at
a time when it can mean keep-
ing some of them off the road
that leads to juvenile delin-
quency.

The question of
shortage also becomes ever
more pressing, but school
trustees concern themselves
only with presenting a “solid
front” against legitimate de-
mands of teachers for increas-
ed pay and improved condi-
tions.

It is most unfortunate, how-

teacher

ever, that in the electoral arena
no fair opportunity is present-
ed to discuss these issues -and
to encourage people to vote
on the basis of their concern
for these issues.

We vigorously attack one-

party government in other
countries, but because of the
constant campaign of vilifi-
cation against independent
candidates on the civic scene
our city is virtually in the
hands of a one-party form of
administration.

All independent voters, es-
pecially labor, ratepayers’ as-
sociations and other civic-
minded bodies should get to-
gether to organize an electoral
alternative that will base it-
self on issues.

I want to thank the more
than 20,000 people who have
voted for my program in past
elections. I shall continue to
work for it and hope to be
back as a candidate at a more
appropriate time.

Own people first

OLD AGE PENSIONER,
Vancouver, B.C.: I am an old
age pensioner, born in this
country and now 74 years old.
In my day I have worked on
the farms and railroads and
I think I have done more for
my country than some of these
fat-rumped politicians down
at Ottawa who have made sure
they don’t have to live on
what they hand us.

Let’s look after our own peo-
ple before we start giving
handouts to Hungarians: who
didn’t make any attempt to
fight fascism when they had
it.

DECEMBER 14, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE —

the restoration of fascism:

Speak to the judge and is
hints that the party puts PP

sure on him in political cases |
The nurse will tell you PY |

terly that her father wa
surgeon and her gran dat
before him, but she coul ie
register at the university te
cause she wasn’t from 4 nea”
ing class background. ibe:
ter-nursing is the closest 4
would let me get.” a

The election results shows
that 97 percent of the ar a
voted for the government “iq
standard wry joke War is
met the whole opposition?
morning.”

* * xa and

What is misleading i

what made it so difficll +

conceive of a revolt 16 sul
so 4

even these people were t
aware of the achieveme®
the socialist regime. ople

I met hundreds of PE i.

who were vehemently ' et

eve.
government. But I n ted

a single one who wal
return to capitalism. 9 30"
They wanted to keep fro"
cial security and freedo™
the
which socialism had brow ow
the health facilities, © put
opportunities for childre®: eed
they didn’t recognize thé “a4
for the bad things which
come with the good. ably
Mainly they were P? abso”

ent
fear of unemploy i

afathel

me

wrong. It was probably soe

.

lutely necessary to S@ gave!
living standards to the? nd
opment of heavy indus ces”
defense, it was certainly 8” op
sary to impose limitatlOl
freedom to prevent ©
revolution. they
But in some degree ine
were undoubtedly righ e 10?
sacrifices called for We ree”
great, the limitations on n 1?
dom out of all propor? scent
the need. This has noW yer™
boldly stated by the Slat
ments of Hungary and 0
And the governments ople®
Soviet Union and the a {0
Democracies are ple sso
bring about the Me™ aay
changes — without in 2% met!
sacrificing the achie
of socialism. for thé
A new future dawns “ft the
world. The bitter lessons © s94
past: have ‘been learné 3 {be
we of. other-countries jo {0
gainers, for our trans! y tH
‘the new age will be F

simpler. As
Cape Town New g!
pa

ora

Fa 7