Baty Smallholders’ Party.

\

et —BUDAPEST.
f | ,HE POLITICAL crisis “In Hungary is over and the

coalition government continues under a new prime.
minister, Lajos Dinnyes, a leading member of the
A general election will be held in
September. Attempts to prolong the crisis were foiled by
the action of the Socialist and Communist parties in issuing
a declaration in favor of maintaining the Coalition. There-
after, it was only a question of finding the right man to
poreiace the runaway premier, Ferenc Nagy. And at no
time was there a political panic in Budapest. The reports
i a run on the banks were just plain, unadulterated
ies. The Communist and Socialist parties have won this
important round of their fight to preserve the national
unity of the new, democratic Hungary by removing from
public life those politicians who are resorting to conspiracy
-— Sgainst the state in order to bring reaction ta power again.
Ome newspapers trade on the insularity of their readers
and make belief that Hungary is a country of gypsies and

f0ulash where all politics are
*xotic and mysterious.
_ But a prime minister who re-
Signs by telephone from a for-
_ gn country is regarded as a
most unusual person in Hungary.
wn Nagy is innocent of the con-
Tacy charges, why did he not
come back and face them?
ite fact that his own party,
ane Smallholders, agreed to re-
€ him as prime minister by
another of its representatives

Suggests that they are convinced

by the evidence that Nagy’s pds-
Bien is indefensible. :
No responsible person in Hun-
gary believes that there is or was
Ge Communist plot. I am entitled
a Say this quite authoritatively
} the basis of the comprehen-
-Sive discussions I had in Buda-
‘en with the leaders of the four
_ ‘ain ‘parties, various ministers,
the editors of the leading news-
Papers in Budapest and other
Raopinent personalities, includ-
er ng Count Karolyi. —
pe new Hungary is fighting
_ & hard, uphill battle in which
the Communists, although a min-
 ority, are playing a dynamic
Part, oak
_ They are not theorists .attemp-
ae -impose-a creed, -but reso-
Bs leaders with a wide know-
€dge of affairs who are helping

_ ©ountry and to make democracy
8 living thing. ‘

And if it be true, as is often

_ Said by critics, that the Com-
~ Munists have a political influ-
‘nce in the government out of
Proportion to their actual voting
eee it can only be because

© Communists leaders have
tained in a hard school and

_ Possess a great clarity of ae

- Pose,

Matthias Rakosi, vice-premier:
in the government and secretary
of the Communist Party; is, rec-

_ “Bnized by all Hungary as a
8reat man, a great Hungarian %

rey: ey has always served his coun-
He beak his fight against the
ungarian feudal dictators when
he Was only a youth, and 15
Years in prison deépened his
Stern resolve to end the evil
Power of this class and to raise
Up He people.
e ©

ee i ee Set a grasp of Fi eatint

Politics today, and of the
Cause of the instability in the
National coalition, it is necessary

to understand the role of the
Smallholders’
a eanly 60 beucend of the votes

ae tne

restore a ruined and broken

Party which got A

= : SHI es a
) AD
Ave JE RUB i

uy sh. kati

when the general election was
prematurely held in November,
1945. The next elections will cer-
tainly tell a different story.
This party got big votes in the

‘towns as well as the country-

side, in fact it. was amazed by
its own success.

“The explanation is, antortin-
ately, a sinister one. For this
party voted not only genuine
smallholders but also the reac-
tionaries and fascists in town.
and countryside. tee

. Rather than form a- separate
ak of clerical reaction ‘these
elements, who have considerable
influence among the. middle
class, decided on penetrating the
Smallholders and it is said that
Cardinal Mindszenty agrees with
these tactics. The great power
of the Catholic Church is not
thereby endangered.

The leaders of the Smallhol-'
ders do not deny that there are
fascists in their ranks.

Stephan Balogh, the wily ex-
priest who bosses ~ this party,
made a point of telling me that
20 percent of their MP’s had
been expelled and that only the
other day another MP had been
thrown. out. When suspicion a-
rises measures are taken. he
claimed.

These Rats MP’s have une :

med a new. organization called

-the Freedom .Party whose fas- »

cists character is not disguised.

But Balogh did not. care. to
mention that these expulsions
took place under the pressure of
the Communists and Socialists.
who now charge the official
leadership of the Smallholders
with. tolerating and even cooper-
ating with the conspiratorial un-
derground
what. Nagy has been up to.

There are many progressive
people in this party, but it must
be- cleaned | up.

®

FASCISM ruled in Hingaty be- ‘

tween the two wars with the
exception of the short-lived So-
viet Republic in 1919. Horthy and —
his gang boasted that they

~ taught Hitler and Mussolini all

they knew.

Reaction | is old fing democracy ~
is new; it ‘is. growing up. Democ-
racy in Hungary today has noth- _
ing to lose and everything to
gain from the hard-hitting pol-
jitieal controversies now taking

place and the fight lake as :

parties.

‘The people are learning,

But much more than an inter-
nal. fight between the old and

new is going on. Reaction is eins

i

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il uN’ IE) Alltec’

leadership. This is-

i

fae

‘

couraged in this fight because
it believes that Britain and the

_ United States are on its side and

that | the intervention will become
open when Mig Red priced with-
pashan § ;

- When the Soviet saheiatice ar-
‘
the _ Smallholders’ »Party, on a
charge of plotting against the

_ Soviet state, the U.S. and then

Britain, lodged notes of protest.
Because of these notes the
conspirators took heart again.

-gesses a rich ‘soil,
rested Bela Kovacs, secretary of

And it was a real conspiracy as
the public trial in March of a
section of the plotters, including
General Veress, amply proved.
Hungary will pull through. Of
that we can be sure, as she po-
considerable
industry and a clever people. .
A three-year plan, which be-
gins on August 1, will wipe away

‘the scars of war, and the pro-

jected nationalization of the
banks will provide a solid basis
for planned HROdae aE

Franco next in line for

_—LONDON.

RANCO Spain is to be inclu-—
ded in the very near future
in the list of countries qualify-

ing for ‘Truman dollars.’

_ But special precautions against
a probably indignant world opin- —

ion have had to be taken.

This is the true meaning of
the recent appointment of a top-
state department official
to the United States embassy in
‘Madrid. —

‘level

a ak King Finds ue} Doctrine hard to sell a ee
Bete, ibyoMoark Frank se se I Bee 10
© Ambassador for the cartels parity 2

by Art Shields

Very persistent ‘rumors which
have been circulating for some
weeks in Madrid, Paris and

European Division, was sent as
pee akan to Madrid.

. “Washington. now coincide ‘close-
ly, and add up to = above con-

There is food in rman bu t— See
ed b Jose h lea Ye PU _ First Paul Culbertson, aad of
Y - Soe See RR ah eee mani the state department’s West

His job was to send back to
Washington a confidential re-
port on the solidity of the Fran-

co regime, the strength of the.

‘opposition inside Spain and the

suitability of cae as a dollar —

investment.

The signs now are that Cul-
berston’s report was favorable.
News from Paris
centres tell of an imminent loan
of 200 million dollars.

In the face of world hostility
tc Franco, Washington has been
unable to use any of the usual
agencies in this transaction. The
World Bank, Export-Import
Bank, and straight U.S. govern-
ment lending have heen out of
the question.

_For this reason a group of Am-

erlean bankers and des ces ea men

* attraction for

‘and other |

But there are reactionaries in. ee
the U.S. and Britain who look —

upon the emergence of the new .. :

Hungary with horror and dis-—
may. / pis
And, with the aid of their dol- _
lars, which have a facinating

the Hungarian ~
Right, they are still doing all

_ they can to put the clock back

and turn this strategically
situated country into an anti-
Soviet outpost. But Hungary will
not become a second Greece. *

U S. | )

J. 10an
have been found who are willing
to do the financing as unofficial ©

agents of the U.S. government.
Senor Lequerica who has just

been appointed inspector of
Spanish embassies and consul-
ates, was due to leave last week
for New
act as Franco’s financial envoy.
He is expected to see repre-
sentatives of several banks in
Wall street. heen
The loan, which is expected to _
be forthcoming from his visit
will thus have the appearance of
a purely private agreement *

* tween trading firms.

It is believed that part of this _
vast sum will be used to con- <

-gtruct a number of large air —

bases in different parts of Spain,
in which the U.S. army has al-
ready shown a close interest.

York, where he will |