Hungary plus thirty: any difference?

Hungary Plus Thirty: Any Difference?

EUROPE, NOW THAT the Hungarian witnesses to man's indomitable hunger for freedom are buried, . . . remembers how each time when it was hopefully dreaming of victorious deeds by somebody else--by heroic slaves of Communism, for instance--Communism actually gathered new strength. Europe remembers, in short, that convulsions within the Communist sphere may be exceptional opportunities for the West to thrust into the Communist orbit. But, if the opportunity is wasted by a pacifistically petrified West, the inescapable result of such historic frustration is a further triumph of Communism.

--William S. Schlamm, NR, Nov. 10, 1956

Tens of thousands of Hungarian martyrs have died in vain, it appears, for in the Western mind, and in the Western stomach, there is not the resolution or the will to resist; over their graves, there is nothing being pledged but parliamentary expressions of distaste; as to deeds, there are none. There is only submission.

We wish a national moratorium could be declared on verbal and written criticism of Communism and Communists. We wish that every politician, every orator, every editorial writer, every preacher would, one morning, stop deploring any act of the Soviet Union, or aspect of Communism. In the sudden stillness, we would realize how empty has been our "opposition" to Communism, for in that stillness we would hear, in dreadful clarity, only the bustling wheels of normalcy, and know the absence of any meaningful act of resistance; and, without the solace of our rhetoric, we might be ashamed.

--WFB, NR, Nov. 17, 1956

In remote places, in hopeless isolation, and with irredeemable commitment, the last noble remnants of Hungarian students are dying violently tonight.... In the largest sense we cannot affect the innate wisdom of that death. For to die nobly is always wise.... For us, however, who still remember that by death life is not taken away but only changed, there remains the power to appreciate deeply the nobility of spirit these men displayed....

The only mistake they made was to expect aid from us. In this Hungary thought too highly of us.... And now that the last Hungarian radio has been silenced by Soviet might, and the tranquillity of the dungeon returns upon the land, the danger is that we will try to forget.

--Father Stanley Parry, NR, Dec. 1, 1956

(Excerpts from the 39th Anniversary Lecture, delivered Nov. 7, 1956, by Comrade Professor Y--to closed session of the graduate course in Dialectics, Lenin Academy.)...

Meanwhile, our entire western flank was exposed. We would inevitably have had to comply with an ultimatum to withdraw our troops from Eastern Europe, all of which would then have begun swinging out of our orbit. But the enemy, foredoomed by history, was incapable of issuing the ultimatum, or of any other serious action. We were able to take temporary holding measures in East Europe, while we launched a diversionary campaign (the "volunteer" threat, etc.) to keep the enemy bogged down in the Middle East, and squandering his time in internecine quarrels.

--James Burnham, NR, Dec. 1, 1956

--No

It is not in our own interests that the movement in Eastern Europe should go so far that no accommodation with Russia is possible . . . In the interests of peace and freedom . . . we must hope that for a time, not forever but for a time, the uprising in the satellite orbit will be stabilized at Titoism.

--Walter Lippmann, Oct. 26, 1956