The Truth about the Nagy Affair [antikvár]

Preface'A CORRECT and necessary action.' That was how Gomulka, in May of this year, described the intervention of the Soviet troops in Hungary. Perhaps, in view of the historical necessity weighing upon his own country, the Polish leader will be forgiven by the good God, I mean, of course, by History, for using the word 'necessary'. He is caught in the dialectic of the Red Army. But the word 'correct' was not so necessary. To a simple statement of fact it added an endorsement, and therefore a complicity, which was liable to develop further. And sure enough, in the following month, the Russian masters justified their moral certificate by correctly hanging the sole legal head of the Hungarian state and three of his friends. So perhaps, amid the floods of oratory which a Marxist politician like Gomulka is necessarily bound to pour forth, that one little word, like an insoluble pebble, will survive to shame his memory.In the matter of correctness this book proves that the affair of Imre Nagy in Hungary involved perjury, abuse of trust, contempt of international law, violation of diplomatic and parliamentary privilege, and kidnappings, and murders. The only crime left out of the story is theft. And this I regret, because a burglar would have made a refreshingly homely figure among all the fine company. But no, we are among serious people. They do not murder from caprice or fancy but from austere and, of course, historical necessity; to give Tito some food for thought (you will note how the Yugoslav diplomats, responsible for Nagy's safe departure from the Embassy, were bundled out of the coach); to do Mao a courtesy (the gentle Mao, the poet of a hundred flowers, the Chinese daisy! And it was indeed with flowers, as you will see, that he begged for those heads; but he wanted them, and hegot them). So Nagy and the others were necessarily tried, on the quiet, in Russia or perhaps in Hungary, or in Pekingwho knows, and what does it matter? We are internationalistsbut quickly, anyway, for progress brooks no delays. And then, hey presto, the rope, and they're dead. The next historical rite is to lay them out and prepare the tombstone. Five thick volumes to adom those pitiful graves and set forth the historical explanation.This essay in innocence is dressed in white, of course, like the wolf; it is called the White Book. Briefly, it is an indictment. Only, for the sake of convenience, it has been issued after the executions. In the world of History the horse comes behind the cart, which makes things easy for a prosecutor. Before opening his mouth he has won the case and the accused is dangling on the gallows. In these circumstancesthe accused having had no opportunity to defend themselves (they were, indeed, allowed to choose their lawyers; but from a list of reliable men selected by the Minister of Justice) and the hangman having been called in before the bill of indictment was issuedit is inevitable that the case for the defence should be presented after the executions.With what object? it will be asked. Let us see. The story is clear enough and there is no possibility of error: Nagy was not judged, he was assassinated. Everyone knows it, including the judges, and the case is closed. Moreover it has produced no change in the relations of power, no changes of position. For example, in October 1956 the world was shocked and indignant. Since then the world has calmed down again, visibly. In October 1956 the United Nations was angry. It even issued several very sharp orders to the Kadar government, which flung them back in itsvii