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Hungary Illustrates
i.. n l l i * II
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ind Iron Curtain Since
I By FRANKLIN R. LITTLE
l t was especially interested
In my trip to Yugoslavia as
r monolithic East EuroI had been there just ten
an "satellite" empire the
years ago. In 1955 my late
|t« Josef Stalin built on
wife and I made a trip
conquest, terror and|
through Europe and the near
less political exploitation
East, as members of the U. S.
tor World War II is binderSociety of Editors 4 Commenstartling < changes. To,
tators. We were able to inM extent it already has
clude two of our friends oh
ategrated.
that trip; W. Allan, Newell
litre is no drifl^from comand Mrs. Newell P. Allen of
The changes are eco%Ogdensburg. The only Com|mic, political and nationalmunist country we visited in
lie. All the major countries
1955 was Yugoslavia, alremain very much allied
though we also visited East
lb the Soviet militarily,
Berlin,, then, as now under
.. dependent on Russian
Communist, rule.
us. and manpower ior their
security-.: - _ ,
_'"
I'will never forget the trip'
3ut in Poland, Hungary,
we made just 10 years ago
lania and Czechoslovakia
to Belgrade from ^Vienna on
bas been a marked
the Orient Express. This was
_ away from doing ev«
the famous Berlin - Baghdad
sing by Kremlin fiat. The
railway which has been fea1
k-ernments are as Commutured so much in novels, raoas ever, but each in its
vies and plays. That over»y. Only Bulgaria and East
night train trip had all the
srmany still dance almost
elements of mystery, intrigue,
rely to strings in Mos- FORMER ROYAL PALACE — Here the
of Austria who were also Kings of Hun- drama and glamor with which:
. And two one-time sa- Kings of Hungary lived and the Emperors
gary.
the train had been invested JOHN, T, DEGBAFF—left, prominent Al- the streets of Budapest John DeGraff was;
ites, Yugoslavia and Alby countless authors and bany lawyer and counsel of the New York my roommate on the five week tour :belia, have broken away en* from Moscow itself in the rise rear-guard battle with ...Red hard to Improve living stan- scenario writers.
State Publishers Association, and 4he-«u- -•—
^lifld the Irdff Curtain."
" •
rely from the Soviet Union's of Nikita S. Khrushchev who, China, allowed the Eastern dards and has taken some
thor, right, at a typical flower shop on
lie. Yugoslavia under Presi- as he loosened the screws European countries t h e unorthodox 3 - unorthodox in
ent Tito was an early rebel in the USSR with his more chance to develop their own the sense of Stalinism—steps WE WENT THROUGH the the airport paralleled the the feeling that the people ing and equipment whetrwe-1™
Dolomite Alps in the late rail line of the Orient Ex- are prosperous and busy and
was chucked out of the
liberal policies and the dra- types of communism — soto accomplish this. No longer afternoon. It was in- Febru- press. We passed the enor- that they live vastly different got it."
is it required that an expert
in any given line—be it agri- ary and the snows were deep, mous government h o u s e lives than they did ten years
I TOLD HIM that I was
culture, industry, science or the pine trees rose tall, dark which ten years ago was still ago.
exports—also be a card hold- and magnificent in the deep uncompleted'after six years
amazed that Politika or any
ing Communist. If he can forests. At the top of the pass in the building. This trip it I FOUND THE ANSWER other publication in a Comhelp the economy he is en the train stopped and I took was a gleaming and imposing to all this in an interesting munist country could make _
r
. pictures of the steep mountain structure set in handsomely meeting we had with the editrusted.to do it.
had climbed. A Russian landscaped grounds. W e tors and managers of, Politika. profits and keep them. He,re.\"««,-* \ *£&*
Kadar has taken other we
soldier knocked the camera drove past the Federal As- Politika is the largest daliy plied, "Oh, yes, we have to
steps to erase the bitterness from
my hands and broke it, sembly building which had newspaper in Yugoslavia. The make a profit or go but of
and failures of 1956. Virtual- as photographs
were forbid- been sandblasted and repair- company which owns it owns
ly all political prisoners have den in the then Russian
business. The government
Zone ed, through Marx and Enfour other daily newspapers
been' released and the resis- of Austria.
gels
Square,
past
many
blocks
I \#
and most of the popular permits us to distribute up /
tance fighters who fled the
nation have been urged to I remember the gay young of busy stores. The streets magazlnes_ printed in the to 70% of our annual profits
come back under guarantee people from Austria who were crowded and the people country., The company has as a wage bonus to our workwere on that train and going looked well dressed, healthy the largest commercial print- ers. We must retain at least'
they will not be arrested.
skiing in the Dolomites and and vigorous.
ing plant in Yugoslavia.
•
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30% for replacement;;, pf
terrible tragedy which beIN OCTOBER, 1956, Janos the
We were received in theequipment, expansion, . ejet
fell
one
of
the
lovely
young
Kadar rode into Budapest on
THE BEST HOTEL today reception room of the Poli- We retained more than „this
a Soviet' tank while Hun travelers. I had been talking in Belgarde is the Metropole tika by Voja Duklc who is
for several years so that we
gary's rebellion was crushed. J ? iGfniM oS WaSl S j f l t o ha<* originally buUt it the editor-u«chief: He wascould build this fine "hew
fn the intervening eightand- X l o w anlCtrata 2.dd«£ **» youth hostel for Commu- surrounded by / his top edi...*•
* * &$*.,„• ,
one-halfyears he has reuni- J f ' ^ g J " M t f S l S nUt youth from all. over.' the tors and managers. He told p l a n t . " _ ^
ted tfce~TOuntrjr and even SrowS < S ^ ^ a ^ X ^ t w t d r m t h e n remodeledVit US that Politika^jas^hZOe-emachieved a measure of perinto a modern hotel and lias ployees. It had been a very I asked the. editor how
train wheels. Her legs were .
sonal, popularity.
a fine job. The rooms successful privately owned much the profit sharing
- -The -museular, *dour™.-first severed and she died before a e
would amount to. "In our
secretary of Hungary's Com- she:_could get to. a surgeon
business it often amounts t o •••
munist Party is a "dark, mys- and a hospital.
50% to 100% of the basic
THE FISHERS' BASTION—One of the
rh*r fishermen and a place of refuge if terious
• » •
and primitive man,"
wage. A basic wage is estab; ornate. medieval^uUdings buift-aboye-the^- r^attackedHjy-^naFaudervor—invader*,-- 53-years-oId7 wh6~Ba¥~Hved IN THOSE YEARS BelDanube as a combination shrine for the
lished "for every "worker in :
the Communist-ideal all bisgrade was a most rundownat-the-heel city. Yugoslavia
political
life
and
ruthlessly
our plant and in similar
ted bloc by Stalin himself as matic "de-Stalinization" cam- long as they-remained allied
rivals-to gain per- had gone through World War
plants in the country. That is
pearly as 1948. Albania, siding paign, evoked an echo in the w}th the Soviet Union in ideo eliminated
II and had undergone colosthe minimum which we must
\.r logy, in foreign policy and in sonal power.
fth Red China in the Sino- satellites.
sal losses; first from the Ger»
*
*
the military sphere..
oviet ideological split, broke
pay.
However, if the enterAT THE AGE OF 19, hemans, and then from the Ru*
['formally with the Kremlin in
prise
makes a profit, we can
sians.
;
•
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THE BIGGEST BOOST to What has. happened and is became leader of Hungary's
196a .
distribute that profit to/our-the satellites' efforts to shake happening is shown by look- tiny, illegal Co m*m U n i t y The city gave me a feeling
• *. •
themselves freer of Moscow's ing quickly at the countries Party, Throughout World of depression. The buildings
workers and as I. said, it often
WHEN THE IRON curtain grip has been the split most involved in the breakup War\2^ he worked with the were in disrepair, the streets
I will be as much as 100%. of .
were
atrocious,
the
people
Vt&ne down in Europe after
I the basic wage, in other
were ., Ill-clothed, and there
"the war,-the Kremlin had imwere almost no consumer
[words, the more you produce
•posed dictatorial rule over
goods in the shops. I well re>more tl^an 90 million people
and the more profit you help
member the stark skeletons
\, living in an area of some 400,the business earn, the more
of public buildings which had
, OOP square miles.
you get."
been commenced years beto
•"The Red army enforced
fore and had never been finUtalin's powerjgn Roumania,
ished. On that trip we visited
I TOLD MR.. DUKIC that
^Hungary, Albania and Bulgaseveral Yugoslav factories
this didn't seem like Comria. In Czechoslovakia the
and the impression we gained
munist economics to me. That
democratic government of
was one of inefficiency, low
it seemed more like capital" Je'n Masaryk was toppled; and
production, with high costs,
ism. "Yugoslavia is still Comf-in: shattered, bleeding postand low morale.
munist and always wuirJae,"
war Poland a Moscow-trained
he said. "However, walfcave
government backed by Soviet
TEN YEARS AGO Marshal
found- through trial ancp ertroops took over. East GerTito was in complete control
ror that theoretical commu'lttany came under Soviet conof Yugoslavia as he is today.
nism won't work and thlfcbur
t r o l by.virtue of its military
However, then he was, a doccountry was paralyzed jgmoInoccupation.
trinaire Communist and folmically. Marshal Tito had delowed the literal economic
* * *
fied Stalin 15 years ago-and
teachings of Engels, Marx
'" JWTH THE SOLE exception
established his indepeBfl&nce
and Lenin. Everything was
of Russia so he was frj»e to
of Yugoslavia, all these manu
owned by the State. Every
experiment. He has ;>teken
>",factured satellites were kept
factory, business, store, farm,
what he considers the-.best
...under the Kremlin fist until
was not only owned by the
features of your systeJrC and
[ ^gtalin's death in 1963, and
State but run by the State.
combined these with Commu^continued with little change
All planning was done in BelYou tell me yeu^were
."until 1956. Already, however, DOWNTOWN BUCHAREST—The former munists took over in 1946 and the king grade. Every worker was paid THE AGRICULTURAL MUSEUM—In Budapest is typical nism.
in
Belgrade
ten years ago. I
in
architecture
of
most
public
buildings
in
that
city.
BudChe breath of independence Royal Opera House, now the People's Re- abdicated. Under the former regime the same and there were no
think you can see for, yourapest was not seriously damaged in World War II.
..from Moscow was blowing. It public Opera House, in the center dis- Bucharest was built into a beautiful city incentives for initiative, the
self whether Marshal Tito has
"jjixploded in;Hungary in the tance, Rumania is one of the richest
and known as the Paris of Eastern Eu- imaginative, the energtic or are rather small but are well publishing company until the been Successful or not.*' .aBortive revolution that year countries in Europe in natural resources,
rope.
#« , the hard working. The re- >pointed, immacul a t e 1 y Communists seized YugoslajUfcAt brought Russian tanks to had a great deal of wealth before the Comsult was complete economic ean, the plumbing in thevia and nationalised Politika Mr. Dukic told me that
I-xeecue the local regime and
stagnation and a country, bathroom worked and public along with every other busi- each business is set' up as a
forced a liberalizing change between the Russians and of the satellite "empire."
underground. Captured by which was little above the rooms were bright, and spa- ness with no compensation separate enterprise. It is un_
„'ito" leadership there and inRed China. Peking's challenge
the Gestapo, he escaped in bare subsistence level.
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der the general direction 4>f
cious and well furnished.
to Soviet authority over the HUNGARY IS ONE of the time to meet the Soviet Army In 1955 we stayed at theThe Metropole Is no Waldorf to the private owners.
its particular ministry; e.g-'^•Crushing of the Budapest Communist world severely
• • •
advancing into Budapest.
heavy industry, light induithen best hotel the Majestic. Astoria in luxury, but it was
fifittrising was the last real undermined the Kremlin's best examples of the years
THE
YUGOSLAVS
are
very
Mr. Kadar's star rose with I well remember the bed Ione of the bast hotels we hospitable. When they invite try, mining, transportation,
-'tffoodletting by the Soviets to prestige throughout the Red of change.
-maintain their rule of force, bloc and nowhere more than Under party boss Janos Ka- that of Communism over Hun- had, with broken springs, the were in while behind the you to their offices, you are etc. However, the minister
dar, who came to power in gary. He became -a politburo plaster off the celling, the Iron Curtain. Our room look- seated at a table covered with exercises no control" Whatand the breath of indepen- in East Europe.
the wake of the 1956 abortive member and chief of the se- broken window ~ pane, the ed out on one of the princi- bottles of vodka, slivovitch ever over the operation-of
dence continued to blow.
'"Part 'of the breath came Khrushchev, fighting a uprising, Hungary is working cret police. But in 1951—in faulty plumbing. One time pal streets in Belgrade. It was (the highly potent Yugoslav the business. He cooperates
in picking the best qualified
the Stalin years—he was ac we were going up to our floor lined with poplar and lime
cused of treason, espionage on the lift or elevator when trees, well kept plots of flow- brandy made from plums), manager regardless of' wheV_f.
and "Titoism." After arrest, it stopped between floors. ers on both sides. The store caviar, trays of local cookies ther he is a member t>f the
torture and ' imprisonment, We almost suffocated before fronts were attractive and the and delicacies. It is etiquette Communist party or not Oriwe finally were liberated a windows were filled with to drink drink for drink with ginally managers were pickhe was released in 1954.
half hour later by workmen merchandise.
the host and sometimes this ed because they were progoing up to the roof with
<L;
can be a rather trying ex- minent in the Communist
>- •»•
crowbars and disengaging the After lunch we took a perience as Mr. Duklc seem- party but no more.
DURING THE INITIAL cables which had snarled in sightseeing tour of the city
stirrings of the 1956 revolu- some way. The food was as and visited the old 1Belgrade ed to have a limitless capa- Each' business is encourtion he praised the "glorious poor u the quality of theFortress. We looked over its city for bis vodka and slivo- aged to make money and
must make money or is c
walls a n d •nbatttemente vtfcfc.
uprising of our people" In a lodgings.
ed. The more money it *
which
had
seen
centuries
of
After
a
question
and
ansradio broadcast — apparentWar and which bad been held wer period he escorted us on the more its employee!
ly meaning Stalin-type rule, HUB YEAR WE FLIW in by many and various armies a tour Of his plant He show- The State gets its r
to BefaaOe from Budapest
Within a few weeks he hadon a Hungarian jet made iu to the last thousand jrears. ed us a new addition with from the corporation,
agreed to proposals to form Russia. We were taken to the We visited tha other great high speed Swiss made color dividual income taxes
a- Moscow • controlled gov Hotel Metropole which had tourist sights in Belgrade, in- presses, stereotype equip- as our government '
m
ernment ,and he ltd in thebeen built in the intervening eluding the Saboraa Church, ment and every modern fa- Dukfc also potated
originally all agr
purge of then- prominent ta- ten years. To get to the Me. the Palace of Prince Milos culty for color .printing. I
asked
bbn
bow
ttw*
the
owned
by the
trepoii
we
drove
through
the
and
his
iJewBelre Nagy.
te&et
city, t otttld haroTf believ* grade
'4e&t» of **#
itntodoH
theUi
Son of a landless peasant
"tha
fanions
and former industrial appren"'•» *
'M'-.~r-* ***** ^'".
tice himself, Kadar ja 00 in-skirts many of which were
tellectual, tomb, pragmatic
laid uncompromising, he is
-^ty.:..-'"
parks which at* maintained in perfect known as an aMe adnainWra-.*LL-,^.Jii.l^j»-_..^,. <4i .;%< ; ...% •..•;w, a ^,*^t.W? ;
city
. eoodition.
tor with an imperturbable
ke is m the center
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