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BOX-FOLDER-REPORT: 30-3-54
TITLE:             Reaction in Asia to the Hungarian Executions
BY:                bs
DATE:              1958-7-12
COUNTRY:           Hungary
ORIGINAL SUBJECT:  Evaluation and Research Section
THEMATIC SUBJECTS: Hungary--1956 Revolution, Communist Parties--India, Political Persecution

--- Begin ---

"F" DISTRIBUTION - 150 12 JULY 1958

RFE NEWS AND INFORMATION SERVICE FREE WORLD UNIT

Round-up

REACTION IN ASIA

TO THE HUNGARIAN EXECUTIONS

Introduction Page 2
Data on Communism in India Page 2
Reaction in INDIA Page 3
JAPAN Page 6
INDONESIA Page 8
CAMBODIA Page 9
SOUTH VIETNAM Page 9
BURMA Page 10
THAILAND Page 10
CEYLON Page 10

No. FW/4

ROUND-UP, July 12, page 2

ASIAN REACTION TO NAGY-MALETER EXECUTIONS

Introduction

The following paper presents typical -- and by no means exhaustive
-- quotations on the subject from speeches and press articles in
several Asian countries. Owing to the form in which the material
reaches us exact dates can in many cases not be given.

In determining the suitability of epithets like "uncommitted" to
any particular country it will be useful to recall the following
affiliations:

Members of the BAGHDAD Defense Pact (1955) are:
Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan, Persia, Great Britain.

Members of the South-East Asia Collective Defense Treaty (SEATO) N
(1954) are:
Pakistan, the Phillipines, Thailand, Great Britain, USA,
Australia, New Zealand, France.

Communism in India

With a membership that has risen since 1952 from some 30,000 to
125,000, India has the fourth largest CP. in the free world (the
first three being Italy, Indonesia, Prance in that order). It
also has a Communist government in the State of Kerala (pop.
over nine million),where it took office -- with the participation
of some independents -- on 5 April 1957.

The position of the Kerala Communists. who receive much attention
and praise in Soviet-orbit literature, is nevertheless somewhat
anomalous (as in Iceland a member of NATO, where the CP however
also shares in the government). Communist success in Kerala
has been attributed to the large number of unemployed literates
and to the failure there of the Congress Party -- still dominant
in most State governments -- to bring adequate relief to the
peasantry. But conscious of the universal respect for Premier
NEHRU, anxious not to embarrass his quite friendly relations
with the USSR and Communist China, and above all desirous of
creating an unrevolutionary and efficient impression on the
rest of India with a view to the chance of subsequent Communist
victories there, the Kerala government has proceeded with great
caution. The Indian Communist leader GHOSH stated indeed when
it entered office that it would function within the country's
democratic constitution and "would not look to, or receive,
directions from Russia". (LONDON "Times". 9 April 1957.)

The prospects of the Kerala Communists, however, despite the
reported popularity won by several leaders through their
unassuming way of life, have recently dimmed again. Their attempt
to communize education has antagonized more people than the
large Catholic minority it was aimed at; and the government
has been embarrassed by the continuance of strikes and violent

ROUND-UP, July 12, page 3

demonstrations by hungry plantation workers. Nationalization,
as elsewhere in the world, has failed to prove a panacea.

The AMRITSAR Congress of the Indian GP earlier this year
confirmed the "moderate" (i.e. opportunist) policy of supporting
NEHRU's five-year plan (though quarreling with its execution)
and his foreign policy (though demanding secession from the
British Commonwealth).

INDIA

Despite its usual caution in criticizing Communist countries
India has been perhaps the most articulate of the "uncommitted
nations" in condemning the trial and execution of Hungarian
ex-Premier Imre Nagy, General Pal Maleter and associates. The
Christian Science Monitor" of July 2 devoted an article to the
Indian reaction alone, pointing out that this time there was
"no equivocation in India about the news from Hungary". The
article stresses that the Indian press, public opinion and the
political parties did not wait for Prime Minister NEHRU to set
the tone, but reacted sharply before NEHRU's first comment
("the most distressing news") was published.

Most striking is the impact the Hungarian executions has had
on the Communist Party of India. The divergence of opinion
that arose among the Indian CP leaders and the rank and file
soon sifter June 16 has evidently widened into a major rift.
In the words of P.C.JOSH, member of the Central Executive of
the Indian Communist Party, there is "a healthy difference of
opinion in the Party on the recent Nagy execution". The
crisis was brought about by the firm stand taken by the
Communists of the Kerala State against the Hungarian judicial
murders.

Yugoslavia and the Indian State of Kerala are thus the only
two places (if one is to disregard Poland) where ruling
Communist Parties have openly expressed disapproval of the
Hungarian "epilogue".

In an article analyzing the motives underlying this protest
movement, the "Indian Express" of July 7 writes: "Among all
the State branches Kerala Communists seem to be particularly
agitated over this issue, firstly because they are the first
beneficiaries of the new tactical line of peaceful
transition to socialism and, secondly, because their continuance in
power depends on the support of independents who may be
repelled from the Party if such crude monstrosities as typified by
the Hungarian Government's action are tolerated by the
Communist Party."

According to the same source, this feared reaction has already
set in.V.R.KRISHNA IYER, independent minister of the Kerala
government, publicly denounced the "gloomy drama" that took

ROUND-UP, July 12, page 4

place in Hungary. IYER, speaking at TRIVANDRUU before leaving
for DELHI on July 6, said that the Hungarian execution
"haunted one as a harsh and poignant event which must have made many
like me, with a constitutional aversion to execution, unhappy.
I do not know if all my Communist friends share this reaction".
According to the "Indian Express", this must be taken as indicative
of the reaction of the independent members of the Kerala Assembly,
who have been extending their support to the Communist
government in the State. The paper adds: "It would be wrong, however,
to imagine that the pressure on the Communist high command to
give a clear and bold lead in this regard is exerted only from
Kerala. Indications are that similar trends exist in Bombay,
Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Andhra."

Reuter reported on June 29 that Mr.S.A.DANGE, veteran leader
of the Indian Communist Party in the House of the people (Lower
House), has stated that "it would have been better if the
execution of Imre Nagy and his three associates had been avoided".
Making it clear that this was his personal opinion on the
Hungarian executions, DANGE said in an exclusive interview with
the independent "Times of India published on June 29 that
"there can also be an opinion that the executions were not
absolutely necessary at this stage". According to Reuter Mr.
DANGE, a member of the Party's eight-man secretariat, was the
first leading Communist in India to express views on the
executions.

Other Communist comments were slow in coming. At the time the
Nagy trial was announced Mr.P.C.JOSH, member of the central
executive of the CP and chief editor of the Communist organ
"New Age", was the only leading Communist present in NEW DELHI.
While at first reluctant to take a decision one way or another
(NEW DELHI Statesman, June 26), he finally joined the chorus
of Communist Parties from PRAGUE to PEKING.

Dissociating himself sharply from Mr.NEHRU's views, JOSH
likened the case of Nagy to that of Sheikh ABDULLAH, the popular
Muslim leader of Kashmir who was released last January by the
central Indian Government after four-and-a-half years of
imprisonment but arrested again in May. JOSH expressed the hope
that the "present differences of opinion in the ICP will be
shortly overcome".

The non-Communist press of India was unanimous in condemning
the executions and saw them as a reversion to Stalinism.
(Cf. "New York Times", June 25.)

The "Deccan Herald of Bangalore" says: "Those who believed the
Communist State machine and judicial system had been purged of
the excesses of the Stalinist era will have to confess themselves
grossly deceived. The apparatus of terror, still there behind
the facade of liberalization, has now been hideously and
gratuitously demonstrated." (NY Daily Guidance, June 26)

ROUND-UP, July 12, page 5

The "Times of India" says: "Nagy and his companions were
liquidated in the full knowledge that opinion both inside and outside
Hungary would "be shocked. Therefore, the execution of the Hungarian
leaders is apparently a warning to Yugoslav President TITO and all
other Communists who advocate independence from the Kremlin that
all opposition to MOSCOW will be stamped out ruthlessly." And
again: "In retrospect, it looks as if the 20th Congress of the
Soviet Communist Party was an aberration, and the liberalization
of Communist regimes a momentary and doubtful lapse into sanity."
(Quoted in "New York Times", June 25)

The widely-read BOMBAY paper "Bharat Jyoti" said on June 26:
"The execution of Imre Nagy has put a full stop to all speculation
about a change of heart in the Kremlinc" It said that what it
called the "political murder" of Nagy had followed a familiar
pattern, and the situation now was as if Nikita KHRUSHCHEV had
never made any of his get-friendly speeches or tours.
KHRUSHCHEV, "Bharat Jyoti" said, had found his talks on accommodation,
liberalization and coexistence was too dangerous a gamble, and
it appeared he had now stopped that gamble once and for all.
"He has realized, and wants others to realize that if one is to
stay in power in a Communist hierarchy one must go the whole
hog," "Bharat Jyoti" said. (Quoted in RFE Special NY, June 26.)

"The question nations should now ask themselves is: how reliable
as an economic and political ally is a Russia that has chosen
to go back to Stalinism in its worst form?"

In CALCUTTA, "Asre Jadid" calls the executions "unjustified,
tyrannical and outrageous", and it says they were perpetrated
by the same Soviet leaders who wax eloquent about peace and the
principle of non-interference, and the same Soviet leaders who
claim to use the veto in the United Nations Security Council
to establish peace.

And recently again (RFE Special NY, July 10) the BOMBAY "Sunday
Standard" has written:

"The horror and indignation roused all over the democratic
world by the cold-blooded execution of Imre Nagy, General Pal
Maleter and their two colleagues shows no sign of abating. On
the contrary, even people who normally consider themselves
nonpolitical are joining the flood of protest against the
treacherous murder. This sudden reversion to the Stalinist system of
terror has not only smashed the facade of liberalism which the
20th Congress of the CPSU raised but has also exposed the
hollowness of the hypocritical professions with which Mister
KHRUSHCHEV sought to begile the world since then. Nagy's
execution is a notice served on the Communist satellites that
they must forever reconcile themselves to the Yoke of Big
Brother and that any move toward what is called
"counter-revolution" will be fiercely crushed.

ROUND-UP, July 12, page 6

"It is also a warning to the world that in MOSCOW'S view there
is only one road to socialism -- the one way road that leads
to the Kremlin. Communism thus stands stripped of all its
ideological pretences and dialectical shibboleths. It has
revealed itself as a naked denial of human dignity and freedom.

finally, on July 10 Mr. Jayaprakash NARAYAN, founder of the
Indian Socialist Party and an Honorary Chairman of the Congress
for Cultural Freedom, issued the following statement:

"The cold-blooded murder of Mr.Imre Nagy, General Maleter and
their two associates has sent a wave of disgust and revulsion
throughout the West. I have no doubt that the reaction has been
the same in the East and Africa.

"The situation in the Russian empire must be desperate indeed to
require recourse to such desperate measures. The Russians have
deliberately taken the risk of stirring the conscience of
mankind against them. There must be something much more precious
at stake; I. think it is the very future of the Russian empire."

JAPAN

Certain Japanese papers condemned the Hungarian events in
unambiguous terms. Much of the comment saw the action as another phase
in the attack on Yugoslav revisionism and a tragic reminder that
Stalinism remained the keynote of Soviet policy. The press
carried a denunciation of the executions issued by the governing
Liberal Democratic Party, which called them "barbaric, inhuman
and cruel".

It is noteworthy, however, that Japanese youth did not quickly
respond to the latest Hungarian events. One Western news agency
reports that some 50 Japanese students demonstrated outside the
Russian Embassy in TOKYO, waving placards and shouting "Explain
the execution of Nagy!" and "Killer KHRUSHCHEV!" Conspicuously
absent from the scene were any delegates from Japan's biggest
student organization, the 300,000-member Federation of Student
Selfgoverning Associations, noted for staging noisy
demonstrations outside TOKYO's British and American Embassies in protest
against nuclear tests.

The following are excerpts of press comments:

The "Sankei-Jiji" says: "Not only the free world but also neutral
and Communist nations are seriously shocked at the announcement of
Nagy's execution and three other former Hungarian leaders. There
has been no event that has made us recognize the real substance of
Communism more clearly than the execution of Nagy and his
associates..... It also proves that Yugoslav President TITO is right
in striving to protect independence of his country by carrying
through a middle-of-the-road policy..."

ROUND-UP, July 12, page 7

In an editorial entitled "More Outrageous than Crime", the "Asahi
Evening News" said: "The shock and wave of indignation which spread
throughout the world as a result of the announcement of the
execution of former Hungarian Prime Minister Imre Nagy and others have
become more widespread and have brought about serious repercussions.

"Yomiuri Shimbun" of June 20 wrote: "Under any circumstances, it
is impossible to justify the execution of Nagy and other leaders
in the October revolt... The Soviet Union succeeded in retaining
Hungary on her side, but her success was barely achieved by such
a way of doing. In this way she has trampled the Hungarian
people's wish under foot. This is too tragic an event to be
forgotten."

"Tokyo Shimbun": "The way of suppressing the revolt was cruel
and the result was miserable. Nagy took refuge in the Yugoslav
Embassy in BUDAPEST, but finally, he was arrested by Soviet
troops and was taken away to the Rumanian border. Since then
he has been missing. Of course, there was no chance that he
would return alive. Yet we were shocked at the report that he
had been executed on the charge of 'betrayal of the fatherland'.
The Communist camp's ironclad rule that freedom must not be
sought beyond the bounds of thawing is still cold and stern."

The "Neue Zuercher Zeitung" of July 7 sums up Japanese reaction
under the title:

"Japan and the Judicial Terror in Hungary -- Failure of Public
Opinion."

"The blood sentence of BUDAPEST, which has deeply shaken
the free world and which has stirred revulsion even among
the neutralist countries of Asia, was received by Japan
with an almost immovable face. In front of the Soviet
Embassy some 50 'independent' students 'demonstrated' by
carrying a few posters demanding the release of Hungarian
students. The leftist Federation of Japanese Students'
Associations called a special meeting which turned out
to be a miserable failure...

"The Trade Union Federation SOHYO repeated the spectacle
of the students and refrained equally from taking a stand.
Not much was to be expected from these circles anyway
which are infiltrated with Communist leaders....

"The secretary general of the Liberal Democrats, KABASAILA,
issued a statement several days after the murder saying
that the Party dissociates itself with astonishment from
the events in Hungary. Foreign Minister FUJIYAMA also
disapproved of the BUDAPEST crimes but was surprisingly
tight-lipped when questioned about it at a press conference.

ROUND-UP, July 12, page 8

"The argumentation of the press was largely marked by an
alarming naivete. Yesterday (July 7), Japan's most
widely read daily, "Asahi", finally published an editorial which
castigates the failure of the Japanese people in this
important question. "Asahi" writes: 'It is a shame that
the Japanese, who like to take a stand on international
questions en masse, are so weak and irresponsible as
individuals. The way Japan reacted to the crime of BUDAPEST
will cause the free world -- of which Japan claims to be
a member -- to look down on us.'"

The NZZ concludes by saying that -- while individual Japanese could
not be expected to protest forcefully anyway -- government and
parties have spoken so mildly in order not to increase the tension
between PEKING and TOKYO.

The Swiss paper's gloom was perhaps premature. For on July 9
USIS reported from TOKYO that about l,200 persons, the majority
of them students, held a rally in TOKYO on July 8 to mourn the
execution of former Hungarian Premier Imre Nagy and three of his
associates. The gathering was sponsored by the Japan society
for the relief of Hungary -- a private organization formed after
the Hungarian revolt of October 1956. It is backed by the
million-member Japan Trade Union Congress and the National
Federation of Private University self-government associations.

Seven speakers, including former Prime Minister Hitoshi ASHIDA,
condemned the executions and the gathering adopted a declaration
protesting the executions and calling on the United Nations to
take measures to halt the terror in Hungary.

According to the same source, 57 Japanese lawyers have sent a
message to the International Commission of Jurists in THE HAGUE
backing the Commission's recent statement condemning the executions.

INDONESIA

The Indonesian Government has maintained its customary neutralist
silence on the execution of Mr.Nagy and recent related events
inside the Communist bloc. The pro-government sections of
opinion generally observed a similar restraint, although there
were some comments providing evidence that non-Communist
nationalists in this category were shaken by Mr.Nagy's death. The
nationalist pro-government English-language daily "Observer"
published in JAKARTA, for example, said that the execution of
Mr.Nagy and his colleagues "has shocked the Asian-African world",
and added that "whatever little sympathy there was for the
Hungarian Government has now vanished in the eyes of many Asians."

Said the "New York Times" of June 29:

"Oppressive government measures have reduced the ranks of the
liberal democratic press in Indonesia, but journals in this

ROUND-UP, July 12, page 9

category that still exist bitterly denounced the Hungarian executions.
In a typical comment from these quarters, the socialist daily
"Pedoman" warned that the executions were another action by the
puppets of MOSCOW to blindly carry out MOSCOW'S Orders.'"

CAMBODIA

In the capital PHNOM PENH, the French-language paper "La Depeche
du Cambodpe" declared that the barbarian Gauls who sacked ROME
some 2,300 years ago were more civilized than the "judges -- or
rather the hangmen -- of BUDAPEST who assassinated Nagy". The
Cambodian paper deplores the secret trial of the Hungarian
leaders; "this pantomime of a judgment... this attempt to take
away from them (Nagy and his colleagues) what they still possessed
and what their conquerors did not have -- honor..." (RFE Special,
July 2)

The circumstances of the death of the Hungarian leaders, the
paper continues, make it impossible to regard the event as "a
kind of injustice which does not concern us directly". Rather,
the paper says, the executions must be regarded as a "diabolical
warning flung in the faces of all free men".

SOUTH VIETNAM

The "Cach Mang Quoc Gia" of SAIGON comments: "The executions
are testimonies to the ruthless techniques of the Soviet
Communist regime. It is said that Nikita KHRUSHCHEV is the man
who must stand before the world as responsible for the murders.
We remember that KHRUSHCHEV, the man who rose to supreme power
in the Soviet Union through his condemnations and exposure of
his predecessor, is now the first man since Stalin to hold such
power... There have been those for whom hope has created the
belief in Mr.KHRUSHCHEV'S pose as the humanizer of Communism.
Even if it were KHRUSHCHEV'S genuine desire to liberalize, to
humanize, to dignify Soviet Communism (and we, remembering his
deeds rather than his words, do not believe that such is the
case) -- he could not do so. For Communism cannot, by its very
nature, permit a less harsh control over the people. To do so
would mean its very downfall, as we have seen so clearly in
Hungary and to some extent in Poland. 

ROUND-UP, July 12, page 10

BURMA

"Mvanmalanzin", a paper published in MANDALAY, says: "All
democratic countries denounce Russia for the execution of Nagy. The
Hungarian case concerns not only Hungary, but the whole world...
The Soviet Union has already been condemned by the UN General
Assembly (for suppressing the 1956 Hungarian freedom uprising).
Now to execute the Hungarian leaders shows how the Soviets brazenly
ignore world opinion."

An editorial in the Burmese language daily "Bwin-Bwin" (Candid)
of RANGOON says: "In non-Communist countries Communist tactics
are to foment workers' dissatisfaction and disorders, encourage
political upheavals and exploit any troubles already besetting
a country. But in a Communist country the least sign of
disloyalty to the Party or any attempt to oppose its authority is
punished swiftly and ruthlessly. No criticism is allowed.
How much people detest Communist rule is borne out by the 1956
uprisings in Hungary... Among those joining the revolt was Premier
Nagy and he incurred Soviet wrath. By deception he was kidnapped
by the Soviets and now he and three colleagues have been executed...
We are not surprised at such Communist duplicity and are only the
more wary of the Communists."

THAILAND (SIAM)

"Prachatinatai" of BANGKOK writes that Imre Nagy was accused of
rebellion. But, the paper asks, against whom did he rebel?
He rebelled against the Soviet rulers. The paper adds that the
Soviet Union not only acted against all moral principles and justice,
but it went so far as to execute the head of government of another
country.

The Thai newspapers "Thai Raiwan", "Siam Nikorn", "Phim Thai",
"Chao Thai", Thai Rath", and "Siam Rath" join "Prachatipatai"
in condemning the execution of the four Hungarians. However, two
left-wing papers approve the executions. They say that Nagy
plotted with the United States to -- as they put it -- "oppress
and terrorize the Hungarian people".

CEYLON

In COLOMBO, the "Time of Ceylon" comments: "The present Hungarian
regime of KADAR and MUNNICH needed no unmasking. It has ever been
the pitifully abject tool of its Soviet creators and masters.
But the treacherous murder of Nagy and his fellow prisoners has

ROUND-UP, July 12, page 11

finally stripped the disguise of Soviet Premier KHRUSHCHEV.
The Soviet Premier pretended to be shocked by the judicial
murder of countless of honest Communists by Stalin. It is "this
pretense that has now been conclusively uncovered, for Nagy was
an honest Communist, and so were his companions."

bs

End

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