HUNGARY: Small Holders

• Share

"A state of siege has been declared because murder and robbery are spreading throughout the country. Every person committing or attempting to commit murder or robbery will be tried by court-martial. ... If the accused is found guilty, he will be executed within three hours. . . ."

So much the Budapest radio told the outside world last week. After that, silence. No names were given, either of marauders or victims. In the U.S., the leftist press suspected that rightist elements were fighting land reform. In other areas of opinion it was suspected that Communists were fighting the Small Holders Party (small landholders) which currently has the upper hand among the five parties supporting the Miklos Government.

The S.H.P. likes land reform, but it also distinctly favors private land ownership. By classic standards it is slightly left of center, but it comprises the right wing of the present democratic bloc, and it is nonsocialist. The S.H.P. recently gained urban strength in the Budapest municipal elections, and it was expected up to last week—to gain rural strength in the national elections.

Last week Marshal Voroshilov abruptly ordered all parties, including S.H.P. to combine their tickets in a single list. If the order is carried out, the elections will be a farce. The U.S. Department of State, which had been steadily moving toward limited recognition of the Miklos regime, stopped for a series of long, hard looks.