Armageddon_ A Novel of Berlin - Leon Uris [209]
Hungary: The first free election in late 1945 was swept by the anti-Communist Smallholder’s Party under the leadership of Zoltan Tildy.
Using the Red Army to support them, the Communists then forced the Smallholder’s Party to form a “unity” front. Bela Kovaks, Smallholder’s Secretary, was arrested for “crimes against the occupation” and a purge of the Smallholder’s followed. The Communists forced the Democrats to merge into the “unity” front, followed by a purge of the Democrats.
Deputy Premier Makoki, the Communist, became the true ruler of Hungary.
Cardinal Mindszenty, the last voice of opposition, was arrested before a new election presenting a single slate of candidates. A constitution along Soviet lines has been adopted, a five-year plan along Soviet lines adopted, and a final ousting of all non-Communists has taken place in the government.
Rumania: Under Red Army occupation the Communists forced the other political parties to form a “National Front.” Because of King Michael’s presence, the Americans and British were able to exert some pressure to keep a balance in the first government, but a massive terror campaign preceded the election of November 1945. Under Red Army supervision, the Communists were declared the victors.
Julius Maniu, leader of the opposition Peasant Party, was arrested along with thousands of members. Treason and espionage trials broke the back of the Peasant Party.
Ana Pauker was named the Communist Premier, forcing King Michael to abdicate.
A new “People’s Front” was formed. The new election gives the Communists 90 per cent of the vote followed by adoption of a Soviet-type constitution.
Purge trials wiped out all existing political opposition, all Roman Catholic bishops were arrested and their congregations dissolved, agriculture was collectivized and industry nationalized.
The game today is called “Slavic Unity,” a name reeking of the memory of other unities now deceased.
This is the most repetitious column I have ever written, but the pattern is bare for us all to see. Only in Yugoslavia has Moscow made a gross miscalculation. One might refer to them as the Martin Luthers of communism. Yugoslavia in World War II has the distinction of being the only occupied country to liberate itself. Stalin has made what might prove to be a classical blunder in believing that because Yugoslavia is Communist it will subject itself to the dictates of Moscow. Yugoslavia alone in the Red Bloc has a good army and Stalin does not doubt that it will be used if pushed. Moscow has backed away. This is the first dim clue that there is vulnerability within the Communist world and someday great new rifts may develop.
This great red mass has poured West like a river of molten lava devouring everything in its path. Defeat is recognized as temporary, victory inevitable.
Here in Germany we have seen the Soviet Union slicing off the Eastern Zone and rebuilding it along the recognizable lines. I believe, however, that the event that finally touched Americans was the second fall of Czechoslovakia. Two times in a single decade this innocent people fell victim to a sellout. Once at Munich, now again by an apathetic American public, which did not lift a finger as the Red Army and the Communists chewed up the Czechs. The murder/suicide (?) of the hero, Jan Masaryk, stilled the last voice of freedom, but as it died in agony, perhaps it was the sound to awaken the sleeping America.
Will other nations join the Roll Call of the Dead? Finland was “invited” by Moscow to join a mutual defense pact. Turkey has been coveted as an entrance to the Mediterranean by Russia for centuries. Italy and France are staggering close to communism through collapse of their economies.
In Greece, the Truman Doctrine is meeting its first great test. Left in a shambles by one of the most terrible of the Nazi occupations, Greece saw nearly a third of her population starved, murdered, frozen, or diseased. These valiant people, often divided