Análisis motívico descriptivo 1.“Intencionalidad” textural

289. Between 3 and 4 o’clock on the morning of 4 November, a representative in Budapest of a provincial Revolutionary Council is reported to have gone to the Parliament Building to inform Mr. Nagy that Soviet troops had entered the chief city of his province and that the Council was urging that they be granted permission to fight. This representative is understood to have been the first to inform Mr. Nagy that Mr. Kádár had established at Szolnok a new pro-Soviet Government. Premier Nagy himself called up the Revolutionary Committee of the Army and was told that the information appeared to be correct. A meeting of the Cabinet was hastily called; Mr. Tildy, Mr. B. Szabó and Mr. Bíbó were, it would appear, the only members immediately available at the Parliament Building; Mr. Losonczy arrived a little later. Mr. Nagy briefly gave them the news, and it was decided forthwith that the Government should take immediate action by announcing its stand and by alerting the Hungarian forces. The announcement of the formation of a rival Government was made at 5.05 a.m. in an open letter to the “Hungarian working nation” read over the radio, dated Budapest, 4 November, in which Mr. Ferenc Münnich said that Messrs. Antal Apró, János Kádár, István Kossa and he himself had broken away from the Nagy Government on 1 November and had taken the initiative of forming the Hungarian Revolutionary Worker-Peasant Government. They had taken this action, he said, because “within the Government of Imre Nagy …” they “could do nothing against the counter-revolutionary danger”, that “respected champions of the working class movement” and “many respected sons of the working class and peasantry have been exterminated”; that “we could no longer watch idly” while “the entire nation came under the yoke of counter-revolution for a long time to come”; they had “decided to fight … Fascism and reaction and its murderous gangs”. The statement concluded, “we appeal to every loyal son of our People’s Democracy, every follower of Socialism - first of all the Communists … to support … the Hungarian Revolutionary Worker-Peasant Government and its struggle for the liberation of the People”.

290. Mr. Nagy would appear to have been first made aware of the change in the Soviet attitude by the interruption of the negotiations which were being carried on regarding the withdrawal of Soviet forces. These negotiations had been commenced during the afternoon of 3 November at the Parliament Building in the presence of Mr. Nagy.(16) The Hungarian delegation was composed of Ferenc Erdei, Minister of State; General Pál Maléter, Minister of Defence; and General István Kovács, Chief of the General Staff and Colonel Miklós Szűcs. The Soviet representatives were Generals Malinin, Cherbanin and Stepanov. The afternoon discussions, which had proceeded in an atmosphere of mutual friendliness and trust, had resulted in an agreement to meet again at Soviet Headquarters at Tököl, on Csepel Island, at 10 p.m. to continue discussion on technical questions regarding the withdrawal of the Soviet forces. Discussion proceeded till about midnight on minor points, such as the ceremony of withdrawal and the replacement of Soviet memorials. Regular reports were sent to Mr. Nagy regarding the progress of these talks. Towards midnight, telephone contact with the Hungarian delegation at Tököl, was broken off. Reconnaissance parties sent towards Tököl by General Király also failed to return. The Committee has been informed that the discussions between the Soviet military delegation and the Hungarian military delegation at Tököl were in fact interrupted by the entry of a personage who bore no insignia of rank - General Serov, Chief of the Soviet security police. Accompanied by Soviet officers, he announced that he was arresting the Hungarian delegation. The head of the Soviet delegation, General Malinin, astonished by the interruption, made a gesture of indignation. General Serov thereupon whispered to him; as a result, General Malinin shrugged his shoulders and ordered the Soviet delegation to leave the room. The Hungarian delegation was then arrested. In vain, therefore, did Mr. Nagy, at 5.56

a.m., broadcast an appeal to Generals Maléter and István Kovács and other members of the mission to return to their posts at once to take charge of their offices.

291. At 5.20 a.m., Premier Nagy made the following statement from Free Radio Kossuth, Budapest: “This is Imre Nagy speaking, the President of the Council of Ministers of the Hungarian People’s Republic. Today at daybreak Soviet troops attacked our capital with the obvious intention of overthrowing the legal Hungarian democratic Government. Our troops are in combat. The Government is at its post. I notify the people of our country and the entire world of this fact.” By that time cannon could be heard at various points in the outskirts of the city. The announcement was repeated in several languages and was followed by the Hungarian Anthem. Mr. Nagy’s next act was, according to a witness, to dictate the following statement: “This fight is the fight for freedom by the Hungarian people against the Russian intervention, and it is possible that I shall only be able to stay at my post for one or two hours. The whole world will see how the Russian armed forces, contrary to all treaties and conventions, are crushing the resistance of the Hungarian people. They will also see how they are kidnapping the Prime Minister of a country which is a Member of the United Nations, taking him from the capital, and therefore it cannot be doubted at all that this is the most brutal form of intervention. I should like in these last moments to ask the leaders of the revolution, if they can, to leave the country. I ask that all that I have said in my broadcast, and what we have agreed on with the revolutionary leaders during meetings in Parliament, should be put in a memorandum, and the leaders should turn to all the peoples of the world for help and explain that today it is Hungary and tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, it will be the turn of other countries because the imperialism of Moscow does not know borders, and is only trying to play for time.”

292. Two hours later Free Radio Kossuth was still broadcasting on behalf of the Nagy Government. At 7.14 a.m. it made the following announcement in Hungarian and Russian. “The Hungarian Government requests officers and soldiers of the Soviet Army not to shoot. Avoid bloodshed! The Russians are our friends and will remain our friends also in the future.” 293. News was then broadcast of the convening of the emergency meeting of the Security Council. It was followed at 7.57 a.m. by the following appeal of the Hungarian Writers’ Union: “This is the Hungarian Writers’ Union! We appeal for help to writers, scholars, writers’ associations, academies, scientific organizations and the leaders of intellectual life all over the world. Our time is limited! You all know the facts, there is no need to explain them. Help Hungary! Help the Hungarian people! Help the Hungarian writers, scholars, workers, peasants and intellectuals! Help! Help! Help!” This appeal was repeated in English, German and Russian.

294. At 8.07 Free Radio Kossuth went off the air, although a silent carrier wave could still be detected until 9.45 a.m.

295. With the launching of the Soviet attack, the members of Imre Nagy’s Cabinet dispersed. Mr. Nagy is understood himself to have left the Parliament Building with the intention of proceeding to the Soviet Embassy to protest; but he is known to have arrived at the Yugoslav Embassy with a request for asylum.(17) He was later followed by Mr. Losonczy. Of the members of his Government, only Zoltán Tildy, István B. Szabó and István Bíbó remained at the Parliament Building when the Soviet troops surrounded it. Mr. Tildy is understood to have made an agreement with the Soviet forces that to avoid bloodshed, they should be allowed to occupy the building, while civilians should be permitted to leave freely. After this agreement, Mr. Tildy left the building. Mr. Bíbó remained as the sole representative

of the Government. His last act - so the Committee has been informed - was to issue the following declaration:

“Hungary has no intention of pursuing an anti-Soviet policy; in fact she wants to live fully in that community of East-European free nations which wish to organize their lives in a society where liberty, justice and freedom from exploitation exist. I also repudiate before the whole world the slanderous statements that the glorious Hungarian revolution was stained by Fascist or anti-Semitic excesses … The Hungarian people turned only against the conquering foreign army and against native hangman-units. The popular justice which we experienced for a few days on the streets as well as the unarmed appearance of the old conservative forces could have been stopped by the new Government in a very short time, and the assertion that for this purpose a huge foreign army had to be called or rather recalled into the country, is cynical and irresponsible. On the contrary, the presence of a foreign army in the country was the main source of unrest and disturbance. I call on the Hungarian people not to recognize the occupation forces or the puppet government which may be set up by them as a legal authority, and I call upon you to use against them every means of passive resistance - with the exception of the interruption of the public services and water supply of Budapest.”