The Guardian of Liberty - Nemzetőr, 1986 (9. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)
1986-09-01 / 5. szám
BUMONTHLY B 20435 V THE GUARDIAN OF LIBERTY (NEMZETŐR) Vol. ^ XXX SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 1986 "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion" Article 18 Universal Declaration of Human Rights 30th Anniversary of a Fight for Freedom HUNGARY 1956 - AFGHANISTAN 1986 T he 30th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution, mercilessly suppressed by an invading Soviet army, occurs near the completion of the USSR’s seventh year of military action in Afghanistan — a conflict already longer than the Second World War. Hungary’s brave but tragically unsuccessful attempt to gain independence from the Soviet empire in October-November, 1956, is now sometimes called „the first Afghanistan.“ As in the case of Russia’s continuing violation of the sovereignty of that traditionally non-aligned country, the Soviet aggression against the small, thousand-yearold Hungarian nation was undertaken in defiance of world opinion; the General Assembly of the United Nations condemned the various aspects of the Russian intervention in 14 resolutions passed with large majorities between November, 1956, and September, 1957. It was the first time since the Second World War that a Big Power had used its overwhelming military strength to reimpose in a „fraternal Socialist“ country the sort of government it thought that State ought to have. Twelve years later, in August, 1968, another such country, Czechoslovakia, was invaded, and within a few months was made totally subservient to Moscow. This time the „normalisation“ (a Kremlin jargon word) was achieved by 650,000 armed forces of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact, the vast majority of whom were Russian but with contingents from four East European satellite countries. Czechoslovakia’s pre-invasion Communist leaders had merely wished to liberalise the country’s Marxist-Leninist system, not to do away with it, and had clearly stated their desire to retain Warsaw Pact membership and other links with Moscow. LIMITED SOVEREIGNTY’ Brezhnev made the definition (already implicit in the „Warsaw Letter“ of July 15, 1968, in which the other Warsaw Pact regimes passed judgement on the internal policies of Czechoslovakia) in a speech delivered in Warsaw on November 12, 1968, Hungarian freedom fighters with captured Soviet tank in Budapest IN THIS ISSUE Ex-Premier Hanged in Budapest Jail 3 Nehru Joined Massive Protest 4 Enigmatic Leader 4 Book Review Hungarian Samizdat 5 China Takes Lessons in Economic Reform 5 Events Before, During and Hungary's Fight for Freedom 6-7-8 After the 1956 Revolution How Communists Cheer and Boo - 18 „Social Justice" 9 Regime's Swedish Guest Disillusioned 10 Eastern Europe 40 Years ago September-October, 1946 11 Shortly after the invasion, Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet Communist Party leader, defined the so-called „doctrine of limited sovereignty“ with which he and his Politburo colleagues justified military intervention in any „fraternal“ country or indeed anywhere in the world. The „doctrine“ was first labelled „limited sovereignty“ by politicians and official commentators in nonaligned Yugoslavia; it has never been so described by Sovietbloc spokesmen. It continues to be implemented with 1956-style brutality by the Soviet forces in Afghanistan. at the Fifth Congress of the Polish United Workers’ (Communist) Party. Describing the Soviet-bloc States as „the Socialist countries“ and the Soviet empire as „the Socialist community,“ he said: „The Socialist States stand for strict respect for the sovereignty of all countries. We emphatically oppose interference in the affairs of any States, violations of their sovereignty. At the same time the establishment and defence of the sovereignty of States that have embarked on the road of building Socialism is of particular significance for us, Communists.” (Cont. on p. 2)