HUNGARY " WHILE WE WAIT " FOR HUNGARIAN WRITERS AND ARTISTS, WHOSE 
DEMANDS FOR FREEDOM INSPIRED THE 1956 REVOLUTION, WORD OF RUSSIA'S RESTALINIZATION 
OF CULTURE AT FIRST CAUSED A BAD CASE OF JITTERS . 
YET LAST WEEK, IN STRIKING CONTRAST TO THE CLAMP-DOWN IN MOSCOW, 
BUDAPEST SEEMED ALMOST RELAXED . SAID CULTURAL COMMISSAR ISTVAN SZIRMAI : 
" THE PARTY WILL BE TOLERANT . ALL ARTISTIC AND LITERARY 
CREATIONS WHICH ARE NOT ANTICOMMUNIST WILL BE ALLOWED . " HUNGARIAN 
INTELLECTUALS EARNED THEIR MEAGER ALLOWANCE THE HARD WAY . COMMUNIST BOSS 
JANOS KADAR, AFTER BETRAYING HIS COUNTRY TO THE KREMLIN DURING THE 
UPRISING, FOR FOUR YEARS TRIED TO WHIP THE COUNTRY INTO SUBMISSION 
BY BRUTAL USE OF POLICE TERROR . BUT KADAR EVENTUALLY LEARNED 
THAT HE COULD NOT FORCE THE SULLEN HUNGARIANS TO COOPERATE . 
WITH HIS CIVIL SERVICE IN TATTERS AND ECONOMY A SHAMBLES, HE 
GRADUALLY RELAXED CONTROLS, EVEN BEGAN NAMING NON-COMMUNIST EXPERTS TO KEY INDUSTRIAL 
JOBS . " HE WHO IS NOT AGAINST US IS WITH 
US, " SAID KADAR IN LATE 1961 . SUCH RELATIVE LENIENCY 
IN A COMMUNIST STATE AT LAST EARNED KADAR A MEASURE OF 
GRUDGING ACCEPTANCE FROM THE POPULATION ; FORTNIGHT AGO HE TOOK HIS 
BIGGEST STEP YET BY RELEASING THE LAST GROUP OF REVOLUTIONARY LEADERS 
WHO WERE STILL IN JAIL (ALTHOUGH UP TO SEVERAL HUNDRED RANK-AND-FILE 
FREEDOM FIGHTERS ARE STILL BELIEVED TO BE BEHIND BARS), AND BY 
SETTING THE STAGE FOR THE RELEASE OF JOSEF CARDINAL MINDSZENTY FROM 
HIS REFUGE IN BUDAPEST'S U.S . LEGATION (TIME, APRIL 12) . 
HAPPY ENOUGH TO BE OUTSIDE THE CELLS, HUNGARIAN INTELLECTUALS, TRADITIONALLY AN 
ENTHUSIASTICALLY UNDISCIPLINED BUNCH, AVOIDED PROVOKING FRESH TROUBLE ; FOR ONE THING, 
THEY KNOW THAT SOVIET TANKS ARE ALWAYS READY TO RUMBLE INTO 
THE CITY . AS LASZLO NEMETH, A RESPECTED NON-COMMUNIST AUTHOR, PUTS 
IT : " WE HUNGARIANS LIVE TODAY IN A NEW APARTMENT 
BLOCK WHICH MANY PEOPLE FIND UGLY . IT BECAME CLEAR IN 
1956 THAT THE BLOCK CANNOT BE DEMOLISHED . WHILE WE WAIT 
BEHIND THE FACADE FOR ITS TRANSFORMATION INTO SOMETHING BETTER, LET US 
AT LEAST MAKE OUR OWN FLATS AS HABITABLE AS WE CAN 
. / 