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BOX-FOLDER-REPORT: 29-3-98
TITLE:             Hungary Daily Background
BY:                
DATE:              1956-12-12
COUNTRY:           Hungary
ORIGINAL SUBJECT:  ERS
THEMATIC SUBJECTS: Hungary--1956 Revolution, Strikes, Political Persecution

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FROM THE EVALUATION AND RESEARCH SECTION 12 DECEMBER l956

HUNGARIAN DAILY BACKGROUND
(up to 11 December 1200 hrs.)

l. The General Strike

On the basis of information at our disposal it can be ascertained that the
strike was called from 2400 hours on December 10 until 2400 hours on
December 12.

On December 9 the government took several measures against the strike; the
Presidium issued a decree on martial law, on workers' guards having to
report their store of arms and applying for a license to carry arms. 
Following the calling of the strike the government made an announcement (Radio
KOSSUTH, 2000 hours on December 9) dissolving the Central Workers' councils
with immediate effect.

The government made large-scale propaganda efforts to prevent the strike.
On December 11 Radio KOSSUTH broadcast the appeal of the National Secretariat
of the Free Trade Unions against the strike. There were no signatories to
the appeal. It announced the decision of several factory workers' councils
(BUDAPEST Anode-current Directing Plant, BUDAPEST Sulphuric Acid Factory,
Telephone Factory, Tancsi Machine Factory, Danube Shoe Factory, etc.) that
they refuse to follow the call to strike. Similar announcements were read
on behalf of provincial mine and factory workers' councils. Some of these
announcements state that the "strike was called by an unknown power" others
blame "foreign radios." The commentary of 'HOMELAND' was the only one which
admitted that the call to strike was published by the BUDAPEST Central Workers'
Council. With this artificially created confusion government organs
attempted to lessen the number of factories which joined in the strike.

Anti-strike measures included that, in BUDAPEST, Hungarian and Soviet troops
launched a widespread search for hidden arms on December 10. Police set up
check points in BUDAPEST workers' districts and stopped traffic and
pedestrians to search for arms. They carried long lists of names and
checked identity cards against them.

Finally KADAR is experimenting with the polarization of the BUDAPEST Central
Workers' Council According to Radio KOSSUTH (2000 hours on December 10)
the Premier received four members of the liquidated BUDAPEST Central Workers'
Council who declared, also on behalf of the eight other members, that they
disapproved of the call to strike. They will therefore visit the workers of
large factories to express their opinion personally.

In spite of widespread and almost desperate counter-measures, although not even
approximate figures are available yet, the majority of workers joined in the
strike. The following facts prove this:

[Page 2]

1. Before the calling of the strike 40 to 50 per cent of the workers
actually worked, at the most. According to official data attendance was
60 to 80 per cent, but due to power and raw material shortages not all of
those present were able to resume work.

2. During the past few weeks factory workers' councils were much more
for the continuation of the strike than the BUDAPEST Central Workers' Council.

3. According to Radio KOSSUTH, on the morning of December 11 no
food supplies arrived by rail to the central market-hall, which leads to
the conclusion that no trains; or only very few are cunning.

4. Janos FAZEKAS, President of the workers' council of the UJPEST
Mining Machinery Factory, stated in his broadcast that as far as he knows
several factories in BUDAPEST VIII "announced that they will enter into
a 48 hours strike, and I know that the same applies to the other districts"

5. Radio GYOR announced (December 10 at 1730 hours) that the workers'
council of the GYOR Freight-Car Factory decided at secret elections to
join the 48 hours strike.

6. Finally the fact that, before the calling of the 48 hours strike,
workers of a number of factories entered into strike because some members
of the workers' councils, or whole workers' councils, were arrested, also
speaks for the following of the strike.

According to a Reuter report certain factories stopped production as early
as December 10. AFP stated that no newspapers appeared in BUDAPEST on
December 10. However Radio KOSSUTH gave a press survey on December 11
of articles which were published in the Tuesday edition of NEPSZABADSAG
and NEPAKARAT.

2. Yugoslav Reaction to Hungarian Events

BORBA, POLITIKA and Radio NOVI SAD (in Hungarian) condemned (on December 11)
the dissolution of the Central Workers' Council by the Hungarian government,
which would lead to internal disorder and probably to a dangerous
international situation.

The councils were increasingly becoming the political mechanism of
Hungarian Social Democracy. But the government campaign against the
councils and its search for class and national enemies within them inevitably
strengthened the old compromised mechanism of "stalinist
despotism" -- BORBA said.

POLITIKA emphasized that the workers' councils consisted predominantly of
honest Socialists, in whom alone the working class had confidence, and who
were moderate and realistic in their demands. POLITIKA added: "Military
occupation and police terror cannot go on indefinitely as the sole pillar
of support for the government."

This was the first instance of the Yugoslav press openly stating that the
KADAR government does not support the workers.

- ends -

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