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BOX-FOLDER-REPORT: 34-3-216
TITLE:             Izvestiia on the "Discovery of Hungary" Movement
BY:                William F. Robinson
DATE:              1969-3-5
COUNTRY:           Hungary
ORIGINAL SUBJECT:  Hungary/8
THEMATIC SUBJECTS: Hungary--1966-1975, Hungary--Literature

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RADIO FREE EUROPE Research

EAST EUROPE

HUGARY/8
5 March 1969

IZVESTIIA ON THE "DISCOVERY OF HUNGARY" MOVEMENT 

Introduction

Translated below is the text of an article which appeared
in Izvestiia, the Soviet government newspaper, on 4 February 1969.
Written by B. Rodionov, the paper's Budapest correspondent, the
article describes in rather surprising detail and objectivity
the origin and nature of the current, sharp debate concerning
the "Discovery of Hungary" movement. The latter is a movement
reminiscent of the "Village Explorers" of the 1930's, and in its
contemporary form involves some 26 Hungarian writers who have
been commissioned to write a series of sociographic essays on
the realities of Hungarian village life. The first of these essays,
written by Antal Vegh, exposed the misery and corruption prevalent
in the village of Peneszlek in Szabolos-Szatmar County. The result
of Vegh's daring expose is described by Rodionov.

 * * * *

Search for Truth

It all began with one of the 580 inhabitants of the far-off
village of Peneszlek. The person in question, who works in town,
came across the journal essay entitled "Stagnant Water," which is
devoted to a description of this village. The author of the essay,
who based his observations on the testimony of the inhabitants of
Peneszlek themselves, painted an exceedingly dreary picture of a
village which time had passed by. It is one thing, of course, to
complain about the faults of one's village in conversation and

- 2 -

another to see these complaints published in a journal of the
country's capital. Indeed, "Stagnant Water" aroused the ire not
only of Peneszlek, but also of the district and the county, The
Szabolcs Szatmar County newspaper published a series of 
"Counter-Reports" which were supposed to show "the other side of the coin."
Moreover, when the people of the county heard that the writing of
an essay for the "Discovery of Hungary" series concerning the life
and people of the entire area had been entrusted to the very
same author who had written "Stagnant Water" (the series is to
coincide with the 25th anniversary of the liberation of the country),
a veritable storm arose. The county refused to place its trust in
Antal Vegh, who had worked for 10 years In this locality as a
teacher.

The chairman of the Writers' Union, Jozsef Darvas, an
enthusiast of the village essay, went to have a talk with the
inhabitants of Szabolcs Szatmar County. (Darvas, Incidentally, is
the author of a book entitled The Biggest Hungarian Village, which
was a sensation in its own time.) Explanations, however, were not
forthcoming. The county leaders insisted that Antal Vegh did not
want to talk, but to denounce, that the phenomena described by him
were not typical and did not show the tendencies of development.
Darvas, together with Antal Vegh and representatives from the
county, then went to the village of Peneszlek itself. The writer
subsequently described the thoughts which this trip had aroused in
the pages of the literary journal Kortars.

Darvas found the inhabitants of Peneszlek utterly insulted.
"We are now ashamed to admit that we are from Peneszlek," said
villagers working in town, "Because of this ill-fated writing we
now find ourselves mentioned even in the broadcasts of Free Europe,"
the owners of radio receivers remarked in a grievous tone. The
anger of the inhabitants of Peneszlek was directed not only against
the writer, but also against individual villagers who had "gossiped"
so much -- against the director of the school, who has given
Peneszlek 28 years of his life, against the chairman of the village
council, against the doctor and against the 20 year-old volunteer
nurse. "Where was the description of Peneszlek more truthfully
written," Darvas attempted to elicit from the young volunteer nurse,
"in 'Stagnant Water' or in the reports of the county newspaper?"
"In 'Stagnant Water,'" answered the young girl. "And which was more

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helpful?" asked a comrade from the county. "That which was written
by the county newspaper," the nurse said, embarassed.

As a result, as they say in the rubric, of "returning to
the scene of the crime," "the recorded facts were basically 
confirmed." Peneszlek, even according to statistical data, is one of
the most backward villages in the historically most backward county
in Hungary. It is no accident that it has been named the "Sicily"
of the country. After 1956 attempts to create cooperatives were
rejected in Peneszlek. The sons of peasants in this area have found
jobs as auxiliary workers in town and come home only on their day
off. The grandsons, who have studied in the local school, 
completely leave the village. And at a time when other villages,
farming on the very same kind of sandy soil, were beginning to
improve that soil to the degree that they had consolidated their
cooperatives, and had begun to create gardens and, with the aid of
the state, plant trees, in Peneszlek everything remained as before.

Everything? No, naturally not everything. The village has
acquired electricity; it has a completely modern school building
(in which, it is true, there is a chronic lack of teachers), and
it has a kindergarten and a medical center. Moreover, all 70
families, who had lived for decades in earth huts, have moved into
proper homes, albeit without the facilities available in urban
dwellings. One should also have written about this, said Darvas in
agreement with the inhabitants of Peneszlek. One should have reviewed
the entire experience of the past quarter century, with both its
successes and its failures.

However, Darvas continued, compared to the tempo of development
of the Hungarian village as a whole, the progress of Peneszlek is
equivalent to having marked time in one place. Actually, the picture
is even worse, for progress of this nature means that the backwardness
of Peneszlek and "untypical" villages similar to it will only grow
until a way is found to break out of this vicious circle. Antal
Vegh suggested that a "government commisar" be sent to such villages.
Darvas searches for another way. It is necessary, in his opinion,
to arouse the village (and Vegh's essay, with all its extremes,
can be the starting point). It is necessary to awaken the people
from their slumber to activity and to put into practice genuine
socialist democracy. Jozsef Darvas appeals to the young intelligentsia,

-4-

to the students of the Pedagogical Institute and to KISZ. Just
as a man needs air, Peneszlek needs the strength of its youth,
young teachers with initiative and young cultural workers. Take
away Peneszlek's patronage and bring to it contemporary socialist
civilization. Figuratively speaking, this is Hungary's virgin land:

Darvas directs his basic polemical blow against the 
"conformists," people who have made comfortable arrangements in the
county or district center or even in Peneszlek itself, and who have
once and for all explained away all of the existing faults and
troubles by objective historical reasons. Darvas repeats a thought
which is very popular now among Party publicists in Hungary: "It is
necessary for us Communists to be able to view ourselves critically
in order that we never yield to self-complacency....."

This affair was not ended by its publication in Kortars,
which, by the way, is very characteristic of contemporary Hungarian
life. The editorial board of the central Party newspaper, 
Nepszabadsag, convened a round table of Party workers, writers and publicists
Here the question was posed in a general way, as one of the principle
-- that is, as a question about the objectivity and partiinost of
the writer's view of life.

"The better the political leader, the more he is able to
derive lessons from a literary work like Vegh's essay," stated
Jozsef Darvas. "This is because a politician can discover in such
literature something which he frequently cannot discover by other
means."

"In documentary literature, we want to discover ourselves; we
want our historical achievements, with all of their difficulties
and mistakes, to be disclosed; we want literature to inspire people
to achieve new successes." This was said by Ferenc Orosz, First
Secretary of the Szabolcs Ssatmar County Party Committee, a man
who comes from a poor peasant's family with many children, and an
old friend and opponent of Darvas. "This task can in no way be
fulfilled," he said, "if the writer operates from a position of
opposition.'"

Writer Antal Vegh said:

I know that Peneszlek is by far not the entire
county, and therefore in my future book I wish

- 5 -

to also show such villages as Valja, where they
have constructed a wonderful house of culture
for two million forint and where the cooperative
member earns up to 100 forint a day. I want to
write this book very honestly, devoting it to
the 25th anniversary of the liberation of our
homeland.

Evaluating the results of the discussion, the editor-in-chief
of the newspaper, Janos Gosztonyi, remarked:

People who are the immediate possessors of
power are able to achieve a lot in their work,
but that which writers write and publish .... is
also power, and a not insignificant power which
can be used for good and for evil. Consequently, we
are talking about our general responsibility.

The first volumes of the "Discovery of Hungary" series
(altogether there will be more than 20) are now in process. Born
in fruitful discussions, in an atmosphere of Involvement, of
creative enthusiasm and civic responsibility, these small tomes 
cannot but render genuine literary aid to the cause of the people
and the nation. This will be neither malicious slander nor the
rosy idyll of the album keepers, i.e., something published "by
accident."

Jozsef Darvas, carried away by the conflict in Peneszlek
and hot on the scent, wrote a play which was very quickly put on
the stage at the National Theater in Miskolc, which borders
Szabolcs Szatmar County. In the discussion of the performance,
in which eminent critics, dramatists, Party workers and, last but
not least, guests from Szabolcs Szatmar, took part, it was said
that the debate had shaken people up and had forced them to look
around. Can we not also find such comfortable conformity among
ourselves? Have we not also become excessively accustomed to
"objective reasons" in our own Institutions? [B. Rodionov]

Translated by
William F. Robinson

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