HUNGARY Sin,=If the economic and political judgment of the Rev.
W. Bryn Thomas is as sound as his evalua- tion of distances, then indeed you had every reason to question his broadcast over Budapest Radio.
The Budapest underground was the first on the European continent, built more than fifty years ago, Its length is exactly the same as on the day of opening—about two miles; roughly one-tenth of the London Inner Circle. Prcibably no one told Mr. Thomas about the untold millions wasted on its ex- tension which was abandoned after more than two years of labour; a large amount of money is still being spent on keeping the roadbed from collapsing over it. Nor does he seem to know that this new underground was partly used as a camouflage for building a vast AVO underground headquarters and prison.
His figures as to the earnings of Hungarian workers are fantastic. In purchasing power the £ equals about 200 forints; the average monthly wage on this realistic basis is between £5 and £6. True, rents are much lower—for those who are fortunate to be housed by the State; less than 3 per cent, of the workers have this enviable privilege. Most of the new accommodation is reserved for party officials and leaders of the secret police.
Mr. Thomas brings up the hoary old argument about actors and artists having a better position in a Communist country. Indeed they have—as long as they serve the regime. But I think even an unem- ployed actor in England prefers his struggles to being told not only what but how he should act by, Say, the General Secretary of the Labour Party. Nor does Mr. Thomas seem to know that even the most popular actor has to work in films, radio, etc., in Hungary to earn a halfway decent living.
It is surely the height of cynicism to argue whether the writers sentenced to prison have been 'leading' authors or not. What matters is the principle that it is evil to send a writer to prison because he has fallen out with an odious regime. I have always detested the politics of Messrs. Dery, Hay, Zelk and -Tardos, but would do everything in •my power to free them. Mr. Dery, by the way, is reported to be dangerously ill and without proper medical treatment.
Finally, about the 171 writers who were supposed to have signed the anti-UN manifesto. Ninety-nine per cent, of these signatures were procured by threats and blackmail. Of this we have documentary proof. Even so, the organisers of this Potemkin demonstration slipped up. They appended the signa- ture of one writer who had left the country three months before the publication of the manifesto and is now settled in Belgium. Of course, he never signed it.
It is indeed for your readers to judge whether or not Mr. Thomas is speaking pernicious nonsense.— Yours faithfully,
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