I Was Not a Soviet Agent

János Kádár's Address
to the Central Committee of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party,
April 12, 1989

Iapologize for having asked for the floor first; this will be somewhat longer than usual. Some of you may not have heard me in a while; you should be able to take it. There are pluses and minuses to making off-the-cuff comments; prepared speeches, however, also have their disadvantages.
Allow me to make this remark: I have an illness, very similar to my wife's- weight loss. Both she and I keep losing weight. Medical opinion on this is as follows: My wife has been walking with a cane for the past five years, and the reason for this, and why she keeps losing weight, is because she underwent major stomach surgery while I was in prison. She was asked then to repudiate me, and when she refused, they forbade her to use her husband's name. She worked in a dismal basement workshop stuffing teddy bears with other women who, like her, were no longer that young. Once they recognized me there. They kept staring, amazed that she could put up with their knowing when I was sent to jail under our political system. I have another request to make. My problem is... the reason I am so forgetful, though most often I know what I want... and I am losing weight, too. My weight-I wonder if any of you ever thought I was bloated or paunchy-for years my weight remained constant. This is not confidential medical information; I don't only weigh myself in the doctor's office... The trouble with me is that my brain is in overdrive most of the time, and that takes a lot of energy. I didn't lose weight from my stomach, though. I always admit to my doctor that ever since I've been in a state where I can't talk, yet I am up and about, I have to weigh my words very responsibly.
You'll hear me say strange things today. What is my responsibility? Not what I said but what a Westerner was saying in the presence of Soviet tanks. He said that the Danube flows too swiftly. Plus I must think ahead when I'll be well and not sick; when an internist, my attending physician, a supervisory specialist says so. Not even he can say, no one can say how long my illness will last. It will certainly last longer than I reckoned on-at a time when the motor nerve in my hand had become paralysed. Not the sensory nerve, the motor nerve-I didn't even know they were two different things. Should my fingers get burnt I would be able to feel it but I wouldn't be able to move my thumb and my index finger.
All my life, whenever possible, I have spoken freely, without notes. And if I had to compose an important letter-I have witnesses for this-then I wrote it myself. All this in spite of the fact that I am a simple man, I had little schooling-four years of prewar elementary school and four years of prewar middle school, which was a little better then, they took things a little more seriously. A child learned to read and write at least; none of these unending reforms so that every year you start with a whole new system. And I will tell you something else; now I can. I once sat down with a group of people where I was sure my hang-ups would not get the better of me. I don't remember how many people were there, but I will declare in the presence of the Secretary General that he is not responsible for what I am going to say now. I was labouring under a misapprehension, you see. A misapprehension. He was heedless enough to... I asked him not to, since I wasn't just speaking for myself, I was bound by rules of order and discipline. If a cartoon shows three different people, it means the Party is at a loss, the membership is at sea. Then even if one person stands up, party members look in three directions. There may be a middle figure too, who will come to believe that all three people speak with authority. That's where my responsibility comes in.¹
Whatever you may say from now on, whatever that will be, I will not mind. They can shoot me for all I care. I am fully aware of my own responsibility now, and I will never name names;² will never suggest a name, except the person you will elect by secret ballot. And please let me have lots of water; I am nervous.
The trouble isn't only that many young people and other non-professionals will be sure to ask: what kind of sickness does he have if he is able to walk around? I believe all of you know-excuse me, not all of you, only those who have remained members of the Central Committee-the difference between the way I spoke before and after my operation. The doctor says my problem is that I am weighed down by my own sense of responsibility, for there is such a thing, of course. Now that you, Comrade Grósz, as the new Secretary General, were elected by secret ballot, you are not obliged to mention anyone by name from among the people who attended the meeting at which all those present, I don't know how many exactly, kept saying to me: "You are the Chairman of the Party, after all". And they droned on that he won't speak up and why won't he-he is the Chairman.
I knew why and therefore said-everyone who is to be interviewed has the right to make such a request-that if the interviewer didn't first put his questions in writing, or if the interviewee didn't agree with the questions posed, then he could refuse by saying "I won't give an interview". The other thing is that according to the new Hungarian way everything has to be documented.³

I am different now from what I was before. My illness has a lot to do with it; because I am racking my brains trying to give answers which would necessarily have to include that somebody like Comrade Péter or Comrade Grósz was there, in addition to others who may feel they are implicated-it's difficult to avoid this. Frankly, I can't think of anyone to whom I feel answerable right now.
My obsession stems from the following: If there is a recording device on the table and a picture is taken of that device, then I can't very well use a similar but hidden device. I don't want to use another word for it, because it's ugly, a jargon term.
Comrade Grósz is extremely considerate. And I think-this, too, can be documented, though not here: medical confidentiality in this case is binding, nobody can violate it, not even the doctors' superiors or the patient-I think therefore that I make my statements quite responsibly in order to satisfy even high-ranking men with no obligations to Hungary or her system of alliances.
Don't hold it against me that in my present condition I needed some notes; you may recall that after my operation I also needed them. I made no secret of this, and it is no reflection on the man who performed a very difficult operation- I want to be clear about this. He examined me around the beginning of September and said that he could do it with local rather than full anesthesia, he was ready-when could I have the time for it? I just stared ahead and said and I would like to apologize to that doctor now, who practically invented hand surgery. I said then that the only time it could be done was 15 November, realizing that his time was precious too, and it was my health that was at stake, after all. I would be the one taking the risk, as it turned out later. He noted the date. I asked him how he was going to do it. To which he answered, it's going to be similar to the operation I had on my palm. After a nine-day stay in the hospital and other checkups, begging your pardon, I appeared here, at a Central Committee session. I had to open the session; there were rules about that, the Secretary General has to open the session. So I said 15 November. But what happened in the meantime, processes nobody knows, nobody could predict, not even the man who invented hand surgery. The doctor said not to worry: it's possible to drain all the blood from the arm. You have no idea what strides have been made in microsurgery, he said. That was true, I had no idea; it's not something I pay attention to.
But then, I don't want to guess too wildly, around three weeks before the operation was to take place, the motor nerves in my hand got paralysed. I had no way of knowing of course how long microsurgery involving one's hand would take when the motor nerves had become paralysed, no one could know, not even the professor who invented this form of surgery could know what went on inside. I should have made sure to let the Party leadership know that nerve paralysis had already set in; but I didn't say a word. I don't have to name any names, though, I told anyone willing to listen that I couldn't move the thumb and finger; the motor nerves in these two were shot.
What was I to do? I was at fault here. Why? Because I undertook to be here on 7 November. I had to show solidarity with the newly nominated power centre, as the Political Committee and the Presidential Council. I wanted them to know this even in my paralysed condition. I said the same to the person who had asked for the interview-I don't think this is much of a secret any more. Important people vouched for him, it doesn't matter who, I won't name anyone, I'll just say he was said to be an absolutely reliable individual. I ask, what does that mean, what made him absolutely reliable? He said he fought with a gun against the counter-revolutionaries in '56. Good God, I thought to myself, what if they do him in for conducting an interview with me.
But, as I said, I never dictate speeches which I intend to be informal, and I could cite plenty of examples to support this. I wouldn't even dare to name those who represented non-party people at which party congress. I wouldn't dare, because I wouldn't want these people to get it in the neck for what they may have said about positions taken by the Party at the time. I told the person who asked for the interview that I couldn't give him a date yet; that would have made it seem urgent. He said, in a few weeks perhaps, and again I can't help but withhold his name. I told him that I can't say for sure until after the surgery. And after the operation I did tell anyone willing to listen that that's what an operation like this was all about, it took a certain amount of time.

But I decided-though I don't know to whom and why my presence was important-because I had become a scapegoat in the biblical sense. They elected me Chairman of the Party and now they think that I am still protecting the Party and the system. By speaking first, I make sure that no one but I bear the responsibility, because I committed a grave error. I said that if I can still write down my name clearly, and can still make marginal notes, then, I said to everyone, I will request, regardless of what some people might say, I will request that I should somehow be able to participate in active work. But the fact is that I could no longer participate in active work.
Whom could I still talk to? I could not fault Comrade Major, the Central Committee's spokesman, because he is terribly busy. They had to talk to me about the current situation-though I did say that I was ready to consult with department heads and secretaries if they are interested in taking advantage of that certain experience that I still had. But everyone is obliged by the decisions made by his own organisation, rather than listen to my opinion and experience! Although I am older than everyone else.
I should like to ask you now: I showed the doctor that there are other problems besides the paralysis. The nerves began to degenerate, the motor nerves; the paralysis lasted such a long time, atrophy set in, muscle atrophy. Anyone who is interested can try to do this himself: if you go like this, whether you're fat or skinny, there is a bulge; when I do it with my hand, it forms a hollow, the muscle does. It means it hasn't been functioning well for a long time, and God only knows when it will be right again.
Comrade Grósz has said in an interview or somewhere-I don't remember where-that the names of some people, more than a few, have been brought up, it's time for him to speak up. Other names are of no consequence, so I wouldn't have to mention them either, but I myself was on the top of the list, he said. But I am on sick leave now, and as long as I am on sick leave, I can't do anything anyway.
Imagine if you please that my wife is taking this muscle-developing preparation, which I mustn't take, but for her it's good-it's actually a child's nutrition supplement-but I am not allowed to take it, she said. And the doctor confirmed it: I am not allowed to take it because my problem is somewhat different. Day and night my brain turns over feverishly and that alone requires a lot of energy. Going over all the things I am responsible for. Believe me, the onetime members of the Central Committee were familiar with all my ailments, and I wouldn't want to make irresponsible statements. Usually I can come up with the right quotes for the press, but here, my main talking points I have to put down on paper. But now you must hear me out-I've heard it said that on 1 May I could possibly because I can walk, you understand-take part in the May Day celebrations, as in the old days, if only because I'll be in that area anyway. And to economize a little, my lunch need not be delivered to my home. Even though everyone has told me-doctors, everyone-that they'd be only too glad to call on me at home if I needed anything, I turned them down.
Now please note the doctor's opinion; it's very important. I was the first to speak before the Finns, who didn't organize a regular press conference, they were the first in line. I then proceeded to receive the British lady Prime Minister, whose visit, as you know, was the first in a so-called Communist country. I am familiar with Comrade Hegedűs's views; yes, I am. Historically speaking, he engaged in self-criticism for signing the letter, which the man who has since deceased didn't even acknowledge for about two days.
But then, please tell me what I should do, My most important objective by far at that time was to get to Szolnok in safety. Whichever way I could! Regardless of who I was surrounded by, I just had to get there. Plus I had other duties and responsibilities. I assumed responsibility, I really did, for the safety of those who sought refuge at the embassy. But I was as naďve as can be; I assumed the responsibility because I thought that my request that two of those people⁴ issue a statement so that officials of high rank should not be able to harp on legalisms-that this request would be met. Now then, historically, I, too, see everything differently. But if, complying with their request, I undertake an obligation, in writing, and I do not ask for objection from anyone, to see to it that they are safe, and being that these two men's request was that they be free to depart and return to their homes, I couldn't meet their request. Because... I never reread my old writings when I make a speech; if I did, I would be swayed by those earlier things. Believe it or not, I ignored even what was in that statement. Unfortunately, all the statement consisted of was one simple, declarative sentence. Afterward, that one sentence had all kinds of consequences.
You know very well what this means for people to whom the legality of a government is important. While you were voting for this by secret ballot, affirming that the legality of the Party is most important-well, if it wasn't a counterrevolution, then I don't know who can justifiably refer to that legality. I don't know who can. I read very carefully what I had written, and I hadn't called a single holder of power counter-revolutionary. Not even him. The only thing I said was that they opened the gates to counter-revolution. What should I do then? That's what this is called, a counter-revolution. I can't call it anything else! And I can't document it either, because the Yugoslav Ambassador told me-because he had never once mentioned the name that appears in the memoirs; he referred only to the capital of the country from which he received authorization to try to persuade these two persons. And he tried, too. He told me later: I've tried for three days straight to make them change their minds, without any success. And to tell you the truth I was happy when the Polish Ambassador called on me.⁵ Otherwise how on earth am I going to prove all this? I knew they were of a different opinion, but I found out only later. When I had time to read newspapers and listen to the radio, which was later.
You judge for yourself, in secret if you like, and then tell me what you think of this subtle but correct distinction in terminology, which, once I was no longer hampered by safety considerations, I even welcomed. The Ambassador kept referring to orders by his Party and government, to make it easier to bargain in that place which enjoyed diplomatic immunity.
You can approve any evaluation of my conduct that you like. But I know that when I was again free to move about, there were two newspapers published in Szolnok.⁶ God only knows who edited those papers, that was not uppermost in my mind at that time. So I don't know who the editors were, but word got around that in these papers I could safely say what I had to. For it wasn't just my responsibility that was on the line; my life and many other people's lives depended on my saying what I had to say. Don't hold it against me that now I have to put it this way. Supposedly, I can't even this much. One of the papers was edited by Friss, I think, and the other by Andics, though I would not swear to that. Both published the piece-the printing itself was rather primitive-and both papers were called Szabad Nép. It was also important who had control over the paper, for the main charge against me was that I was a Soviet agent. But I was not a Soviet agent, and I say this as responsibly as I possibly can; what is more, I can prove it to you.
The next charge was that I ended up in Soviet territory-how could that be? I still don't know how they let me go there in the first place. We call it the Sub- Carpathians; to the Soviets it is Carpathian Ukraine. Why did they let me enter it officially, and why provide with documents someone with whom I even got into an argument about where this place was. Of course he was younger than I.
What am I getting at? I believe I saw in a Szolnok paper-actually, in both there were articles with the same title: "An Informal Conversation". Such an odd title, appearing both on the 4th and the 6th. I never checked it out so I don't know which of the two papers carried it-I hope it was Friss's because I said something nasty about him; not crude but nasty.⁷ "An Informal Conversation," and it was said that contact was established, and the statement on radio. But the four men in public positions who broke with Imre Nagy's government practically had to flee. And at this point I don't want to accept Comrade Hegedűs's account, for though he engaged in self-criticism recently, and reported to me-at the time he was still on Soviet soil, in the Soviet Union. He reported to me, and now I have a request to make. I will not cheat. Not in any sort of reminiscence. But of course the journalist is a little upset now, because he doesn't really know what happened then, or what is going on now, that I won't grant him an interview, although he had already taken a picture of something, for starters-a picture of the device into which you have to speak. Let's face it, there are interviews and there are reminiscences, and the two are not the same. But I can't say anything else, for if they claim that only reminiscences count, then I'd have to add that there are many different kinds of reminiscence. As they say, one only remembers the nice things in life. But if he says to me, he being Hegedűs, who reported to me that he would like to do scholarly work, then I see him as a saintly man, whatever he writes, for he assumed all the responsibility back then. Because he knew, too, that the Soviet government, whether he was on Soviet soil or wherever, insisted on the prime minister's signature on the request for intervention.
I too had to sign somewhere, God only knows where. But with me it's a more or less passive knowledge-if a brick fell on my head right now, I may just start speaking Russian, I've heard enough translations, so much, in fact, that I already thought that I understood kitchen Russian. Still, even when I went there on holiday, I was provided with an interpreter. If I didn't take somebody along from Hungary, there was a Soviet one. Some of them were also on vacation. I told one of the interpreters that he can only come with me if he spends half his time on vacation too. A Hungarian. No longer alive.
But you tell me what I could do if the first question is already not one I have prepared an answer to. I cannot be proud of this, I cannot. When... surely everyone here knows the meaning of responsibility. It means hours and minutes during which you've got to act; and it's not just your life that's at stake but the lives of God knows how many other people. I can offer proof for this, too. Yes, I have the proof as to why they didn't intervene. I can't refer to the famous "Pula speech," but I can to other things.⁸
One of them is that the Romania of those years-this is why you need a historical approach and a good memory-was different from what it is today. Then, the first prime minister was a man with his home in Transylvania, where he founded a Romanian political party, and it would have been inconceivable for this man to persecute Hungarians because he got the votes of both Hungarians and Romanians living there at that time.
The next problem is that they promised. At that time the university⁹ was named after two famous nineteenth-century figures: a Hungarian mathematical genius and a high-minded and very progressive Romanian philosopher. But from the nineteenth century. Now then, as I said before, whenever possible, I spoke without notes, and the daily correspondence, the letters I considered important-if someone, regardless of his occupation, asked for some favour from, say, the Metropolitan Council-these things I myself wrote down and the typist then transcribed them. Even in those cases I never dictated letters. Only when it came to official speeches.
For example, I ran into Professor Kodály. I think everybody knows that he was somebody in the whole world in music. I myself was naďve as can be, as he kindly put it, who believed and had faith in a world revolution. Because they never uttered the name of Lenin. And I was horrified: Does this mean that the leader of the October Socialist Revolution, for that's what he was-that his name cannot be spoken any more?
I had other troubles as well. For this passive self-defence of mine, I couldn't get together the necessary notes, because the thing with my arm lasted longer than anyone had thought; my whole arm had to be drained of blood. I don't want to go into the details; it would take a specialist to do that-he did actually give me a spinal anaesthetic. The inventor of the procedure said that such an operation without general anaesthesia, double anaesthesia would last only an hour.
You will understand why I want to be done with the medical stuff. Was I upset that you're not allowed to say Lenin's name any more? I wanted to speak up somewhere but couldn't. I couldn't write notes. I told Comrade Grósz that I even get the names mixed up and don't hear the word comrade before certain names, and I keep referring to people who are long dead. But who in the world would have thought that people who had been in perfect health would be gone by now, when they are asking questions about them. It may be stupid, excuse me, to talk about what Comrade Grósz said, officially that I was ready even after the paralysis had set in to accept duties but without a deadline for this Party, this allocated or appointed Party, or weekly paper. No deadline, I said. The same way, the first time the apparatus or I don't know who was allowed to come to see me, then even in confidential conversation with just three of us present it was mentioned with whom I had the opportunity to talk. So that they should be able to take note of experience, which was not obligatory for anyone at any time. So, if you'll allow me, I will refer to one other thing. There was a famous person, the so-called little old gentleman¹⁰, who proudly came over to me at a government reception to tell me that he had the guts to return not all the way to the centre of Moscow-for those who had been convicted because of political or other activities were not allowed, even after their release, to enter the city-but at least near the city. He thought I would happily congratulate him. I told him, that is all very nice, but I hope I'll live to see the day when Soviet leaders will indulge in a little self-criticism in this matter. In short, then, the doctor told me that the one thing he will not allow me to do is speak if there is a recording device anywhere nearby, because I may stumble over words, fluff my lines, so, forgive me for saying it, but I don't know what I should do... How long have I been talking? I'll be finished soon. What I cannot endure is to remain passive and not be able to respond to things. I cannot stand that, so there! That is what's making me ill. My own illness is different from my wife's. What is memory, anyway? And what do we mean by leaks? Because the news about those clamouring for free platforms had already been leaked, and there were pitched battles between people demanding such a freedom. And then the doctor told me that I should not risk an unrehearsed speech. A responsible first speech on a crucial subject should not be approached lightly, he said; otherwise he can't guarantee that he will go on certifying me as being healthy. The muscle has begun to atrophy. He said he wouldn't recommend it. (It was a confidential consultation, since only a physician can be present when frank medical views are discussed.) He wouldn't recommend it, so I told him, I'll do it at my own risk. Even if I make mistakes, I'll go for it, because I am a very old man and have so many ailments, I wouldn't even care if somebody blew my brains out... Excuse me. I just want to say a few more words. Please note that if I ever were to write my memoirs, for sooner or later I will have to, I will only write the truth. I don't know if you remember the puppeteer Obraztsov. He once wrote a foreword to a book. I also take full responsibility for everything I did, for as he put it in that foreword, it all depends on what step you are on at a given moment. But I thought this was at the time I was leading a delegation to Moscow. It wasn't, although I have a witness for that event too. Obraztsov was an elderly man, older than I. It was at that Party Congress, the 22nd-my wife was there too-where we heard everything, including what the "cult of personality" was really all about. Things came to light at the 21st Congress, not political ones. But at the 22nd Congress-that dreadful toast of Khrushchev's lasted an hour and a half, in which he tried to explain why they were forced to resort to unlawful means and kill Beria. You know, that was part of it, don't you? And if I won't tell you why I had once believed the show trials, the so-called show trials to be imperialist fairy tales, then I'd have to say that the later stories would also have to be considered untrue. I first heard about them after the 20th Party Congress from Rákosi, who said almost the same thing that Khrushchev did, but Rákosi added that we here were past all that. By then we had had the Rajk affair. Which turned out to be a prearranged trial. That's what such things are called here. Now then, let's say: okay, I am an idiot, I'll go along with that, too. But then, the doctor says that every time I say something like this I should quickly take it back. I can't take it back-everyone tells me I am still here, alive, I should speak up. And if the doctor, who is responsible for the state of my health, now tells me that there is a hollow here in my hand, and it will take another half year at least for it to heal, then won't it sound ridiculous that I had got myself ready, mentally, way before the operation, yet nine days after the palm surgery, my hand is still in a cast. Then again, many people live like this. And even in that condition I could bring myself to open that Party session and tell everyone not to worry, all that was in the past, no longer relevant. Yet, now I can't bring myself to say it. I will look ridiculous, and so will everybody else.
Do you still remember that Party conference, to which I referred to before, and for which I still get ribbed? So there is no such thing as freedom of platforms? Pluralism? Freedom of platforms even within the Party? Someone saying he really doesn't understand why I don't speak out? What am I to do now...? Please don't be annoyed with me for speaking at such length; I told you this was going to be quite long. I still have to tell you who it was that first told me about those things. And say also why I felt that the term "cult of personality" didn't quite cover it. I mean, the things that came out at the 22nd Party Congress! At the 21st, when I was in the capital city Moscow myself, I no longer remember what kind of questions were on the agenda, agricultural ones maybe, but they were nothing like the issues raised at the next congress. It will also be clear why I couldn't possibly be a Soviet agent; because if I knew all that, I wouldn't have believed, as Party Secretary of Pest County, those horror stories that came down in the balloons.¹¹
(Comrade Grósz: Should we take a break?)
No; I was going to make an even sillier suggestion, but now I won't. You people should decide whether or not they are historians, and as such, what kinds of documents they would rely on. And you should invite those who announced that they'd show you their private archives... Because I have offended a number of other people, too. For what I saw in the cruder of those two papers-the printing wasn't the same-what it said, actually, it was a learning experience to see the controversy this interview, these two parallel interviews, had caused, one done on the airplane, the other commenting on events who knows how. Because I said one and the same thing in that Szolnok newspaper. But the paper is not in my possession at the moment. And that stamp, which was used in responses to greetings from abroad, was always kept in its own holder, like a real seal; that's how it's kept clean. If someone sent me greetings, then-since, as I said before, I cannot write because of my hand-this became the authorised version of my signature. Many people received it. I authorized X and Y, and it turned out that the plate inside is made of metal, and a good thing it is. Still, I was under the impression that it broke. It was an old thing, long out of date, but the signature is still being sent out, and everybody knows that my secretary still uses it or says so, and then other assistants have to go along with it. It can't be pleasant or interesting for them now that I want to get a hold of this thing. Forgive me. Back to when I was County Party Secretary and called a meeting to tell party activists that the fliers were imperialist fabrications. Two weeks later I had to tell them that they were true.
On that certain 22nd Party Congress, it all came out into the open. I remember the things that were revealed made someone like György Marosán quite sick. What is behind it all?, he wondered. Then I was happy for once that I cannot read by scanning-first sentences always stick with me. What Khrushchev said, for instance, when he was made to resign. He thanked their sense of humanism. Though that was later. What he meant by that sentence was that they didn't want to go to Leningrad, because there they would have had to admit that what had happened to him was something like a rigged trial. And for this reason they didn't let him receive by himself the members of the press-Hungarian journalists, of all people, but only because they happened to be there. The entire Politbureau insisted on being present to make sure he didn't say anything about what had just happened to him. I think all of this can be documented. I can still see him expressing his thanks for everything, with everybody acting so dignified. He probably said that when they already agreed that it was going to be a closed meeting, but not that all the delegates would get copies of the proceedings. And if there were a hundred and twenty delegates there, they couldn't all be true Communists. Forgive me for saying this.
But the point I'm trying to make is that the doctor said I cannot hold forth anymore on important matters... When, before a three-day weekend, somebody wishes me happy holidays, I could scream, because we just sit at home, my wife and me; she cannot go anywhere, and neither can I. What sort of three-day holiday could we possibly have when she and I have the same problem?
Comrades! Can we still use the word 'Comrade' here? Because in Parliament you can't anymore. Please remember that if I should ever write my memoirs, I would stick to the principle summed up by that jocular fellow, the Russian puppeteer, addressing his words to young people and saying that he embraced his whole past. I don't know if this corresponds to what I said in those articles in the journals Kommunist and Magyarország. I certainly don't want to cause trouble-after all, I've been a member of the Hungarian Communist Party for fifty-seven of its seventyyear- long existence. I could never not tell the truth, though I still don't want to be a troublemaker and want to keep serving the cause of unity. I don't know if anyone can pick my statements apart; all of them were made publicly, in Hungary. In this case I insisted that it was not only in Moscow that I dared to say this. What's more, at the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Hungarian Communist Party, I said the same thing in the Soviet Union, because obviously they asked me to.
Now I will really be brief. If you got tired listening to all this, rest assured: I did too. I risked a lot by coming out like this, and it's not the first time I do it. I will insist that a certain, not well-liked head of state¹² who behaves very badly will be referred to only by the geographical location of his country. And I will never call just anyone a comrade, that's how stubborn I can be. I can still tell who is a comrade and who isn't. But I don't like to say anything about any witness who testified for the prosecution, nor about an opposed witness, who happens not to be alive anymore. I can't help it if such questions arise after thirty-two years and so many Party congresses and conferences later. Please note, though, that no one has ever pronounced judgment on whether it was called a counter-revolution or a popular uprising. When I gave my statement back then, I said quite clearly: a peaceful student demonstration, and then an uprising. I didn't characterize the events as some kind of counter-revolution. And I was referring both to the participants and the sequence of events. Otherwise no one will understand why I spoke the way I did.
As for the other thing, that started on the 28th, when unarmed people, on the bases of their clothes or complexion, were murdered as in a pogrom. And these people were killed well before Imre Nagy and his associates. If I don't look back on this from a historical perspective, then I could safely say, but from a distance of thirty years, yes, I feel sorry for all of them. So if you notice me making a slip, or if I don't refer by name to a head of state who is not well-intentioned toward us, and if I won't call just anyone a comrade, you'll know... And that nagging word, bandied about for a long time, will never be found in my reminiscences. That is the only way I can give my name to it. Thank you very much.
As I lived my life, I will answer, in turn, the most burning questions-whatever seems pressing now and what torments me still. Answers to why I haven't spoken.
Thank you very much.

Károly Grósz: Thank you, Comrade Kádár (applause). Comrades, I suggest that we take a break.

Translated by Ivan Sanders

1 Kádár felt anxious about Party unity and also the authority of Károly Grósz, his successor. "Three different people" refers to Grósz and two reformists, Imre Pozsgay and Rezső Nyers, who were co-opted by the leadership. The latter two made no secret of their own opinions when they issued statements- something that was natural at the time, but would have been inconceivable under Kádár.
2 "I will never name names"-he will not have his say in the election of his successor or the new Party leadership.
3 The subject is the interview which he was asked to give and to which he keeps on referring, in and out of context. When speaking about his 1956 stay in the Transcarpathian Ukraine, on his way to Moscow, he gets back to the interview and reproaches those responsible for making secret documents available to the journalist.
4 Imre Nagy and Géza Losonczy (1917-1957). The latter was a journalist who edited the Party newspaper after 1945 and rose to become a deputy minister before being imprisoned on trumped-up charges of "nationalist conspiracy" in 1951. He was rehabilitated in 1954 and, alongside Imre Nagy, rose to become a leading oppositionist within the Party. As a member of Nagy's cabinet, he accompanied the Prime Minister in taking refuge in the Yugoslav Embassy whence-in the face of promises made by Kádár and the Yugoslav Ambassador-they were spirited away to Romania, along with the other asylum seekers, including György Lukács, Ferenc Donáth, Miklós Vásárhelyi, Zoltán Vas, Mrs László Rajk and Gábor Tánczos. Losonczy did not live to be arraigned in the Nagy trial, as he died in prison under circumstances that remain unclear to the present day. Obviously he, too, would have received a death sentence.
5 Gomulka and the Polish leadership also tried to help in finding a solution to the situation in Budapest. They would have preferred a compromise between Moscow and Imre Nagy.
6 When, after the November 4 Soviet military occupation of Budapest, Kádár returned to Hungary from Moscow, he spent a few days in Szolnok, 100 km east of Budapest, awaiting the completion of the pacification of the capital. Szabad Nép was the Party daily. During the Revolution the title was changed to Népszabadság to disassociate it from its past-the two are near synonyms and near homonyms (Free People and People's Freedom). The Stalinist Erzsébet Andics, brought back from Moscow with Kádár-against his will-restarted Szabad Nép. Kádár stopped publication after a few days and sent Erzsébet Andics back to Moscow. Népszabadság continued as the Party daily.
7 For a few months, in the winter of 1956-7, Népszabadság was edited by István Friss. Friss also returned to Hungary from Moscow after November 4, and he also spent a few days in Szolnok, awaiting the pacification of Budapest.
8 On November 11, Tito, in Pula, in a speech, attempted to justify Yugoslav policy, explaining why they sided with Kádár against Imre Nagy. His words allowed one to presume that they would not defend Imre Nagy and his associates, who had sought refuge in the Yugoslav Embassy. On the other hand, he referred to the Soviet intervention as a "necessary bad move". The Moscow Pravda reacted with indignation to these words.
9 The university that was established in Kolozsvár-Cluj in 1872, with Hungarian as the language of tuition, became a Romanian university after the Treaty of Trianon, then reverted to Hungarian during the Second World War, following the second Vienna Award. After the war, the Groza administration established two universities, one Hungarian and one Romanian, symbolically named after two famous Transylvanian-born scientists: the Hungarian mathematician János Bolyai and the Romanian physician Victor Babes¸ (whom Kádár incorrectly calls a philosopher). Later, taking advantage of Hungary's weakened position, the Romanian government went against earlier promises by reducing the scope of autonomy for the country's Hungarian minority, combining the universities into one, the Babes-Bolyai.
10 The reference is to a short story by József Lengyel, himself a former inmate. He was one of the first in the Soviet Bloc to tell the world what went on in the Gulag.
11 Radio Free Europe spread the text of Khrushchev's secret speech with fliers, with the help of balloons.
12 Kádár is here trying to explain that Romania, in 1956, was nothing like the Ceaus¸escu regime, and that he therefore felt justified in trusting the Romanians. By this point, Kádár had noticeably tired. His thinking had become even more confused, his associations jumping more swiftly from the University in Cluj (Kolozsvár) to Zoltán Kodály and on to the state of his own health in a manner that is difficult to follow.