Blue Serge in the Back Room

Since the Truman Doctrine has checked the Communist drive in the stronger half of the world, the Reds last week were busy with the next best thing--digging their trenches in the weaker half of the world they have held since the war's end. Some of the trenches:

In Hungary, the country's Communist boss, Matyas Rakosi, last week crowed that the Government had been seized "before the U.S. could rub its eyes." Another Communist leader, Zoltan Vas, Hungary's economic dictator, said: "I cannot deny that we have a large number of Hungarian Nazis in our party. But I would rather have them than businessmen or capitalists." Behind closed doors and drawn blinds, Budapesters heard foreign broadcasts telling of President Truman's protest (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS) that the Soviet maneuver in Hungary was "an outrage."

In Bulgaria, Communist Boss Georgi Dimitrov suddenly discovered a "plot" involving stubborn Nikola Petkov, leader of the opposition Agrarian Party, which holds about a quarter of the seats in the National Assembly. As he was led away by the police, Petkov shouted: "This is nothing but a prolongation of what has already happened in Hungary."

In Yugoslavia, Marshal Tito jailed his only real opposition, scholarly Dragolyub Yovanovich, a lone "No" vote in a Communist Government. Yovanovich was charged with being a "spy" for the U.S. Some time ago Tito had said: "Those who persist in hindering the creation of a better future . . . will have to disappear from the face of the earth." Since Tito made this ominous threat a number of "spies" had been executed.

In Austria, Communists began a "war of nerves" against the Government, warned that Russia would never sign a peace treaty if Austria's "Western orientation" continued.

In Czechoslovakia, citizens wondered if they were next on the list. Andrei Vishinsky, Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister, was enjoying a "rest cure" at the famed curative spa of Carlsbad.

Rumania was quiet and safe for the Communists. Its Premier, white-haired Petru Groza, recently visited Budapest to renew acquaintances of student days. At a dinner attended by Rakosi, where wine flowed freely and violins played haunting gypsy music, Groza explained Eastern Europe in personal, precise terms. From a member of the intimate group of pro-Communist "boys in the back room," TIME heard this memorable quote from Groza:

"You think Rumania is a Communist country, and wonder what I am doing in the Government? Well, I have been Minister in many previous Governments, wealthy since childhood. Whatever I touch turns to gold. I've always had a special liking for women, sport and the luxuries of life.

"You'd think I must be unhappy in today's Rumania. But most definitely I am not. When I get up, the first thing I see is the sun. It always rises in the east, and it is undeniably red.* That symbolizes a lot for Rumania. And as you can't change the state of things in the world any more than you can change the course of the sun, it's best to accommodate yourself to it. When in doubt, I just look at the sun. I know the answer."

Fellow-Traveler Groza sometimes wears dapper checks and sometimes snappy white linen suits. On his visit to Budapest he was in full Communist regalia--a double-breasted blue serge suit.

*Groza took no heed of the old mariners' weather rhyme:

Red sky at night, sailors' delight;

Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.

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