Which Way to Freedom?

India's Premier Jawaharlal Nehru, who spent 14 of his 67 years in jail for his political beliefs, and entitled his autobiography Toward Freedom, was not clear about what was happening to freedom in Hungary. So he sent a note to Soviet Premier Bulganin and asked for the facts. Bulganin quickly obliged and Nehru thanked him in a pleasant message ("Your own country has taken a lead in the campaign for peace," but, "as you know, developments [in Hungary] have caused us much concern"). Then Nehru passed on the "facts" to his 377 million people.

What appears to have occurred in Hungary, Nehru explained to a Congress Party meeting in Calcutta, is an internal affair, civil conflicts on a rather large scale. "Much of the trouble occurred after Rus sian troops were withdrawn ... It was at this stage--something that is not quite clear--that the government almost ceased to function. The government split up, and one faction--maybe the bigger faction--called itself the government, and pushed the smaller faction and the Premier out. The new government invited the Soviet forces to come back and quell the disturbances. I am giving the facts without any comment. The Soviet forces thereupon came back and dealt with a heavy hand with the people who were rebelling against the new government. This so far as I know is the story. Details I do not know."

In Bombay, addressing Socialists from 23 nations, Burma's Premier U Ba Swe had no such difficulty determining the facts or responding to them. Said he: "Russia has shot down hundreds of people whose only guilt was to ask Russians to leave Hungary."

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