Putting on the Pressure

In the Communist book, no index of success or failure is more sternly noted than the degree of farm collectivization. Among the satellites, impoverished Bulgaria ranks highest, with 95%. Hungary ranks second to last, ahead only of Poland. Ever since the Hungarian revolt, when farmers up and left the collectives, the Communist leaders have had a hard time getting them back. Last December Hungary's Party Boss Janos Kadar confessed to Moscow that only 17% of the land was collectivized, and added, "We know we are behind other Socialist countries . . . but we are moving ahead as quickly as we can."

First he tried simple pressure. University students got letters warning them that they would be expelled if their farmer parents did not socialize. In factories, workers from farming families who would not join the collectives were fired. Finally the party ordered into the villages "500 comrades much experienced in political and organizational work" to help teams of local Communists "encourage" farmers to sign up in collectives.

Just what this encouragement amounted to became evident in a letter a Hungarian villager recently slipped out to a friend abroad: "Again today eight people have been taken to the party district committee. You cannot imagine what their fate will be. G. was cruelly beaten yesterday. His hair was torn out, and he was kicked and then sat upon. The poor man continued to say, 'I won't sign.' In A. [a neighboring village] things are the same. They beat up 29 people and forced them to join collectives. There is not a day that passes that 40 or 50 men don't come through the village looking for people who have not joined . . ."

A few weeks of this was enough. As spring planting time neared. Kadar made a triumphant report: 200,000 farmers had joined the collectives since Jan. 1, and Hungary is 40% collectivized. "The unexpected progress of collectivization," said Kadar, "shows that we have correctly assessed our task . . . because we have trusted the masses."

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