Tag #136188 - Interview #78496 (Miklos Kallos)

I didn’t look at the Hungarian revolution of 1956 [24] with the eyes of a Hungarian. It is true that I activated in the field of the Hungarian culture, as I was the editor-in-chief of the Hungarian-speaking magazine of the Writers’ Union in Cluj; the magazine was called ‘Utunk’ [‘Our Way’]. Apart from my academic career, I always worked in the media too. The staff of this magazine ‘enjoyed a special attention’ from the party leaders; they all had their eyes on us, lest the Hungarian locals should cause them any troubles. Party hotshots came to visit us on an almost daily basis; I met people like Leonte Rautu or Miron Constantinescu several times, because I had that position at the magazine. Meetings were held with the Hungarian writers – those were agitated times.

Back then, my mind didn’t let me see what was happening in Hungary as a revolution. On the one hand, I was glad there was an uprising against the regime of Rakosi [25], which was at least as oppressive as Ceausescu’s regime would become later; on the other hand, I couldn’t and wouldn’t realize that the system per se was endangered.

After all, none of the slogans of that revolution urged to rid ourselves of Socialism. People were calling for Socialism with a human face. There was no question about it. People were fighting against terror, but didn’t question the system itself. All they wanted was the system to become better, more democratic, more humanized.