HUNGARY AFTER GLASNOST
183
is also something in the situation that would indicate we ought to
wait rather than act. That means, of course, that many things hap–
pen behind the scenes. Today, someone here asked me why Prime
Minister Gr6sz was here this year, and if he will resign from his post
as a minister president. That shows how public opinion abroad can
misunderstand what goes on. This spring Gr6sz took over the
government and the party from Kadar. (I don't know if you know
that Kadar had been party secretary in Hungary since 1956. That's
a very long time. You have a president for eight years. We had one
leader for thirty-two years, and it seemed longer.) And then Gr6sz
did something unusual: he became the prime minister and general
secretary of the Hungarian party all at once. At the time, he said it
was an emergency situation that wouldn't last long, and that he
would resign from the prime ministership. But now it is very difficult
to improvise, to know what will happen in Hungary and in its politi–
cal situation. We are really up in the air. To summarize a very criti–
cal situation : it is critical economically; the Hungarian rate of infla–
tion is very high, about 20
%
this year; the population's economic
situation over the last three years has gotten worse and worse. Peo–
ple are intolerant, there is a crisis. When I tell people here that
in
Hungary there is an explosive situation, it seems incomprehensible .
But I think that this is important to keep in mind. In fact, Franz–
Joseph Strauss, the late German prime minister, said that it is very
important for Hungary and Central Europe to maintain the equili–
brium, that there shouldn't be an explosion, which would
be
danger–
ous.
If
the situation shifts, it may swing over. These are the most im–
portant things that I can tell you .
William Phillips:
Maybe one of our Hungarian friends would like to
add something to what Dr. Hidas has said?
Judith
Sdkdcs:
It may be of interest for you to know that in the past
two years book editions no longer are a state monopoly, and that a
number of private editors have started a few minor journals. Now
we have many publications in Budapest, and it is amazing. As I
pointed out to a friend the other day, we would have felt uneasy even
to read some of them five years ago . Now these books and publica–
tions are available and displayed in our corner bookshops. And quite
a lot of reprints are back again in the bookstores; there are new
enterprises, and young people are trying to speed up the publica–
tions process. Before, you handed in a manuscript and it got printed
sometimes many years later. By the time it appeared, it might be
outdated. So there are healthy aspects in what's going on.
