Ext 6116/46(S) 'Secret Weekly Political Intelligence Summaries, nos 356-416, August 1946-November 1947' [‎134r] (269/978)

13
were yet another party which just talked
about needs of the South and did nothing.
Failure to act in the past has undoubtedly
been partly due to the poor resources of the
Italian Exchequer, but money is now avail
able in the Lira Fund, and the economic
b^^hts to be reaped are inestimable.
THE VATICAN
In sending Mr. Myron Taylor again to
the Vatican President Truman explained
once more, for the benefit of those American
citizens who see danger lurking in its
mysterious proximity, that the object of
Mr. Taylor’s missions was to resume the
work he had been doing in collaboration
with the Pope on the moral foundations of
a peaceful world. “ An enduring peace,”
wrote the President in his letter of intro
duction, “ can be built only upon Christian
principles,” and of these principles are
respect for truth, justice, and the freedom
of individuals and groups. In his reply the
Pope repeated the doctrine that man is
antecedent to Society, which exists to help
him in the legitimate exercise of his God-
given rights ” . . . . “ Once the State makes
itself the source of the rights of the human
person man is forthwith reduced to the
condition of a slave or a mere civic com
modity to be exploited for the selfish aims
of a group that happens to have power.”
SOUTH-EAST EUROPE
Hungary
Political tension increased towards the
end of the electoral campaign, but apart
from the disturbances during which MM.
Pfeiffer and Keresztes were injured (see
last week’s Summary) and minor incidents
at some of Er. Balogh’s meetings, the last
weeks have been particularly calm. The
Ministry of the Interior has attributed the
failure to provide police protection for
M. Pfeiffer’s Csongrad meeting to lack of
co-operation by the local police. All
Speeches, except those delivered over the
radio, were prohibited during the three
days prior to the election. The press con
tinued to serve as a medium for propa
ganda, and in this respect the Opposition
was at a disadvantage since only Fr.
Balogh’s Party and the Bourgeois Demo
crats ran daily newspapers. Throughout,
the Communists have had the best publicity
services, the Social Democrats coming a
long way second.
So far as the secrecy of the ballot is
concerned the Election was conducted irre
proachably. Three confidential observers
from each of the Parties represented on the
list for any particular constituency were
entitled to be present at the polling station
and to supervise the counting of the votes
by the Secretary Committees which in
cluded members of the Coalition and
Radical Parties. Every facility for travel
and observation was allowed to foreign
journalists. The two principal irregu
larities reported are a further purge of the
electorate on the eve of the election, and
multiple voting which assumed such scan
dalous proportions that one man is alleged
to have possessed 70 permits, while in some
areas the allocation of votes was ap
parently exhausted by ‘ ‘ flying voters ’ ’
before all the electors who were legally
entitled to vote had arrived at the polling
booths.
According to the figures at present avail
able the Communists who emerged as the
largest single Party have increased their
representation from 16-9 to 21-5 per cent.
The Democratic People’s Party of M.
Barankovics comes next with the sur
prisingly high poll of 16 per cent., while
the Smallholders have dropped from 57 per
cent, in the last election to 15 per cent., and
the Social Democrats from 17-6 to roughly
15 per cent. M. Pfeiffer’s Party obtained
14 per cent, of the total votes, and all the
other Parties less than 10 per cent.
Indignation at the wide-scale electoral
abuses has momentarily united the non-
Communist Parties, and M. Ries, who
stands on the extreme left of the Social
Democrats, has tendered his resignation in
protest against M. Rajk’s refusal to
punish those responsible. He is known to
have the support of other leading members
of the Party. Before the election M. Bohm
had already suggested Social Democratic
abstention as a possibility if His Majesty’s
Government viewed the measures of
disfranchisement—then estimated as
affecting between 4 and 5 per cent, of the
electorate—^with disfavour. It seems im
probable, however, that there will be any
serious demand for a new election, since
such a course might arouse the hostility of
the Soviet Union. Moreover, the Social
Democrats must feel grave concern at the
unexpectedly high returns of M. Baran
kovics’ and M. Pfeiffer’s Parties, as these
indicate the degree of influence which the
Church still exercises over political life,
and would almost certainly avoid any step
likely to strengthen their position.
The Hungarian Government have pro
claimed the satisfaction felt by the nation
on hearing that Russia had ratified the
Peace Treaty. According to the declara
tion, the fact that this occurred before the