The Naked Communist (33 page)

However, because of continued unrest and resistance to Communism, Khrushchev was sent back to the Ukraine as its political dictator in 1938. Once again the people were subjected to a vast purge. So violently did they react to this new barbarity that when World War II broke out and the Nazis moved in the Germans were welcomed by the Ukrainians as liberators. Nikita Khrushchev never forgave them for that. Before fleeing toward Moscow, he poured out his vengeance against them. Official reports show that when the Nazis arrived, they found numerous mass graves. In one area alone there were over 90 mammoth burial plots containing approximately 10,000 bodies of "peasants, workers and priests," each with hands tied behind the back and a bullet in the head.

After the Germans were driven out in 1944, Khrushchev once more returned to the Ukraine grimly determined to annihilate "all collaborationists." Whole segments of the population were deported, a complete liquidation of the principal Christian churches was launched, "people's leaders" were arrested and executed, and the NKVD was turned loose on the populace with a terrible ferocity intended to terrorize the people and eliminate all resistance to the Communist reoccupation. "Hangman of the Ukraine" became the people's title for Nikita Khrushchev.

By 1949 Khrushchev had so completely demonstrated his total dedication to Stalin that he was returned to Moscow as the secretary of the powerful Central Committee. He was then given the assignment of trying to make the sluggish centralized farms produce more food. Khrushchev used terror tactics to get more work and more produce, but he failed. Khrushchev could raise only enough food to keep the people at a bare-subsistence level. This was the status of Khrushchev at the time of Stalin's death.

When Stalin died March 5, 1953, he left a bristling nest of problems for his quarreling Communist comrades. Each Red leader carefully eyed his competitors, weighing the possibility of seizing power. Khrushchev immediately went to work maneuvering for a position of strategic strength. Compared to the other Red leaders, Khrushchev was described both inside and outside of Russia as "low man on the totem pole."

The first in terms of strength was Malenkov, secretary of Stalin, who had charge of all secret Communist files. It was said he had collected so much damning evidence on the others that they tried to curry his favor by pushing him forward as the temporary head of the government.

The second in line was Beria, hated leader of the secret police and an administrator of the nuclear development program, all of which gave him a hard core force of 2,000,000 armed men.

The third in line was Molotov, intimate Bolshevik associate of Stalin himself and the most shrewd, deceptive diplomat Soviet Russia had ever produced.

The fourth in line was Bulganin, official representative of the Communist Party in the Red Army and therefore the Army's principal politician.

The fifth in line was Khrushchev, head of the State collectivized farms.

Many people did not take Khrushchev seriously. They thought of him merely as the paunchy, bullet-headed hatchet man of Stalin. But Khrushchev took himself seriously. Doggedly and desperately he pushed for every possible personal advantage. His method was to use an old Communist trick which is the very opposite of "divide and conquer." His technique was to "unite and conquer."

First he united with Premier Malenkov. He convinced Malenkov that Beria was his greatest threat, his greatest enemy. In December, 1954, Beria and his associates were arrested and shot.

Now Khrushchev united with Bulganin to get rid of Malenkov. Khrushchev told the bearded political army leader that he (Bulganin) should be premier instead of Malenkov. Bulganin heartily agreed. Immediately there was a shift of power behind the scenes which permitted Bulganin to replace Malenkov by the spring of 1955.

Molotov was the next to fall. He had no machine in back of him but had depended upon his prestige as Stalin's partner. Suddenly he found himself exiled to the Mongolian border.

Now the partnership of Bulganin and Khrushchev began running the entire Communist complex. But Khrushchev was not through. His next step was to persuade Bulganin to force Marshal Zhukov of World War II fame into retirement and to demote other key officials in the government. Some of these officials were the very ones who had originally sponsored Khrushchev's promotions in previous years. Suddenly they found themselves politically emasculated. By destroying his friends as well as his enemies, Khrushchev felt he was preventing them from regrouping and ousting him the way he was ousting them.

Finally Khrushchev was prepared for the big step -- to oust Bulganin. By forcing Bulganin to get rid of Marshal Zhukov, Khrushchev created a rift between Bulganin and his main source of support, the Red Army. This allowed Khrushchev to move into the breach and fill powerful key positions with his own followers. By 1956 Bulganin found himself the captive puppet of Khrushchev. For two more years Khrushchev ran the government through Bulganin, but there was no question whatever as to who was in line for Stalin's throne.

Such was Nikita Khrushchev's slippery and dangerous ascent to the summit.

But all of these battles in the Kremlin and the resulting shift of power had not solved the terrifying economic problems which continued to plague Soviet socialism. Nowhere -- in China, Russia or the satellites -- was Communism proving successful. Uprisings had been occurring for over three years in the Communist-controlled countries. Heavy Soviet armament had to be maintained in all of them.

Just as Khrushchev was consolidating his power in 1956, a major satellite cut loose and struck for freedom.

While bargaining for American lend-lease during World War II, Stalin had promised that any nation coming under the domination of the Red Army during the war would be allowed free elections and self-determination after the war. Hungary was the first nation to demand self-government and the overthrow of the Communist regime.

Perhaps no better historical example exists to illustrate the extreme treachery to which Khrushchev would extend himself than the Hungarian Revolution.

On the 23rd of October, 1956, a massive but peaceful demonstration took place in Budapest with thousands of people participating. The people said they wanted to end Soviet colonial rule and set up a democratic government with free elections. When the crowds refused to disband, the Russian secret police were ordered to fire on them. Thus the revolution began. The first major action of the revolution was toppling down the huge statue of Stalin, the symbol of Soviet domination. The freedom fighters then hoisted the Hungarian flag on the stump. Soviet occupation troops were immediately ordered in to smash the revolution, but they were resisted by Communist trained Hungarian troops who defected and joined the Freedom Fighters. Many of the Soviet occupation troops also defected. As a result, the remaining Soviet troops were beaten in five days. Then General Bela Kiraly describes what happened:

"To avoid annihilation of the Soviet units, Khrushchev himself carried out one of his most sinister actions. He sent to Budapest his first deputy, Mikoyan; and he sent Mr. Suslov from the party leadership. These two Soviet men sat down with the revolutionary government. They found out they were defeated. After talking with Khrushchev by means of the telephone -- and by the approval of Khrushchev they concluded an armistice.... Diplomatic actions were further developed.... It was positively declared that the aim of further diplomatic negotiations (would be) how to withdraw the Soviet troops from Hungary and how to allow Hungary to regain her national independence."
²

The Soviet representatives proposed that final details be drawn up at the Soviet headquarters in Tokol, a village south of Budapest. The entire Hungarian delegation was therefore invited to come and discuss the precise date when Soviet troops would leave Hungary. In response to this invitation, the elated and victorious Hungarians went to the Soviet headquarters. To their amazement they were suddenly surrounded, seized and imprisoned. Simultaneously a new all-out attack was ordered by Khrushchev against the whole Hungarian population.

The new Soviet attack was in the form of a massive invasion, It involved 5,000 tanks and a quarter of a million soldiers. They poured in from Czechoslovakia, Russia and Rumania. On Sunday, November 4, 1956, the radio station in Budapest pleaded:

"People of the world, listen to our call! Help us.... Please do not forget that this wild attack of Bolshevism will not stop. You may be the next victim. Save us! SOS! SOS!"
³

A little later the voice said:

"People of the civilized world, in the name of liberty and solidarity, we are asking you to help. Our ship is sinking. The light vanishes. The shadows grow darker from hour to hour. Listen to our cry.... God be with you -- and with us."

That was all. The station went off the air.

As the student of history contemplates those tragic days, he cannot help but wonder: Where was the conscience of the Free West? Where was the U.N.? Where were the forces of NATO? What had happened to the whole fabric of gilded promises of the U.N. made at San Francisco in 1945:

"... to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.

"... to reaffirm faith in fundamental rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small.

"... to establish ... respect for the obligations arising from treaties.

"... to ensure that armed force shall not be used."
⁴

As it turned out, the massacre of tens of thousands of Hungarians finally smothered into oblivion the heroic Hungarian fight for freedom. Prime Minister Imre Nagy was executed. Most of the other leaders of the revolution were deported to Russia and never heard of again. In the U.N. Security Council America's Ambassador Lodge introduced a resolution proposing that Russia be censured for this atrocious Hungarian attack.
Russia vetoed it!

This amazing and treacherous series of events was personally supervised by Nikita Khrushchev. Without any serious challenge whatever, he was allowed to carry them out in direct violation of the Yalta agreement, the Warsaw Pact and the first two articles of the U.N. Charter. It was the greatest opportunity the Western Bloc had ever had to show whether or not the mighty and strong had the courage to expel Russia and then put the high-sounding phrases of the U.N. to work.

Instead, the U.N. appointed a committee to gather the facts, prepare a report, and then submit it to the General Assembly.

This gave pro-Soviet forces an additional chance to pull sensitive strings in the U.N. and further obscure the vicious conquest of Hungary.

The average American has no conception of the deep Penetration of the Communist conspiracy inside the United Nations.

A Danish diplomat, Povl Bang-Jensen, said he began feeling strong Communist pressures soon after he started serving as the deputy secretary of the U.N. committee which was investigating the Russian attack on Hungary.
⁵
He claimed pro-Soviet influence came sweeping down upon him from the Secretary General's office and even from many of the committee members.

Bang-Jensen did not know where to turn for help; Finally he started writing protests both to the committee and the Secretary General. He pointed out errors in the report which would allow the Russians to discredit it. He said the Committee Chairman had refused to correct these errors. He stated that important facts were being eliminated which established the official responsibility of the Russian government for what had happened. He also noted that the committee was going soft in its treatment of Janos Kadar who headed up the new Communist puppet government in Hungary.

But most of all, Povl Bang-Jensen was outraged when the Secretary General demanded that he reveal the secret list of Hungarian witnesses. He had been authorized in writing to tell the witnesses that their names would never be disclosed since this would bring cruel and immediate reprisal on their families in Hungary. Bang-Jensen stood by this commitment. He declared that turning over the names to the U.N. Secretariat would permit possible leaks to the Russians. The word was already getting around the U.N. that Russian agents were offering extravagant bribes to anyone who would get them the list.

Suddenly Bang-Jensen found the U.N. Secretariat and the investigating committee attacking him personally. Instead of dealing with the issues, high U.N. officials began describing Povl Bang-Jensen as "mentally ill."

Three leading American employees in the U.N. participated in the attack on Bang-Jensen. They were Andrew Wellington Cordier, a former associate of Alger Hiss, who had become No. 2 man in the U.N.; Ernest A. Gross who had tried to get the United States to allow recognition of Red China; and Dr. Ralph Bunche, U.N. Under-Secretary, who was one of the first to put the "mentally ill" label on Bang-Jensen in an official memorandum.