218 THE CLASS STRUGGLE EDITORIALS 219 were republic, was a liberal democrat of the finest type, honest in his intentions. But just as the Kerensky government in Russia was doomed to failure, and just as surely as the Scheidemann Ebert regime in Berlin will finally succumb to the insistence of the proletarian demands of the German people, so the Hungarian republic, with its democratic ideals was doomed to destruction. From the beginning, the young republic was involved in a mire of difficulties. There were nationalistic prejudices, especially on the part of the propertied classes, which were a constant source of irritation. The returning soldiers made insistent demands, demands that recognized in principle, but whose fulfilment was out of the question for a government that respected the property rights and interests of the wealthy classes. system of agrarian reform that satisfied no one was promised, but the government did not have the courage to approach its realization.
Unemployment insurance measures were instituted, but succeeded only in arousing the dissatisfaction of the returning troops, because they were insufficient to satisfy the demands the latter felt justified in making. Make the rich pay was the note that dominated the demonstrations held all over the country. Strikes became more and more frequent. The working people in the industrial centers were strongly socialistic, and demanded that the interests of the working class alone henceforward control the forces of industry. They demanded wages that the capitalists could not afford to pay without serious curtailment of what they considered their legitimate profit. The result was a threatening standstill in the machinery of production, that increased the number of unemployed on the one hand and decreased the supply of products on the other. The urban population of Hungary has always been strongly organized, and belongs to the radical element in the labor movement. Thus, dissatisfaction in the country was rife as well. The brief history of the Hungarian republic was one of constant uprisings.
In this respect Hungary differs in no way from the other revolutionary countries of Europe. What happened in Hungary is happening in Germany at the present time, and is a repetition of the experiences that the Kerensky regime in Russia was forced to undergo. It is proof, if proof is still needed, of the impossibility of restoring order and normal industrial conditions in any country, under a system based upon the co operation of the political representatives of both the capitalist and the working class. The least that a working class government can give will discourage capitalist production sufficiently to create a definite and threatening problem of unemployment. There exists, under such a form of government, the constant danger of a counter revolution, because its methods must inevitably leave in existence a dangerous, because extremely dissatisfied, capitalist class. On the other hand, the demands of the working class, who, under what they consider a Socialist form of government, refuse to take into account interests and needs of capitalist production, leave only one possible solution complete socialization of industry. Workingmen who will willingly submit to hardship and sacrifice, when this sacrifice is demanded by the interests of their class, will and must refuse to do so in order to help build up the industries of the nation for the profit of their owners.
Preparations for the election to the National Assembly were under way. While there was no strong organized opposition to this Assembly, such as was carried on in Germany by the Spartacus movement during December and January, the working class as a whole looked upon these elections with open skepticism. Although the majority Socialist had finally decided to officially participate in the election, it was only after a long and serious discussion, a strong element in the party being in favor of such an election only if the absolute majority of the Social Democracy in the Assembly could be guaranteed at the outset. In the meantime Communist agitation was arousing the country. There were uprisings everywhere. Insignificant incidents often led to open rioting. In Kiskunfelgyhaza, a small town near Szegedin, an altercation, between a merchant and a would be purchaser over the price of a piece of cloth led to the plundering of the merchant shop by the crowd that had collected, Police and guards who where sent to restore order were disarmed. The assembled masses set up a machine gun in front of the plundered establishment and began to fire. The merchant was killed. The riot persisted through the entire night and was only quelled the next day by the arrival of a detachment of sailors who placed the town under military law.
On the same day, February 19, a Communist demonstration in Budapest, in which about 4000 persons participated.
went from place to place through the city, holding protest demonstrations and finally assembled before the home of the Hungarian Socialist organ, the Nepszava. Fifty policemen had been sent by the authorities to meet the oncoming demonstrators. The latter assembled before the newspaper building with hoots and cat calls, until the police began to disperse the