Katolikus Szemle 33. (1981, Róma)
3. szám - ESZMÉK ÉS MŰVEK - Kerényi Magda: Második Magyar Mérleg
SUMMARY October 23rd of this year marks the Anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. In this autumn issue of the KATOLIKUS SZEMLE we commemorate this event by an evaluation of what happened a quarter of a century ago. We are convinced that 1956 was not just a national affair, a claim for independence and freedom for our country, but much more: it was a quest for a new political, social and economic order. It was not an attempt to reestablish past institutions, but rather a search for a « third way » between the Capitalist and Communist systems. A «third way», not in the sense of a compromise between freedom and slavery, which is impossible, but as the ideal of a truly democratic society realized in a free and autonomous country. In order to follow this theme, we chose Hungarian intellectuals of different political views and tendencies, who are living abroad. They included writers, journalists, philosophers and men of the political and social sciences, and we asked them to answer our following questions: 1. What do you consider to be the enduring effects of the Hungarian Revolution for our country, as well as for the socialist countries, for the Western democracies and for the Third world? 2. Is the lesson of 1956 valid as regards the future of our country insofar as it concerns the basic political, social, economic and cultural problems? 3. Is the memory of 1956, its meaning and lesson, still alive in the Western world? The answers of seventeen prominent Hungarians are collected in this issue with an introduction by the editor, János Ölvedi. Also reprinted in this issue are poems and quotations written at that time, as well as the two contemporary Apostolic Letters of Pope Pius XII, and quotations from the message of Card. Mindszenty delivered on November 2nd 1956. This issue is completed with a commemoration of the hero, San Giovanni Capestrano, the companion of János Hunyady, the victor over the Turks at Nándorfehérvár, in 1456. Capestrano died on October 23rd of that year. Lastly there is an obituary of Ferenc Fáy, our collaborator and poet, who died recently in Canada.