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4 November 1956 cal émigrés for cultivation ( razrabotka ),
popularity. Intending to discredit him after
and in another document, he listed 150
Sent to Khrushchev, Bulganin, Malenkov, Suslov,
his arrest by Soviet forces, Rakosi wrote to
names not just Hungarians, but also Aus-
etc.
the CPSU Politburo: Nagy at the present
trians, Germans, Poles, Bulgarians, and Rus-
time is undoubtedly the most popular [fig-
sians. Of the total number of people upon
[Source: TsKhSD, F. 89, Per. 45, Dok. 23; trans-
ure]. The whole imperialist camp supports
whom Nagy is reported to have informed, 15
lation by Johanna Granville.]
him, as well as the influential Yugoslavians.
were liquidated (shot) or died in prison,
All the Hungarian anti-socialist forces stand
according to KGB archivists calculations.9
behind him. 7
Volodya, his NKVD superiors wrote, is a
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
And yet, certain puzzles in the history of
ANNALS OF COMMUNISM SERIES qualified agent who shows great initia-
PUBLISHES FIRST TWO BOOKS Nagy s career have remained. For one thing,
tive and an ability to approach people.
Matyas Rakosi, who was the most powerful
The story of how these materials came
The first two books in a Yale University Press
man in postwar Hungary, could not stand
to light is a story that has more to do with
series ( Annals of Communism ) based on newly-
him. Rakosi was responsible for Nagy s
Soviet, Hungarian, and communist party
accessible Russian archives have appeared: Harvey
complete expulsion from the Hungarian
politics amidst the revolutionary upheavals
Klehr, John Earl Haynes, and Fridrikh Igorevich Firsov,
The Secret World of American Communism (New Workers Party (HWP) in November 1955
of the late 1980s and early 1990s than with
Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1995); and Lars T.
not the Russians (an example of the East
historical or scholarly investigation.
Lih, Oleg V. Naumov, and Oleg V. Khlevniuk, eds.,
European tail wagging the Soviet dog ).8 Three of the documents printed below
Stalin s Letters to Molotov, 1925-1936 (New Haven,
Rakosi, dubbed Stalin s best disciple, and
were found in late 1988 in the KGB archives.
CT: Yale University Press, 1995).
The series is based in large measure on docu- by others the Bald Murderer, or even less
Of course, as in many cases when KGB
ments from the Russian Center for the Preservation and
reverently, Asshead, had so effectively
materials are released, it was for a concrete,
Study of Documents of Recent History (RTsKhIDNI),
created his own cult of personality in Hun-
political purpose. KGB head Kryuchkov
headed by K.M. Anderson, formerly known as the
gary that he could shake his little finger and
had sent the incriminating Nagy dossier to
Central Party Archives and site of most records of the
CPSU CC through 1952. According to Yale Univer- that person would be no more.
Gorbachev on Friday, 16 June 1989 a date
sity Press (where the executive editor of the project is
Given Rakosi s hatred of Nagy, why
that is, as party ideologues were wont to say,
Jonathan Brent), the series is currently envisioned to
wasn t Nagy rather than Laszlo Rajk
no coincidence. On that same day, several
run at least 18 volumes, including the following titles
branded the first Hungarian Titoist agent
hundred thousand Hungarians gathered in
(and authors/editors): Anti-Government Opposition
under Khrushchev and Brezhnev (Sheila Fitzpatrick, in Stalin s sanguinary witch-hunt that swept
Heroes Square in downtown Budapest, and
V.A. Kozlov); History of the Soviet GULAG System,
Eastern Europe from 1949 to 1952, and cost
many more watched on nationwide televi-
1920-1989 (S.V. Mironenko, V.A. Kozlov, American
the lives of Traicho Kostov (Bulgaria), Rudolf
sion, as Nagy and several other leaders of the
editor to be announced); The Diary of Georgi Dimitrov,
Slansky and V. Clementis (Czechoslova-
1956 revolt who had been tried and executed
1933-1949 (Ivo Banac, F.I. Firsov); The Katyn Massa-
cre (Anna M. Cienciala, N.S. Lebedeva); Georgi kia), and the freedom of Wladislaw Gomulka
by Moscow were praised (and the 1956
Dimitrov s Letters to Stalin, 1933-1945 (F.I. Firsov,
(Poland)? Why was Nagy not chosen, who
revolution, previously branded officially as
American editor to be announced); Lenin s Secret
was too gentle for the post of Minister of the
a counterrevolutionary uprising, lauded
Archive (Richard Pipes, Y.I. Buranov); The Assassina-
Interior, rather than Rajk, who did occupy
as a whole) and given a martyrs reburial in
tion of Sergei Kirov (V.P. Naumov, American editor to
be announced); Soviet Politics and Repression in the that post?
a daylong ceremony that was the highpoint
1930s (J. Arch Getty, O.V. Naumov); The Communist
Or why, for that matter, was Imre Nagy,
of what would turn out to be Hungary s rush
International during the Repression of the 1930s (Wil-
whom Rakosi called a milquetoast
away from communist rule.
liam Chase, F.I. Firsov); Soviet Social Life in the 1930s
( miagkotelyi ), even offered such plum jobs
In his letter, Kryuchkov made his inten-
(Lewis Siegelbaum, A.K. Sokolov); Voice of the People:
Peasants, Workers, and the Soviet State, 1918-1932 as Minister of the Interior or Minister of
tions clear: Let s publish these documents
(Jeffrey Burds, A.K. Sokolov); The Church, the People,
Administrative Organs?
about Nagy s sordid NKVD intrigues it
and the Bolsheviks in Soviet Russia, 1917-1932 (Gre-
Obviously, it appears, someone was pro-
might defuse the Nagy rehabilitation cam-
gory Freeze, Leonid Vaintraub); The Russian Revolu-
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