Laszlo Calls Upon Public Opinion to Save Hungary

A recently escaped Hungarian student leader, identifying himself as Istvan Laszlo, told a crowd of about 800 in New Lecture Hall last night that the time for military intervention is now past and that the free world should concentrate the force of its public opinion to get Russian troops out of his country.

Speaking at a meeting sponsored jointly by the Student Council and the CRIMSON, Laszlo said that it is "bitter" for the Hungarian fighters to listen to some of the conciliatory statements made in the U.N. by some western politicians. He added, "I am certain the West could influence Russia with its moral force, if it really wanted to."

The revolt of October 23 broke out spontaneously all over the country, Laszlo explained, and was carried on "without any class distinctions." The aims of the uprising, he claimed, were freedom and independence for Hungary, free elections, and the "purging" of the Russians from the country.

All this year, Laszlo continued, his University as well as others throughout the country had presented grievances to the government. But the Universities' demands became secondary when the revolt broke into the open, he said.

"Why did the universities start the revolt," he asked, "when students have been told for the last ten years that Communism is good and that in it lies the future?" His answer was, "We were thinking beings: we could not accept Communist domination over our country."

Laszlo told of how the students of Sopron organized a non-Communist youth group with himself as president and voted to take up arms for the country's independence. Police and army commanders willingly gave the students arms, Laszlo recounted, and fought against the secret police, who put up the real resistance early in the Revolution.

Laszlo's companions chose him to ask for help from the United Nations a few days before they themselves were forced by the Russian tanks to seek asylum in Austria. Although his companion, former minister Anna Kethly, was given a hearing at the U.N., Laszlo was not admitted.