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Promises. It was the fearful news of the deportations—the classic Siberian solution for troublesome minorities—that sparked the great workers' demonstration. In orderly ranks, but grim and determined, 10,000 men from Ujpest, Kispest and Csepel surrounded Parliament house. Here, protected by seven huge Soviet tanks, a dozen armored cars and Red army infantry, was the only piece of ground which could correctly be said to be controlled by the government. Workers' leaders went up to the Presidential Council chamber on the second floor to see Janus-faced Janos Kadar. They found a weary, bug-eyed
Premier, who swore that only the young "firebrands" had been seized and would be held in camps inside Hungary only until "strengthening of the People's Democracy can be accomplished."
To get his wretched regime working, the desperate Kadar was ready to promise almost anything. Free elections? He was willing to take a chance on that. Multiparty government? "Find Bela Kovacs [onetime Secretary General of the Smallholders Party] for me, and I'll gladly cooperate with him." He was already negotiating with representatives of the Peasants' Party. Imre Nagy? "Bring him back, because this job is a burden to me." Only one thing Kadar could not promise, for it was not in his power. He would not order the Red army to quit Hungary.
That night the Telex in Vienna spelled out a broken message:
IN BUDAPEST THERE WERE BATTLES THIS NIGHT . . . FOUGHT FOR 74 MINUTES AFTER MIDNIGHT SHOT . . . NOBODY COULD . . . GUN FIRING . . . HUNGARIAN JOURNALISTS HAD MEETING AND ALL PROTESTED . . . THATS ALL AT THIS MOMENT . . . SORRY MADE MISTAKES BUT MY HAND WOUNDED . . .
Soviet tanks were out in the streets again. But the Soviet soldiers, Asian faces from faraway Mongolia and Kirghizstan, seemed utterly confused. Some asked whether the river Raba, which runs through Gyor, was "really the Suez Canal." At Kobanyia a Russian officer "sold" his tank to rebels for 44 Ibs. of bread. One reason the Soviet Union was not hitting harder may have been provided by a report that 5,000 to 6,000 disarmed and untrusted Soviet soldiers were being held in a camp at Satoraljaujhely. Other refugees reported 200 to 300 Russian deserters fighting on the side of 8,000 Hungarian guerrillas in northwestern Hungary.