Belly Laughter

Nominally, Matyas Rakosi is Deputy Premier in a "coalition" Cabinet. Most of the other ministers belong to the Independent Smallholders' Party (which polled 59% of the votes in Hungary's last free elections). Actually, after the recent jailing of many of Rakosi's Smallholder colleagues by the secret police (TIME, June 9), the other ministers are virtually his prisoners. Last week, the A.P.'s Daniel De Luce interviewed this successful Communist statesman. De Luce reported that Rakosi "is full of belly laughs, looks as short and tubby as Fiorello LaGuardia, cracks out commentaries faster than Walter Winchell. . . ."

Some Rakosi cracks:

Q. Do you favor evolution or revolution? A. That's a funny question, coming from an American whose country had a glorious revolution and then a great civil war fourscore and seven years later.

Q. Democratic elections? A. The Russians have more democratic election laws than the U.S.

Q. U.S. foreign policy? A. It isn't the Soviet Union which sends its fleet on warlike maneuvers.

Q. Hungary's three-year plan? A. It is, in fact, a Communist plan.

Q. Reparations to Russia? A. We [Hungary] wrought terrible havoc, our soldiers in the Ukraine, and we must pay for it. But if democracy grows here, there will be better understanding between Hungary and Russia.

Q. Communist prospects at the next election? A. I'm a very careful prophet, but everyone else says we will make progress with the voters because of our good work in the past two years. . . .

Q. The future of the Communists' coalition with the Smallholders? A. I am a well-known optimist.

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