The Classless Society

The Hungarian census taken in late 1945 was unsatisfactory. It did not give enough information to serve the Communists as a record of the population's political reliability. On the basis of a new census completed Jan. 20, a card index for exclusive government use is now being set up in Communist Boss Rakosi's Central Registry offices.

The index files contain cards of three different colors: red, white and green. Red is reserved for those who are absolutely reliable, i.e., active Communists. White tabs the tolerated elements: the great majority of workers and peasants. The green cards represent suspects.

"Green" Hungarians are subdivided into two main categories, "class aliens" and "class enemies." To belong to the first category, it is sufficient to have a parent or grandparent engaged in a "bourgeois" calling, e.g., merchant or doctor--in fact, any occupation at all except worker or peasant. Like the non-Aryans in Hitler's Germany, these people are regarded as opposed to the regime by birth, even though they may never have engaged in active opposition. "Class enemies," on the other hand, may come from a long line of workers or peasants. They include all the known antiCommunists, regardless of origin. Their eventual destination, when Rakosi's overworked policemen get around to them, is the jail, the concentration camp, or the crematory.

The importance of these classifications in a totalitarian state is obvious. A Hungarian applying for a job, a marriage license, a business permit, a ration card, or anything requiring public regulation will be dealt with according to the color and contents of his card.

Rakosi also put the tab on Hungarian canines. A government decree issued last week restricts breeding to purebred, pedigreed dogs, which make up less than 1% of Hungary's 1,000,000 canine population. Henceforth, all mongrel males over one year old are to be sterilized. Dog owners who violate the law are liable to as much as six months in prison. Quipped one Budapest wit: "They want to kill the purebred humans and save the purebred dogs."

Even as between purebred dogs, the government draws a class line. Watchdogs which stay outside the house and bark are taxed at the rate of 10 forints (84-c-) a month; but watchdogs which stay inside the house and bark are taxed 70 forints a month.

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