The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-08
Was Leader
Of Struggle
In Hungary
Budapest Senate Signs
Indictment and Orders
Rapid Action
Especial to the Daily Workerl

bOOEaE jail H. AAE AlAAAGL~
ment against Matthias Rakoski,
heroic and long suffering anti
fascist leader, is now fixed and,
signed by the Minister of Justice,
has been turned over to the Buda-
pest Senate, which will carry the
trial through in rapid court pro-
cedure in the middle Of January.
Trial in the rapid court robs the
accused of even the most elementary
means of defense and completely
disregards all laws.
The very fact that the authorities
did not once try Rakosi in the 81
years of his Imprisonment on the
charges made against him, is in
itself the severest infringement of
d, Hungarian law and indicates that
they are not concerned with bringing
Rakosi to justice for his actions in
1919" but simply wish to revenge
themselves as a class on a fighter
of another class. The Hungarian
bourgeoisie is not even hesitating to
circumvent its own laws, from which
it demands the authority to ami
hilate those against whom they were
directed.
Was Peoples COmmissar
Holding first place in the indict-
ment is the charge that Rakosi is
guilty of a whole series Of crimes
committed during the Soviet regime
in Hungary in 1919.
After the defeat of the dictator
ship of the proletariat by the re-
action and forces of imperialist in
tervention in Hungary, a decree was
passed in 1919 by the counter
revolutionary government whereby
all Peoples Commissars of the Hun
garian Soviet Republics were to be
brought to trial and sentenced as
quickly as possible. The indictment
against the Peoples Commissars &C
cused them of high treason, be-
trayal of their country, $40 muir
ders," issuance of false money, rob-
berry, limitation Of personal free
dom. etc. The revolutionary laws
and DEGREES of the Council OF
Peoples Commissars as well as the
sentences passed by the revolution
airy courts, served as the basis OF
the indictment.
Many Sentenced to Death
All the Peoples Commissar were
indicted on the basis of this decree
of September, 1919 and Of those i'm
prisoned, the majority were SEN
fenced to death. Among those not
ARRESTED and against whom pro-
cedufe. is still running, was Rakosi,
who had the position of Acting
Commissar for Trade in the Coun-
Gil of Peoples Commissars. In May
Rakosi went to the front as pollt-
ical commissar of division, so
that he did not participate in all
the meetings of the Council.
The legal grounds for the con-
tinuation of the procedure against
Matthias Rakosi are shattered by
the fact that procedure against
those Peoples COmmissars who
were members of the Social
Democratic Party, were stopped
and they were allowed to come
back unmolested to Hungary,
where they were politically active.
Another point which makes the
legal grounds for trial against
the Peoples Commissars ques-
tionable is the fact that the SEN
fenced Peoples COmnlissars were
in 1922 exchanged for Hun
garian officers captured by the
Soviet Union. BY this act pro-
eedure against all former commits
sars was stopped, as the case OF
the Social Democratic Peoples
Commissars actually show.
A still more significant feature
of the unreasoning savagery OF
the Hungarian fascists is the fact
that when Rakosi was arrested in
1925. he was indicted only under
the state protection law of March,
1921, for his activity at the time.
Since the Hungarian criminal code
nevertheless prescribes that all
pending procedures against the
accused are to be united and since
neither in the indictment nor in
the trial of Rakosi in 1925 was the
procedure of 1919 mentioned, it
was taken for granted that that
procedure against Rakosi, as
against all the former PeopIe'S
Ccmmissars, had been stopped.