For the Record

Any breakdown of the satellite empire would mean the loss to the Soviet Union of vital raw materials and a disruption of her industrial plan. Russia now gets coal from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary; oil from Hungary, Rumania, Albania; potash from East Germany, steel from Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia; bauxite from Hungary; zinc and lead from Poland and Bulgaria…. Poland already has announced its intention to renegotiate its trade agreements with the Soviet Union. In addition, Poland is demanding 15 per cent of the German war reparations to the Soviet Union which Poland was to have received under big power international agreements after World War Two, but which the Soviet Union appropriated.

Initial satellite reactions to the Hungarian rebellion: Poland: the Hungarian rebels are in the right, the Soviet Union should withdraw; Yugoslavia and Red China: cautious approval when demonstrations led to Gero’s fall and Nagy’s return to power, turning to disapproval when insurgents forced Nagy to legalize other political parties; Czechoslovakia and Rumania: rebellion was fomented by ‘‘counter-revolutionary bandits” and should be ruthlessly quelled.

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Any breakdown of the satellite empire would mean the loss to the Soviet Union of vital raw materials and a disruption of her industrial plan. Russia now gets coal from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary; oil from Hungary, Rumania, Albania; potash from East Germany, steel from Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia; bauxite from Hungary; zinc and lead from Poland and Bulgaria…. Poland already has announced its intention to renegotiate its trade agreements with the Soviet Union. In addition, Poland is demanding 15 per cent of the German war reparations to the Soviet Union which Poland was to have received under big power international agreements after World War Two, but which the Soviet Union appropriated.

Initial satellite reactions to the Hungarian rebellion: Poland: the Hungarian rebels are in the right, the Soviet Union should withdraw; Yugoslavia and Red China: cautious approval when demonstrations led to Gero’s fall and Nagy’s return to power, turning to disapproval when insurgents forced Nagy to legalize other political parties; Czechoslovakia and Rumania: rebellion was fomented by ‘‘counter-revolutionary bandits” and should be ruthlessly quelled.