A Former Hungarian Refugee Asks : Have Canadians lost the will to fight for their freedoms?
By Steve Fekete with Lynn Allard
July 24, 2019
In the 1950’s and 1960’s, I lived in Communist Hungary. Because of alarming events now happening in Canada, I am reminded of my days in Hungary and I feel compelled to write about the oppressive Communist regime after WW 2 in Hungary. In 1944, fascist Nazi Germany had invaded Hungary. At the end of WW2, the allied winners divided Europe and gave Hungary to the Soviet Union to govern and ultimately oppress. In 1948, a small Hungarian minority of Communists took control of the country illegally and began the collectivization of land, industry and all aspects of life.
Unfortunately in Canada, we have a similar minority of politically-correct cultural Marxists that have all but taken over Canada and are turning Canada over to UN / globalist interests.
I was born in Hungary in WW2 to middle class parents. During the Communist occupation of Hungary after WW2, my family experienced living in constant fear and increasing poverty. At times, we did not have even sufficient basics of life such as food.
After WW2, my father, a newly graduated lawyer, could not practice law due to the significant changes in Hungarian law as a result of the Soviet takeover. Since he was not considered a member of the working class, some officials viewed him as the “enemy of the working class’. As a result, he had meager means to support our family. He became basically an insignificant accountant in a factory owned by the government. Collectivized farms and the Communist party presence in all aspects of our lives are forever etched in my memory.
On October 23, 1956 the people rose up in revolution against their Communist oppressors and armed fighting broke out primarily in Budapest. The Hungarian army joined the freedom fighters. Even as a teenager, I would have gladly joined them but I was out of harm’s way living with my grandparents in the outskirts of Budapest. However, many teenagers (some of whom were my schoolmates) gave their lives fighting for freedom.
The revolution succeeded temporarily and the Russian army left Budapest. Unfortunately, on November 4, 1956 the Russian military returned with a vengeance. I remember when my neighbors were slaughtered, as they stood unarmed waiting in line to buy bread at a bakery. Suddenly, Soviet tanks appeared on the highway about 1000 meters away from the bakery. The tank crew assumed the people in the line-up were freedom fighters and discharged shells into the lineup. Many innocent people lost their lives that morning. I heard the shots and rushed to the scene to find out what had happened only to discover that several of my neighbors were lying dead on the ground while many more were injured. I distinctly remember a nice old male neighbour who died that day. The slaughter of innocent neighbors is still vivid in my memory 64 years later.
After the Soviet invasion, so-called Hungarian “Education” consisted of Marxist principles, the role of unions, the class struggle, the economic principles of a Socialist/Communist state and the philosophy behind the works of Marx, Engels and Lenin. So-called “education” in Canada today bears alarming similarities. Although we were young and impressionable, we instinctively sensed the fallacies in our university studies. Many years later when I see Trudeau, memories of Hungary’s cult of personality, Communism and corruption come to my mind immediately.
Canada is rapidly morphing into a quasi- totalitarian state, which, if the Canadian people are not vigilant, could result in a complete takeover of this country. PM Trudeau is leading the charge down this path. I am fearful about this turn of events because in my wildest imagination I could not anticipate this would happen in Canada.
I had always admired Canada as my ideal for personal freedom, entrepreneurship and a free market economy, human rights, ability to assemble, freedom of speech and religion and so much more. While living in Communist Hungary, I looked to western countries as a beacon of hope for me and for others. I am deeply concerned that these rights and freedoms are increasingly being dismantled and that one day the Canadian people will wake up to find that their rights are severely curtailed and the government has intruded into every aspect of their lives as government did in Communist Hungary.
Since the end of WW2, all Western European nations as well as Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, have made a defacto deal with the power establishment elites that have bribed them to shut up and to enjoy their narcissistic lifestyles. In return for their silence, the elite have agreed to provide a comfortable lifestyle to them as long as they don’t demand anything that threatens the elites’ power.
If the cultural Marxist assault on free speech continues while promoting identity politics, radical feminism, white guilt, racism against white people, persecution of Christians and conservatives, support of Islam, and uncontrolled mass immigration, then this path will serve only one end goal: radical transformation of the Canada we know. Canada will cease to be a nation state and will be controlled by United Nations globalist forces.
Many Canadians have forgotten how to fight and how to keep their freedoms as a result of the ‘good life’ that took their attention away from the important things in their lives. Those things are being hijacked by unrelenting so-called “progressives”. As Ronald Reagan asserted, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. It cannot be passed to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on to them.
In contrast to North Americans, the people of Central European nations such as Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) as well as the former Communist Yugoslavia have not forgotten the hardships and limited freedoms under the dictatorship of the former Soviet Union and its puppets.
Oppressive totalitarian regimes forced these nations to think about freedom, how to regain it and how to keep it. The big threat to Canada today is oppression from the UN and from aggressive immigrant groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and others who want to re-create in Canada the failed societies they came from.
Today, many Central European countries struggle against the United Nations (the current version of the Soviet Union) to preserve their sovereignty, culture, freedoms and Judeo-Christian heritage. Canada must do the same
The Canadian people have never had to live under Communism, Nazism, Sharia law or any other dictatorship and consequently do not see this danger as an imminent and potential reality. They have taken their freedom for granted. Is it realistic to expect the people of Western nations to fight for freedom and their sovereignty when they have totally forgotten or are unaware of the importance of fighting and keeping their culture, values, borders and religion? Will it be only when Canadians experience hardships and a loss of their freedoms that they are compelled to fight for their freedoms and the sovereignty of their nation?
Canadians must take back their country.
It is getting late.
