Report from Politburo members Mikoyan and Suslov on the crisis in Hungary

The political situation in the country is not getting better; it is getting worse. This is ex-pressed in the following: in the leading organs of the party organs there is a feeling of helplessness. The party organizations are in the process of collapse. Hooligan elements have become more insolent, seizing regional party committees, killing communists. The organization of party volunteer squads is going slowly. The factories are stalled. The people are sitting at home. The railroads are not working. The hooligan students and other resistance elements have changed their tactics and are displaying greater activity. Now not all them are shooting, but instead are seizing institutions. For example, last night the printing office of the central party newspaper was seized.

The new Minister of Internal Affairs sent 100 soldiers who accosted more than 200 people, but did not open fire, because the CC advised not to spill blood. That was late at night. Imre Nagy was sleeping in his apartment, and they, apparently did not want complications with Nagy, fearing that opening fire without his knowledge would be an occasion for the weakening of the leadership.

They [the hooligan elements] occupied the regional telephone station. The radio station is working, but it does not reflect the opinion of the CC, since in fact it is located in other peoples' hands.

The anti-revolutionary newspaper did not come out, because there were counterrevolutionary articles in it and the printing office refused to print it.

An opposition group in the region around the Corvin theater had negotiations with Nagy for the peaceful surrendering of their weapons. However, as of the present moment the weapons have not been surrendered, except for a few hundred rifles. The insurgents declare that they will not give them up until the Soviet troops leave Hungary. Thus the peaceful liquidation of this hotbed is impossible. We will achieve the liquidation of these armed Hungarian forces. But there is just one fear: the Hungarian army has occupied a wait-and-see position. Our military advisors say that relations between the Hungarian officers and generals and Soviet officers in the past few days has deteriorated. There is no trust as there was earlier. It could happen, that the Hungarian units sent against the insurgents could join these other Hungarians, and then it will be necessary for the Soviet forces to once more undertake military operations.

Last night by the instructions of Imre Nagy, Andropov was summoned. Nagy asked him: is it true that new Soviet military units are continuing to enter Hungary from the USSR. If yes, then what is their goal? We did not negotiate this.

Our opinion on this issue: we suspect that this could be a turning point in the change in Hungarian policy in the [UN] Security Council. We intend to declare today to Imre Nagy that the troops are leaving according to our agreement, that for now we do not intend to bring in any more troops on account of the fact that the Nagy government is dealing with the situation in Hungary.

We intend to give instructions to the Minister of Defense to cease sending troops into Hungary, continuing to concentrate them on Soviet territory. As long as the Hungarian troops occupy a non hostile position, these troops will be sufficient. If the situation further deteriorates, then, of course, it will be necessary to reexamine the whole issue in its entirety. We do not yet have a final opinion of the situation-how sharply it has deteriorated. After the session today at I 1 o'clock Moscow time, the situation in the Central Committee will become clear and we will inform you. We think it is essential that Comrade Konev come to Hungary immediately.