Open Them Up

Open Them Up

More than a decade after the collapse of communism, it is time
for Hungary and other post-communist countries to open up their
secret police files.

Yet another spy scandal is rocking the
post-communist world. This time, the epicenter was in Budapest. As
usual, it will mean different things to different people. vFor some
in Hungary and elsewhere, it will represent another opportunity to
denounce the softness with which former communist officials and
collaborators were treated after 1989. Others will try to
relativize it and declare it to be nothing beyond a political game.
And some may even shrug their shoulders at the whole thing.

But surely it is time for an end to such
debates. The revelation and subsequent confirmation that the newly
minted Hungarian prime minister had worked as a communist-era spy
should lead to a new approach. More than a decade after the demise
of Soviet-style communism, it is time for more openness.

Peter Medgyessy himself–the apparent ex-spy and
new prime minister–has called for a new law to make public all
secret agent documents relating to current politicians. No doubt
his suggestion was nothing more than an attempt to save his own
skin. But that need not matter, if the result is a little more
clarity in the system.

The Socialists and their Free Democrat allies
are set to propose such a law. That is good. It would be even
better to include other top officials and former politicians, but
it is at least a step in the right direction. Some countries, such
as the former East Germany and more recently the Czech Republic,
have taken that step.

It is quite likely that many politicians in
Hungary will be none too happy to see such a law come into
effect–and they won’t necessarily all be sitting on the
Socialist side of parliament. If the prime minister is a former
spy, then there are bound to be more of them lurking in halls of
power. Such revelations will be painful and destabilizing. They may
perhaps lead to the fall of the current coalition government.

But it is high time for Hungary’s
politicians–and other post-communist potentates–to open up this
issue and bring it out into broad daylight. When the communist
regimes collapsed in 1989, some argued that a full-out opening of
the secret police files in these countries could lead to a vicious
round of witch-hunts. Other opponents of releasing the files have
pointed out that the they are not all accurate, and that they
contain errors and distortions inserted by the former communist
secret police.

Perhaps. But keeping the files secret has led to
other problems and injustices. “Wild” and unconfirmed
lists of “former collaborators” have been circulated in
some parts of the region. Some politicians have been blackmailed by
those who know about their past. And, as in the Medgyessy case,
sensational revelations have emerged about the past of some
politicians currently in office. In short, keeping the files under
wraps has allowed the whole issue to become a weapon in elite power
games.

Moreover, if someone wants to run for public
office, they should be willing to open their past activities to
public scrutiny. Let the public decide whether Peter
Medgyessy’s activities in the past disqualify him from
holding the job of prime minister. After all, weren’t the
demonstrations of 1989 about establishing democratic rule in the
region?

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