Sartre Condemns the Soviet Union
Jean-Paul Sartre, a prominent French writer and philosopher known for his leftist views, publicly condemned the Soviet Union's invasion of Hungary on November 9, 1956. This invasion marked a significant moment in Eastern European history, as Hungary, a Soviet satellite state, attempted to assert its independence from Soviet control. The Soviet military intervention aimed to suppress this burgeoning autonomy, leading to widespread criticism in the West, although military action against the Soviets was deemed too risky by countries like the United States due to the threat of nuclear war.
Sartre, who had previously supported the Soviet regime, viewed this invasion as a profound betrayal of the socialist ideals that he believed the communists were meant to uphold. In his condemnation, Sartre emphasized the distinction between the Russian people and their government, insisting that while he did not hold the populace responsible, the Soviet leadership's actions constituted a grave injustice. This pivotal moment revealed a significant shift in Sartre's perspective, as he broke from many Western liberals who continued to align with the Soviet cause, highlighting the complexities of political allegiance and moral responsibility in the context of Cold War tensions.
Sartre Condemns the Soviet Union
Sartre Condemns the Soviet Union
Jean-Paul Sartre, the famous leftist French writer and humanist, openly condemned the Soviet Union on November 9, 1956, for its invasion of Hungary. Hungary had been a satellite state within the Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern Europe ever since the end of World War II, and while it had a puppet government which was supposedly free to make its own decisions, that government was in reality expected to follow Soviet wishes. When the Hungarian government began to display an unnerving degree of independence, the Soviets sent in their military forces to restore traditional rule.
This harsh crackdown was widely criticized in the West, although the United States and other Western countries were powerless to take military action without risking a nuclear war, given that Hungary and Eastern Europe were secured by massive Soviet armies. Sartre was one of many Western liberals who had traditionally supported the Soviet Union in the belief that the Soviet communists were on a mission to benefit humanity by spreading socialism around the world. His 1948 play Les Mains Sales (Dirty hands) dramatizes his own conflicted feelings about the methods by which communists and other social revolutionaries advanced their causes, but he supported the Soviets nonetheless—until their actions of November 9, 1956. Then, he became one of the few who broke with the ranks of sympathetic Westerners, since he considered the invasion of Hungary to be an act of hypocrisy. Among his comments, Sartre declared, “I condemn the Soviet invasion wholeheartedly and without any reservation. Without putting any responsibility on to the Russian people, I nevertheless insist that its government has committed a crime.”