Cuban Commies Dishonor Beloved Hungarian Poet

According to a report from the always-reliable Cuban news agency AIN, the 10th Havana International Poetry Festival, which wraps up tomorrow, is dedicated to Attila József, the great Hungarian poet who was born 100 years ago. Highlighting the festivities is the publication of a new translation of József by the late Cuban poet Fayad Jamis, which was presented yesterday at the Cuban capital's city museum. If you know anything about József other than that his poetry is good, it is that he was a staunch opponent of the right-wing governments that ruled Hungary during most of his short life. Which means you probably don't know that after suggesting that Hungary's communists join forces with the country's social democrats, he was expelled from the Communist party in 1933, and scorned by the reds until December 3, 1937, when he threw himself under a freight train in the remote town of Balatonszárszó.

Not much more to say about this other than that we don't think it's a great honor to have one of the nation's greatest artistic figures being officially appropriated by one of the world's last two communist dictatorships, and one with a iron-clad reputation for suppressing artists who do not toe the official line. As for what József would have thought about contemporary Cuba, just consider the following, from Ars Poetica, written shortly before his death:

Be free to eat, drink, make love and sleep!
Weigh yourself with the universe!
I shan't hiss my inward curse to creep
and serve the base bone-crushing powers.

No word yet on whether anyone from the Hungarian embassy in Havana was on hand for the desecration of József's memory, or otherwise of any involvement by Hungarian officials or cultural figures. If they were involved, though, we sure hope they limited their involvement to reading passages like the above, with lots of knowing looks thrown in for good measure.