Hungarian Party Leader Grosz Hints He’ll Quit

Communist Party General Secretary Karoly Grosz, a centrist who has lost ground recently to reformists, suggested in an interview published Tuesday that he will step down to prevent a power struggle.

Grosz did not specifically say he would resign, but the official MTI news agency reported that he did not contradict a reporter for the party daily Nepszabadsag who asked why he intended to “leave the political scene.”

“Many people want to believe that the main cause of the current problems is the power struggle within the party,” Grosz was quoted as saying. “I would not like to have a power struggle, as it would not do any good to either the party or the country.”

He did not elaborate on his political future or his views on the party conflict. But he apparently was alluding to expectations that a battle between reformers and their opponents would dominate an extraordinary party congress Oct. 6.

Grosz became party general secretary 15 months ago, replacing Janos Kadar, the leader of 32 years who had become associated with political and economic stagnation.

Grosz assumed power amid expectations he would lead reforms while maintaining discipline and good terms with party conservatives. But he was left behind as reformers forced the pace of political and economic liberalization.

In the past two years, the surge of reformist sentiment within the party has led to the endorsement of a multi-party system and of free elections, by mid-1990 at the latest.

A draft manifesto published in Nepszabadsag on Friday reiterated the Communists’ intention to “introduce a multi-party system in which the source of power is the will of the people manifested in free elections.”