SIR,—What must be done at once for Hungary is to
organise relief and to help in every way we can those who are still desperately fighting for their freedom. To propose a parallel activity, on a different level, is not to suggest that present activities should be diverted but that they should be increased.
There must be many,people in England and prance who feel, as I do, that their horror at the massacre of Hungarians and their shame at the wanton killing of Egyptians can only be assuaged on some level which is deeper than the political, or even than the level of 'protesta- tion.' We feel that though Hungary and Egypt are far from being crimes of equal magnitude they are morally inextricable, and that moral action must be taken about both at once.
Would it not be possible to organise a Youth Pilgrimage, to be conducted on foot from London to Hungary? I am thinking of a movement in the spirit of Gandhi and of Christian humility. It would not be specifically pacifist, for many who feel this moral insepara- bility of the two events (I am not talking about any causal connection) are not pacifists in the strict sense of the word. But the pilgrimage would be declaring that the West has com- mitted a crime in Egypt and that we are walk- ing as much in penance for our own crime as in appeal to the Russians to stop committing theirs.
Whether this long walk should be under- taken within. the next few weeks, next spring or never is a question first of response and then, if there is a real response, of fore- thought and organisation. Whenever it hap- pens it will last for nearly two months, and to join it will involve considerable physical hard- ships. But the greater the sacrifice the greater the power of the symbolic act.
And I firmly believe that it would not be only a symbolic act, in that it might have immediate practical results. The fact that we approach the Russians—whether we reach Budapest or are turned back at the frontier— in a spirit of humility rather than of self- righteous condemnation would surely make it easier for them to be influenced by our action.
I would envisage an initial ceremony of lay- ing a wreath.on the Cenotaph in commemora- tion of the British dead in Egypt. At the same time a pilgrim envoy would be sent by air to Cairo where he would lay a wreath on the grave of an Egyptian killed in the Suez fighting. He would also hand to the Egyptian authori- ties a sum previously collected as a contribu- tion towards relief.
The pilgrims would then set out for Dover, cross the Channel and—of great importance —be met on the other side by a French con- tingent. The walk would traverse Northern France and South Germany and there would be a rendezvous on a specified date in Vienna. Any individuals of any age or country would be encouraged to join the pilgrimage at any point in it and for any length of time. But the nucleus, until Vienna, would have to be British and French, since the immediate Western crime was committed by those two countries. Once at Vienna, however, we would hope to be joined for the final stage by pilgrims from all over the world—from Sweden and Spain, and America and Italy, and the Common- wealth.
There would be a final walk to the Hun- garian frontier and a request to cross it and to reach Budapest. Either at the capital or on the frontier, according to the Russian and Hun- garian attitudes, we would pay a formal tribute to the courage of the Hungarian people and express our solidarity with their fight for free- dom. We would also make an act of com- passion for the Russian dead. We would again present a contribution to relief.
I think this pilgrimage must be organised and undertaken by young people. In the first place it is they who will be best equipped physically for undertaking it; in the second, older people are already committed, already
burdened by their labels and by their past records, good or bad. It is clearly very im- portant indeed that this should not be just another of the many, many campaigns which those of my generation and older ones have launched in the past. It needs the freshness of new people to organise and inspire it.
Will those who feel that such an action is the only kind of response which can hope to match the terrible reality please send postcards to me. so that the strength of support may be judged? And will students, and others perhaps, begin at once to organise?—Yours faithfully,
PHILIP TOYNBEE
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