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[Budapest,] January 19, 1918
Dear Professor,
Brief situation report:
Since yesterday noon we have been having a general strike in Budapest.1 A worker named Mosolygós,2 supposedly without the aid of the men who have up to now been the workers' leaders, has understood how to move the various organizations to cease working. First the trolleys halted service, then all factories, and today even the printing presses. The military with
machine guns are standing on the main squares. The strikers' program is—as indicated by the many little red tags—I) immediate peace without annexation and without regard to Hoffmann,3 Hindenburg, and Ludendorff; 2) general secret ballot; 3) elimination of profiteering in provisions and goods. Up to now order has not been disrupted.
The trains are still running. The Jewish minister, Dr. Vázsonyi,4 has revealed himself to be a Hungarian nationalist; the workers have broken with him.
Who knows whether I can arrive on the morning of the 2nd, as I had intended. In any case, I have gotten a sleeping car ticket.
I was unable to go out to the hospital today. Lévy will take me along tomorrow.
Today I spoke with Dr. Freund, who wants to bring a little girl relative to me.5 Since he learned that all my hours are booked, he has promised to arrange for my release from service. Perhaps he will also succeed in this.—
What do you think, aren't these workers' demonstrations in Vienna and Budapest instigated by the government in order to prove to Germany the impossibility of continuing the war?