1956 Hungarian Revolution
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The 1956 Hungarian Revolution, also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a popular revolt against Soviet influence and control in Hungary. The revolt was brutally suppressed by Soviet troops. About 25-50,000 Hungarian insurgents and 7,000 Soviet troops were killed, thousands more were wounded, and nearly a quarter million left the country as refugees. The revolution was a watershed event for communists in Western countries; many who had formerly supported the Soviet Union now criticized it.
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Overview
On 23 October 1956 Hungary's population rose up against their government. The population achieved control over a large number of social institutions and territory. The Hungarians began to implement their own policies, one of the first of these being hunting down and killing known ÁVH informants. The Soviet Union's army intervened on two occasions to stop this process, once on the night of October 23, resulting in a ceasefire by 1 November 1956. On the night of 4 November 1956 the Soviet army again acted to halt this process of popular reform. By January 1957 the Soviet Union had installed a new Hungarian government and halted the reforms demanded by the people. Due to the rapid change in government and social policies; the role of left-wing ideology in uniting the population; and, the use of armed force to achieve political goals this uprising is often considered a revolution.
Historical debate
The historical and political significance of the Hungarian revolution of 1956 is still actively debated. The main views on the nature of the revolution are:
- That it was a socialist and democratic revolution aiming to create a more open communist society like Yugoslavia, or a social democratic society like Sweden, or perhaps a new and different kind of socialist system. This view was popular among reformist communists and is popular among democratic socialists, Trotskyists and others.
- That it was a libertarian socialist and anarchist revolution aiming to create a new kind of society modelled on the Hungarian workers councils. This view is popular amongst council communists and left wing anarchists.
- That it was a nationalist and democratic revolution with an intention to create a capitalist economy. This view is popular in the United States of America.
- That it was a clerical and fascist attempt to restore a Horthyite or Arrow Cross government and a feudal capitalist economy. This view was popular with Soviet Union and Chinese aligned communist parties. This position has little historical credibility, but its bias is present in many accounts of the revolution.
Due to the variety of conflicting and irreconcilable historiographical positions on the Hungarian revolution of 1956, it is difficult to produce a summary account of revolutionary events. Similarly, because the revolution was short lived, it is impossible to speculate on what its effects might have been.
Why it happened
Economic collapse and low standards of living provoked working class discontent, which was visible during soccer riots. Peasants were unhappy with land policies. The Communist Party was unable to unite its reformist and Stalinist wings. Journalists and authors were upset with their working conditions, and took control of their trade union. Students were upset with academic conditions and University entrance criteria and established independent student unions. Nikita Khrushchev's Secret Speech caused much debate within the elite of the Hungarian communist party. As the Hungarian communist party was blinded by leadership debates, the population took action. There was political instability inside the Hungarian communist party as well.
What happened
23 October to 3 November
On 23 October 1956 students marched in the streets of Budapest, later attracting a number of workers and other Hungarians; their numbers peaked at about 100,000. Hungarian soldiers on duty in the city supported the protesters, tearing the Soviet stars off their hats and throwing them into the crowds.
The demands of the demonstrators were at first relatively mild. The turning point was when Hungarian Security Police (AVO) opened fire on the crowds and killed hundreds. Pretenses of moderation were dropped, police cars were flipped over and set on fire, and guns were distributed amongst the masses by arms factory workers.
Soon after, the popular communist politician Imre Nagy was installed as Prime Minister by the Hungarian communist party. Many of his previous supporters now denounced him as a traitor, mistakenly thinking that he, not the hardline Party Secretary Erno Gero and the former Prime Minister Andras Hegedeus, had declared a state of emergency and ordered Soviet troops into action.
While Soviet troops fought in Budapest, the rest of the country was largely quiet. Soviet commanders often negotiated local cease-fires with the revolutionaries. In some regions, the Soviet forces managed to halt revolutionary activity. In Budapest, the Soviet troops were eventually fought to a stand-still.
During the following fortnight, many workers councils and national councils were formed. The workers councils were much like the independent Russian soviets of 1905 or 1917. The national councils were like the workers councils, but governing a geographic area. Political parties from before 1945 or 1949 crackdowns were reformed, but the majority of the population only supported parties which proposed to keep socialism.
Many political prisoners were released including major Church figures.
Popular sentiment forced the government of Imre Nagy to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact. This action caused the Soviet Union to intervene again.
4 November onwards
New Soviet troops invaded. Working class Hungarians played a significant role in fighting the Soviet troops, until the workers councils, students and intellectuals called for a cease-fire on 10 November.
Between 10 November and 19 December the workers councils negotiated directly with the Soviet occupation force. While they achieved some releases of political prisoners, they did not achieve their aims of a Soviet withdrawal.
János Kádár formed a new communist government, with the support of the Soviet Union, and after December 1956 steadily increased his control over Hungary.
Sporadic armed resistance and strikes continued until midway through 1957.
Imre Nagy, and many others were executed by Kádár's government. The CIA's estimates published in the 1960s approximate 1200 executions.
By 1963 most political prisoners from the Hungarian revolution of 1956 had been released by János Kádár.
What the revolutionaries wanted
- Peasants wanted the right to own and farm individual plots of land.
- Workers wanted self-management of workplaces through workers' councils, free trade unions and improved living conditions.
- Intellectuals wanted freedom of speech and freedom of thought.
- Most Hungarians wanted the removal of Soviet troops, recognition of traditional national symbols, democracy, freedom for the Catholic Church, the rule of law and the continuation of socialism.
- Nearly all Hungarians wanted to abolish the Államvédelmi Hatóság, the secret police, which operated in a similar manner to the Soviet Union's KGB
External link
de:Ungarischer Volksaufstand eo:Hungara revolucio de 1956 ja:ハンガリー動乱 fi:Unkarin kansannousu sv:Ungernrevolten zh:匈牙利十月事件
