INTRODUCTION
TO HUNGARIAN PHILATELY
HUNGARIAN
UPRISING
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A
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE 1956 HUNGARIAN UPRISING
Selected
extractions from:
UN and US REPORTS ON THE HUNGARIAN REVOLUTION OF 1956,
MATTHIAS CORVINUS PUBLISHING, Toronto- Buffalo, 1998
A. Developments before 22 October 1956
Immediately after the Second World War, the Hungarian people
sought to give expression to their political views. A general
election was fought in 1945 by six political parties, authorized
by the Allied Control Commission. Five of these won seats in
Parliament. The Independent Smallholders emerged with 245 seats,
the Social Democrats with sixty-nine, the Communists with seventy,
the National Peasants with twenty-three and the Democratic Party
with two. The four major parties formed a coalition, but Communist
influence steadily asserted itself.
By
1948, leaders of the non-Communist parties had been silenced,
had fled abroad or had been arrested, and in 1949, Hungary officially
became a People's Democracy. Real power was in the hands of
Matyas Rakosi, a Communist trained in Moscow. Under his regime,
Hungary was modeled more and more closely on the Soviet pattern.
Free speech and individual liberty ceased to exist. Arbitrary
imprisonment became common and purges were undertaken, both
within and outside the ranks of the Party. In June 1949, the
Foreign Minister, László Rajk, was arrested; he
was charged with attempting to overthrow the democratic order
and hanged. Many other people were the victims of similar action.
This was made easier by the apparatus of the State security
police or AVH, using methods of terror in the hands of the regime,
which became identified with Rakosi's regime in the minds of
the people.
The
Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party of the USSR early
in 1956 encouraged a movement within the Hungarian Workers'
(Communist) Party which aimed at a measure of democratization
and national independence and a relaxation of police rule. In
March 1956, Rakosi announced that the Supreme Court had established
that Rajk and others had been condemned on "fabricated
charges". This official admission that crimes had been
committed by the regime had profound repercussions in Hungary.
It was followed in July by the dismissal of Rakosi and, early
in October, by the ceremonial reburial, in the presence of a
large crowd, of László Rajk and other victims
of the 1949 trials. Rakosi was succeeded as First Secretary
of the Central Committee of the Party by Ernö Gerö.
From
the date of Rakosi's fall, the Hungarian people looked for a
softening of the regime. Associated in their minds with better
days was the former Premier, Imre Nagy, whose period of office
from 1953 to 1955 had been marked by a loosening of the controls
imposed earlier by Rakosi. Nagy had also been attacked as a
deviationist and, while he had escaped trial, had been expelled
from the Party and divested of all his offices. His name continued
to stand for more liberal policies in the minds of many Hungarian
Communists, who wished for his return to public life.
The
first protests against the dictatorial regime of the Party were
voice by certain Hungarian writers, as early as the autumn of
1955. Articles published by these writers concerned mainly the
doctrine of Party allegiance in literature and interference
with creative writers and artists by Party spokesmen and bureaucrats.
Although a number of writers were arrested, the scope of these
protests gradually widened to take in other grievances of the
Hungarian people.
In
the summer of 1956, the foundation of the Petöfi Club provided
a new forum for discussions, which were often critical of the
regime. This Club was sponsored by DISZ, the official Communist
Youth Organization and its debates were mainly attended by young
Communist intellectuals.
On
19 October, the Minister of Education, Albert Konya, announced
certain changes as a result of requests put forward by Hungarian
students. One of these was an undertaking to abolish the compulsory
teaching of Russian in schools. This announcement was followed
by student manifestations in Szeged and other towns, during
which various demands of a more far-reaching character discussed
and adopted. Also on October, news of Poland's move towards
greater independence of the USSR was received in Hungary with
enthusiasm. Friendship between the two peoples had been traditional
for centuries.
Although
Soviet troops are said to have been called in to deal with disorders
that began during the night of 23-24 October, there is evidence
that steps were being taken by the Soviet authorities from 20-22
October with a view to the use of armed force in Hungary. On
20-21 October, floating bridges were assembled at Zahony on
the Hungarian-Soviet frontier. On 21-22 October, in neighboring
areas of Romania, Soviet officers on leave and reserve officers
speaking Hungarian were recalled. On 22 October, Soviet forces
in Western Hungary were observed moving towards Budapest.
B.
Meetings and demonstrations
On
the day before the holding of mass demonstrations, namely 2
October, a number of student meetings took place in Budapest.
At the most important of these, held by students of the building
industry Technological university, the students adopted a list
of sixteen demands which expressed their views on national policy.
These demands contained most of the points put forward during
the uprising itself.
They
included the immediate withdrawal of all Soviet troops the reconstitution
of the Government under Imre Nagy, who had meanwhile been re-admitted
to the Communist Party, free elections, freedom of expression,
the reestablishment of political parties, and sweeping changes
in the conditions both of workers and peasants. It was learnt
during the meeting that the Hungarian Writers' Union proposed
to express its solidarity with Poland on the following day by
laying a wreath at the statue of General Bem, a hero of Hungary's
War of Independence of 1848-49, who was of Polish origin. The
students thereupon decided to organize a silent demonstration
of sympathy on the same occasion.
Early
next morning, the students' demands had become known throughout
Budapest Witnesses speak of an atmosphere of elation and hopefulness.
Radio Budapest referred to the planned demonstrations, but later
announced a communiqué prohibiting it from the minister
of the interior. The ban was however, lifted during the early
afternoon, when the demonstration was already under way. Thousands
of young people took part in It, including students, factory
workers, soldiers in uniform and others. A similar demonstration
took place at the statue of Petofi.
Standing
beside the statue of General Bem, Péter Veres, President
of the Writers' Union, read a manifesto to the crowd, who also
listened to a proclamation of the students' sixteen demands.
Most of the crowd afterwards crossed the Danube to join demonstrators
outside the Parliament Building where, by 6 p.m., between 200,000
and 300,000 people were gathered. Repeated calls for Imre Nagy
eventually brought the former Premier. Mr. Nagy addressed the
crowd briefly from a balcony of the Parliament Building.
C.
The first shots
There
had so far been nothing to suggest that the demonstration would
end in any other way than by the crowds' returning home. An
episode, however, at 8 p.m. greatly embittered the people. The
First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party, Ernö
Gerö, had returned that morning from a visit to Marshal
Tito, and the public was eagerly awaiting a speech which he
was to broadcast at that time. The general hope was that he
would take account of the popular demands voiced by the students
and would make some conciliatory announcement in connection
with them. The speech, however, made none of the hoped-for concessions
and its whole tone angered the people. At the same time, another
crowd had taken it into their own hands to carry out one of
the students' demands, namely that for the removal of the great
statue of Stalin. Their efforts caused it to overturn at 9.30
p.m., by which time resentment was being freely expressed over
Mr. Gerö's speech.
On
the evening of 22 October, some of the students had sought to
have their demands broadcast by Budapest Radio, in order to
bring them to the attention of the people as a whole. The censor
had been unwilling to broadcast the demands for the withdrawal
of Soviet troops and for free elections, and the students had
re fused to allow incomplete publication. The following day,
some of the students went from the Bem statue to the Radio Building,
with the intention of making an other attempt to have their
demands broadcast. A large crowd gathered at the Radio Building,
which was guarded by the AVH or State security police. The students
sent a delegation into the Building to negotiate with the Director.
The crowd waited in vain for the return of this delegation,
and eventually a rumor spread that one delegate had been shot.
Shortly after 9 p.m., tear gas bombs were thrown from the upper
windows and, one or two minutes later, AVH men opened fire on
the crowd, killing a number of people and wounding others.
In
so far as any one moment can be selected as the turning point
which changed a peaceable demonstration into a violent uprising,
it would be this moment when the AVH, already intensely unpopular
and universally feared by their compatriots, attacked defenseless
people. The anger of the crowd was intensified when white ambulances,
with Red Cross license plates, drove up. Instead of first aid
teams, AVH police emerged, wearing doctors' white coats. A part
of the infuriated crowd attacked them and, in this way, the
demonstrators acquired their first weapons. Hungarian forces
were rushed to the scene to reinforce the AVH but, after hesitating
a moment, they sided with the crowd.
Meanwhile,
workers from Csepel, Ujpest and other working-class districts
learnt of the situation by telephone. They seized trucks and
drove into Budapest, obtaining arms on the way from friendly
soldiers or police, or from military barracks and arms factories
known to them. From about 11 p.m., the Radio Building was under
attack with light arms and, at midnight, the radio announced
that clashes had taken place at "various points" in
the city. During the early hours of 24 October, the demonstrators
seized the Radio Building, but were driven out of it again.
At the offices of the Communist Party newspaper, Szabad Nep,
other AVH guards opened fire on unarmed demonstrators. Later,
insurgents who had obtained arms overcame the AVH and occupied
the newspaper offices.
While
fighting was in progress at the Radio Building, the first Soviet
tanks made their appearance in Budapest at about 2 a.m. on 24
October, and were soon in action. However, no official announcement
was made of the Soviet intervention until 9 a.m.
D.
The armed uprising
Before
referring to the Russian troops, Budapest Radio had announced
at 8.13 a.m. that Imre Nagy had been recommended to be the next
Chairman of the Council of Ministers, at a night meeting of
the Central Committee of the Hungarian Workers' (Communist)
Party. Half an hour later came a statement that summary jurisdiction
had been ordered, and this was read by the announcer as "signed
by Imre Nagy, Chairman of the Council of Ministers". Only
after this, at 9 a.m., was it reported that the Government had
"applied for help to the Soviet formations stationed in
Hungary." No indication was given as to the manner in which
this alleged application was made. In spite of the skilful manner
in which the radio presentation of developments gave the impression
that Mr. Nagy was responsible for decisions some, remembering
his opposition to arbitrary measures and his fight for the relaxation
of the regime, suspected a fraud. Moreover, Mr. Nagy had no
official status the day before.
Bibliography:
UN
and US REPORTS ON THE HUNGARIAN REVOLUTION OF 1956,
MATTHIAS CORVINUS PUBLISHING, Toronto- Buffalo, 1998
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