Commemoration of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising
Description:
In 1956, in the Hungarian People’s Republic began unrest of the population, dissatisfied with the political repression and ineffective economic policies of the Hungarian proxies of the Soviet leadership. Discontent, initially restrained by fear of repression, on the initiative of students of the Budapest Polytechnic Institute on October 23, 1956, resulted in a mass demonstration on the streets of the capital. More than 200,000 people took part in it during the day.
People demanded the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country; the creation of a new government led by Prime Minister Imre Nadjem, previously removed from this post and expelled from the Communist Party for disagreement with its general line and Stalin’s demands; the trial of party leader Matyas Rakosi and his associates who built an effective punitive apparatus for all dissidents and ruined the economy of Hungary by trying to transform it from an agrarian country into an industrial colossus, which led to an agricultural crisis and a fall in living standards. The people also demanded the introduction of an official subsistence minimum for workers, a democratic electoral procedure and the permission of a multiparty system.
On October 24, Imre Nagy again became Prime Minister of the VPR, and on November 1 announced the withdrawal of the state from the Warsaw Pact of “communist countries” and proclaimed Hungary’s neutrality.
In response, on November 4, Soviet troops invaded the recalcitrant country. Hungary asked the UN for help against the Soviet invasion, but received only moral support.
In November, after a major bloodshed, the Hungarian revolution was crushed by a powerful Union army. Imre Nagy, many other leaders and hundreds of participants in the uprising were executed. Thousands were thrown into prison. More than 200,000 people have emigrated from the country.
Soviet troops remained in Hungary until 1991.