Janos Kadar was born in
in Fiume (now called
Rijeka, Croatia) in 1912. He worked in a factory and as a result of
trade union activities became a member of the Hungarian Communist
Party in 1935.
During the Second
World War Kadar was a member of the Czech
Resistance movement.
The Red Army invaded Hungary in September
1944. It set up an alternative government in Debrecen on 21st December
1944 but did not capture Budapest until 18th January 1945.
In elections held in November,
1945, the Hungarian Communist Party won only 20 per cent of the votes.
However, the communist filled all the important posts with Matyas
Rakosi, the party general secretary, becoming the most important
political figure in Hungary.
In 1946 Kador became deputy
chief of Budapest's police. He was then appointed Minister of the
Interior where he gained a reputation as a persecutor of those who
questioned the policies of the government. For example, he was responsible
for the arrest of Laszlo
Rajk, the foreign
secretary, who had
criticized attempts by Joseph Stalin to
impose Stalinist policies on Hungary.
However, in 1950 he was
arrested and charged with being a supporter of Josip
Tito of Yugoslavia.
Kador was put in prison and he was not released until the end of 1953.
During this period
an estimated 2,000 people were executed and over 100,000 were imprisoned.
These policies were opposed by some members of the Hungarian Workers
Party and around 200,000 were expelled by Matyas
Rakosi from the organization.
Kador was given a minor
post as party chief in Budapest's Thirteenth District. This was an
heavily industrialized area and over the next few years Kador built
up a large following amongst the workers who were demanding increased
freedoms for trade unions.
Rakosi had difficulty managing
the economy and the people of Hungary saw living standards fall. His
government became increasingly unpopular and when Joseph
Stalin died in 1953 Matyas Rakosi
was replaced as prime minister by Imre
Nagy. However,
he retained his position as general secretary of the Hungarian Workers
Party and over the next three years the two men became involved in
a bitter struggle for power.
As Hungary's new leader
Imre
Nagy removed
state control of the mass media and encouraged public discussion on
political and economic reform. This included a promise to increase
the production and distribution of consumer goods. Nagy also released
anti-communists from prison and talked about holding free elections
and withdrawing Hungary from the Warsaw
Pact.
Matyas
Rakosi led the attacks on Nagy. On 9th March 1955, the Central
Committee of the Hungarian Workers Party condemned Nagy for "rightist
deviation". Hungarian newspapers joined the attacks and Nagy
was accused of being responsible for the country's economic problems
and on 18th April he was dismissed from his post by a unanimous vote
of the National Assembly. Rakosi
once again became the leader of Hungary.
Rakosi's power was undermined
by a speech made by Nikita
Khrushchev in February 1956. He denounced the policies
of Joseph Stalin and his followers in
Eastern Europe. He also claimed that the trial of Laszlo
Rajk had been
a "miscarriage of justice". On 18th July 1956, Rakosi was
forced from power as a result of orders from the Soviet Union. However,
he did managed to secure the appointment of his close friend, Erno
Gero, as his successor.
On 3rd October 1956, the
Central Committee of the Hungarian Communist Party announced that
it had decided that Laszlo
Rajk, Gyorgy
Palffy, Tibor Szonyi and Andras Szalai had wrongly been convicted
of treason in 1949. At the same time it was announced that Imre
Nagy had been
reinstated as a member of the Communist Party.
The
uprising began on 23rd October by a peaceful manifestation of students
in Budapest. The students demanded an end to Soviet occupation and
the implementation of "true socialism". The following day
commissioned officers and soldiers joined the students on the streets
of Budapest. Stalin's statue was brought down and the protesters chanted
"Russians go home", "Away with Gero" and "Long
Live Nagy".
On 25th October Soviet
tanks opened fire on protesters in Parliament Square. One journalist
at the scene saw 12 dead bodies and estimated that 170 had been wounded.
Shocked by these events the Central Committee of the Communist Party
forced Erno Gero to resign from office
and replaced him with Janos
Kadar.
Imre
Nagy now went
on Radio Kossuth and announced he had taken over the leadership of
the Government as Chairman of the Council of Ministers." He also
promised the "the far-reaching democratization of Hungarian public
life, the realisation of a Hungarian road to socialism in accord with
our own national characteristics, and the realisation of our lofty
national aim: the radical improvement of the workers' living conditions."
On 30th October, Imre
Nagy announced
that he was freeing Cardinal Joseph Mindszenty
and other political prisoners. He also informs the people that his
government intends to abolish the one-party state. This is followed
by statements by Zolton Tildy, Anna
Kethly and Ferenc Farkas concerning
the reconstitution of the Smallholders Party, the Social Democratic
Party and the Petofi Peasants Party.
Nagy's most controversial
decision took place on 1st November when he announced that Hungary
intended to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact.
as well as proclaiming Hungarian neutrality he asked the United
Nations to become involved in the country's dispute with the Soviet
Union.
On 3rd November, Nagy announced
details of his coalition government. It included Kadar, George
Lukacs,
Geza Lodonczy, Zolton
Tildy, Bela Kovacs, Istvan
Szabo, Anna Kethly, Pal
Maleter, Gyula Keleman, Joseph
Fischer, Istvan Bibo and Ferenc
Farkas.
Nikita
Khrushchev, the
leader of the Soviet Union, became increasingly
concerned about these developments and on 4th November 1956 he sent
the Red Army into Hungary. Soviet tanks immediately
captured Hungary's airfields, highway junctions and bridges. Fighting
took place all over the country but the Hungarian forces were quickly
defeated.
Imre
Nagy sought
and obtained asylum at the Yugoslav embassy in Budapest. So also did
George
Lukacs,
Geza Lodonczy and Julia Rajk, the widow
of Laszlo
Rajk. Kadar,
who claimed that Nagy had gone too far with his reforms, became Hungary's
new leader.
Kadar
promised Nagy and
his followers safe passage out of the country. Kadar did not keep
his promise and on 23rd November, 1956, Nagy and his followers, were
kidnapped after leaving the Yugoslav embassy.
On 17th June 1958, the
Hungarian government announced that several of the reformers had been
convicted of treason and attempting to overthrow the "democratic
state order" and Imre
Nagy, Pal
Maleter and Miklos Gimes had been
executed for these crimes. Geza Lodonczy
and Attila Szigethy were both to die
in suspicious circumstances soon afterwards.
Over the next few years
Kadar did introduce a series of economic reforms which helped to raise
living standards. He held power until resigning as leader of the Hungarian
Communist Party in 1988.
Janos Kadar died in 1989.
(1)
New
York Times (25th October, 1956)
The new leader of Hungary's
Communists is well acquainted with terror since he has in turn been
a jailer of anti Communists and a victim of Communist jailers. He
is a man who has been moved by a single passion for five years - to
destroy Matyas Rakosi, the leader of the Working People's (Communist)
Party, who put him in jail in April 1951, and kept him there until
late 1953. It was the strength of this passion that enabled Mr. Kadar
to survive the purge and then to emerge so steeled in mind and body
that within three years he had driven his enemy into exile and had
himself won the seat of power.
The measure of the man
is the skill with which Mr. Kadar rose from prisoner to party chief.
Released, still in semi-disgrace, in late 1953, he was given a relatively
minor job as party chief in Budapest's Thirteenth District, an area
with factories and workers' residences. In that ward he built up his
own machine and his influence and prestige soon spread elsewhere.
By last spring and early
summer, he was so powerful that he was one of the key figures behind
the scenes in the intrigues that culminated in Mr. Rakosi's resignation
last July. Formal recognition of his role came at the Central Committee's
July meeting, which elected him to the Politburo. His return to power
parallels that of Wladyslaw Gomulka, Poland's new party leader.
There is both irony and
justice in Mr. Kadar's appearance at this critical moment when Hungarian
Communists looked for a symbol of national communism to placate the
country's rebels. He was, after all, the Minister of Interior and
head of the secret police in 1949 when Laszlo Rajk, one of Hungary's
Communist leaders, was tried and executed on charges of national communism
and Titoism. But this factor in his career is more than counter-balanced
by his jail terms and other elements.
(2)
Janos Kadar, Radio Kossuth (24th October, 1956)
Workers, comrades! The
demonstration of university youth, which began with the formulation
of, on the whole, acceptable demands, has swiftly degenerated into
a demonstration against our democratic order; and under the cover
of this demonstration an armed attack has broken out. It is only with
burning anger that we can speak of this attack by counter-revolutionary
reactionary elements against the capital of our country, against our
people's democratic order and the power of the working class. Towards
the rebels who have risen with arms in their hands against the legal
order of our People's Republic, the Central Committee of our Party
and our Government have adopted the only correct attitude: only surrender
or complete defeat can await those who stubbornly continue their murderous,
and at the same time completely hopeless, fight against the order
of our working people.
At the same time we are
aware that the provocateurs, going into the fight surreptitiously,
have been using as cover many people who went astray in the hours
of chaos, and especially many young people whom we cannot regard as
the conscious enemies of our regime. Accordingly, now that we have
reached the stage of liquidating the hostile attack, and with a view
to avoiding further bloodshed, we have offered and are offering to
those misguided individuals who are willing to surrender on demand,
the opportunity of saving their lives and their future, and of returning
to the camp of honest people.
(3)
Janos
Kadar,
Radio Kossuth (30th October, 1956)
My fellow-workers, working
brethren, dear comrades! Moved by the deep sense of responsibility
to spare our nation and working masses further bloodshed, I declare
that every member of the Presidium of the Hungarian Workers' Party
agrees with today's decisions by the Council of Ministers. As for
myself, I can add that I am in wholehearted agreement with those who
spoke before me, Imre Nagy, Zoltan Tildy and Ferenc Erdei. They are
my acquaintances and friends, my esteemed and respected compatriots.
I address myself to the
Communists, to those Communists who were prompted to join the Party
by the progressive ideas of mankind and socialism, and not by selfish
personal interests - let us represent our pure and just ideas by pure
and just means.
My comrades, my fellow
workers! Bad leadership during the past years has cast on our Party
the shadow of great and grave burdens. We must fully rid ourselves
of these burdens, of all accusations against the Party. This must
be done with a clear conscience, with courage and straight-forward
resolution. The ranks of the Party will thin out, but I do not fear
that pure, honest and well-meaning Communists will be disloyal to
their ideals. Those who joined us for selfish personal reasons, for
a career or other motives will be the ones to leave. But, having got
rid of this ballast and the burden of past crimes by certain persons
in our leadership, we will fight, even if to some extent from scratch,
under more favourable and clearer conditions for the benefit of our
ideas, our people, our compatriots and country.
I ask every Communist
individually to set an example, by deeds and without pretense, a real
example worthy of a man and a Communist, in restoring order, starting
normal life, in resuming work and production, and in laying the foundations
of an ordered life. Only with the honour thus acquired can we earn
the respect of our other compatriots as well.
(4)
Janos
Kadar, Radio Kossuth
(1st November, 1956)
In their glorious uprising
our people have shaken off the Rakosi regime. They have achieved freedom
for the people and independence for the country. Without this there
can be no socialism. We can safely say that the ideological and organisational
leaders who prepared this uprising were recruited from among your
ranks. Hungarian Communist writers, journalists, university students,
the youth of the Petofi Circle, thousands and thousands of workers
and peasants, and veteran fighters who had been imprisoned on false
charges, fought in the front line against Rakosiite despotism and
political hooliganism.
In these momentous hours
the Communists who fought against the despotism of Rakosi have decided,
in accordance with the wish of many true patriots and socialists,
to form a new Party. The new Party will break away from the crimes
of the past for once and for all. It will defend the honour and independence
of our country against anyone. On this basis, the basis of national
independence, it will build fraternal relations with any progressive
socialist movement and party in the world.
In these momentous hours
of our history we call on every Hungarian worker who is led by devotion
to the people and the country to join our Party, the name of which
is the Hungarian Socialist Workers Party. The Party counts on the
support of every honest worker who declares himself in favour of the
socialist objectives of the working class. The Party invites into
its ranks every Hungarian worker who adopts these principles and who
is not responsible for the criminal policy and mistakes of the Rakosi-clique.
We expect everybody to join who, in the past, was deterred from service
to socialism by the anti-national policy and criminal deeds of Rakosi
and his followers.
(4)
Peter
Fryer, Hungarian Tragedy (1956)
The troops in Budapest,
as later in the provinces, were of two minds: there were those who
were neutral and there were those who were prepared to join the people
and fight alongside them. The neutral ones (probably the minority)
were prepared to hand over their arms to the workers and students
so that they could do battle against the A.V.H. with them. The others
brought their arms with them when they joined the revolution. Furthermore,
many sporting rifles were taken by the workers from the factory armouries
of the Hungarian Voluntary Defence Organisation. The "mystery"
of how the people were armed is no mystery at all. No one has yet
been able to produce a single weapon manufactured in the West.
The Hungarian Stalinists,
having made two calamitous mistakes, now made a third - or rather,
it would be charitable to say, had it thrust on them by the Soviet
Union. This was the decision to invoke a non-existent clause of the
Warsaw Treaty and call in Soviet troops. This first Soviet intervention
gave the people's movement exactly the impetus needed to make it united,
violent and nation-wide. It seems probable, on the evidence, that
Soviet troops were already in action three or four hours before the
appeal, made in the name of Imre Nagy as his first act on becoming
Prime Minister. That is debatable, but what is not debatable is that
the appeal was in reality made by Gero and Hegedus; the evidence of
this was later found and made public. Nagy became Prime Minister precisely
twenty-four hours too late, and those who throw mud at him for making
concessions to the Right in the ten days he held office should consider
the appalling mess that was put into his hands by the Stalinists when,
in desperation, they officially quit the stage.
With Nagy in office it
would still have been possible to avert the ultimate tragedy if the
people's two demands had been met immediately - if the Soviet troops
had withdrawn without delay, and if the security police had been disbanded.
But Nagy was not a free agent during the first few days of his premiership.
It was known in Budapest that his first broadcast were made - metaphorically,
if not literally - with a tommy-gun in his back.
(5)
Manchester Guardian (14th
November, 1956)
The fighting in Budapest
is over. The streets are crowded. It is at once a city at peace and
a city at war. The crowds in the streets, the workers of the factories,
have no thought of resuming work. The people filling the city's main
thoroughfares are part of a huge silent demonstration of protest.
In an unending line they file past the damaged and destroyed houses,
silently point to the shell holes and heaps of rubble that were once
walls, and pass on.
The workers are streaming
back to the factories but only to collect their pay - in most cases
50 per cent of their wages - and then go home. Sometimes they assemble
for mass meetings in their factories, where resolutions are passed
demanding an immediate withdrawal of Soviet troops, the formation
of a Government under Imre Nagy, the admission of United Nations observers
into the country, the establishment of a neutral Hungary, and free
elections - though this last point is omitted in some resolutions.
No work will be done except by public facilities and food services,
the resolutions say, until the workers' demands have been conceded.
Leaflets, some of them
printed, some cyclo-styled, spread the texts of these resolutions
through the city. Government posters calling for a return to work
are plastered over with these leaflets and with smaller handwritten
posters calling for a continuation of the general strike.
The fighting in Budapest
is over but the fight is on. And it is a grimmer fight than during
the days when shells were whizzing past and boys and girls with Molotov
cocktails were throwing themselves at Soviet tanks.
For, while limited supplies
of food are available, the refusal of the fathers to work means starvation
both for young and old and death for the weakest. Indeed, the youngest
and the oldest and the infirm, deprived of the minimum food they need
and of the medical attention that goes in the first place to the wounded
freedom fighters, are dying in greater numbers than in more normal
times. These deaths, like the deaths resulting from the actual fighting,
are the logical consequences of the decision taken by the whole nation
to carry on the fight.
The general strike through
which this fight is now carried on is a murderous weapon both for
those who use it and for those against whom it is directed. For the
Kadar Government, supported only by Soviet tanks, is being killed
as effectively as if each of its members were strung up from a
lamp-post. The people taking
part in this strike realise full well that what they are doing is
madness, that they are not harming the Russians by their strike but
only themselves. Yet there is method in their madness. They cannot
believe that the West will stand by and witness passively the slow
suicide of a whole nation.
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