Istvan Szabo was born in
Hungary
in 1893. He became involved
in politics and joined the Smallholders Party. It drew most of its
support from the peasants who formed more than 50 per cent of the
country. However, until 1939, the ballot had been open in rural constituencies,
and therefore large landowners were able to force most peasants to
vote for the government party. The leaders of the Smallholders Party
were mainly members of the middle class and their political views
varied from liberals to socialists.
The Hungarian
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 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 3rd November, Nagy announced
details of his coalition government. It included Szabo, Janos
Kadar, George
Lukacs,
Anna Kethly, Zolton
Tildy, Bela Kovacs, Geza
Lodonczy, Gyula Keleman, Joseph
Fischer, Istvan Bibo and Ferenc
Farkas. On 4th
November 1956 Nikita Khrushchev sent
the Red Army into Hungary and Nagy's government
was overthrown. Szabo
was arrested and remained in prison until 1959.
Istvan Szabo died in 1976.
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