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BOX-FOLDER-REPORT: 36-6-112
TITLE:             A Chronology of the Hungarian Revolution
BY:                
DATE:              1981-10-20
COUNTRY:           Hungary
ORIGINAL SUBJECT:  RAD Background Report/292
THEMATIC SUBJECTS: Hungary--1976-1989, Hungary--1956 Revolution--Retrospection, Chronology

--- Begin ---

RADIO FREE EUROPE Research

RAD Background Report/29:
(Hungary)
20 October 1981

A CHRONOLOGY OF 'THE HUNGARIAN REVOLUTION
23 October-4 November 1956

Compiled by RAD/Hungarian Section[+]

[+]The following sources were used for this compilation: "The
Revolt in Hungary" (New York: Free Europe Committee, 1956);
"Report of the Special Committee on the Problem of Hungary"
(New York: United Nations, 1957); Facts on File Yearbook 1956
(New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1957); Ferenc A. Vali, Rift
and Revolt in Hungary (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard
University Press, 1961); and Paul E. Zinner, Revolution in
Hungary (New York: Columbia University Press, 1962).

This material was prepared for the use of the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

[page 2]

OCTOBER 23	Early in the afternoon students staged demonstration
in Budapest at the Petofi and Bern statues to show
solidarity with the Poles and to call for political
reform in Hungary. Thousands of young people took
part including students, factory workers, soldiers in
uniform, and others.

Standing beside the statue of the Polish hero General
Bern, President of the Writers' Union Peter Veres read
a manifesto to the crowd who also listened to the
students' 16 demands, adopted on October 22. The gist of
these demands was the reinstatement of Imre Nagy as
Prime Minister, internal reforms in keeping with the
policies of the "new course" initiated by Nagy in 1953;
a multiparty system; free elections; freedom of speech,
the press, assembly, and worship; and a readjustment of
political and economic relations with the Soviet Union
that would respect Hungary's national sovereignty,
beginning with the withdrawal of all Soviet troops.

Afterward most of the crowd proceeded to the Parliament
Building, where between 200,000 and 300,000 people
gathered at 1800 hours. Repeated calls for Imre Nagy
prompted the former Prime Minister to address the crowd
briefly from the balcony.

At 2000 hours party secretary Erno Gero, who had
returned that morning from a visit to Marshal Tito, made
a short, strident, and disappointing radio speech that
infuriated the people of Budapest.

At 2130 hours another crowd dismantled the huge Stalin
statue, a key demand of the students.

In the evening a large crowd gathered at the Radio 
Building, which was guarded by the State Security Police
(AVH). Students tried in vain to have their demands
broadcast. AVH men opened fire on the crowd; some
people attacked the guard. Soldiers and workers (the
latter having gotten arms from soldiers, the police,
or military barracks and arms factories) joined with the
crowd. The shots at the Radio Building marked the
beginning of a spontaneous national uprising, which was
led by students, workers, soldiers, and intellectuals,
many of them Communists or former Communists. The
insurgents found themselves in combat with the AVH and
Soviet armed forces.

After 2200 hours the Central Leadership of the Hungarian
Workers' Party (HCP) held an emergency meeting. The
party leadership decided to apply to the Soviet forces
stationed in Hungary for help; to make personnel changes
in the leadership of the party; to bring Imre Nagy into

[page 3]

OCTOBER 23 (cont.)	the Politburo; to recommend to the Presidential Council
 that Nagy replace Andras Hegedus as prime minister; to
proclaim martial law; to elect a Military Committee
to mobilize the Hungarian Armed Forces; and to call up
Communists and workers to arms.

October 24	In the early hours the first Soviet armored units
arrived in Budapest to quell the uprising, but the
announcement that Soviet troops had been called in was
not read on the radio until later in the morning.

Shortly after 0800 hours the changes in the party and
state leadership were made public. Five new members
were added to tire Central Leadership (CL) and the
Politburo was re-elected. Erno Gero remained First
Secretary of the HCP. Imre Nagy was readmitted to the
CL and the Politburo and was named Prime Minister.

At 0845 hours Radio Budapest announced the proclamation
of summary jurisdiction. A little later the Ministry
of the Interior ordered a partial curfew.

At 1210 hours Prime Minister Nagy made his first address
on radio to the people of Budapest. He pledged that his
government would extend democratization, raise living
standards, and develop independent Hungarian communism.
He appealed to the people to stop fighting.

At 2045 a taped speech by Janos Kadar was broadcast by
Radio Budapest. Kadar expressed his indignation that a
demonstration of university students with mostly
acceptable demands, had been turned into a demonstration against
the people's democratic order. He condemned the
uprising of "conterrevolutionary elements" and called on
Communists to defend their headquarters, public
buildings, their own homes, and their workshops.
The "counterrevolutionaries" could choose only between
surrender or complete defeat, Kadar said.

The fighting spread in Budapest, and some major cities
such as Debrecen, Szolnok, and Szeged were also affected
by it.

October 25	At 1232 hours Radio Budapest announced that the RCP CL
had replaced First Secretary Erno Gero by Janos Kadar,
who had been a member of the Politburo and Secretariat
since the ousting of Matyas Rakosi in July 1956.
Following this announcement Radio Budapest called on the
population to hoist the "national flag."

In the afternoon Kadar addressed the nation. The party,
he said,

[page 4]

OCTOBER 25 (cont.)	proposes to the government that, after order
has been restored, the government should conduct
talks with the Soviet government in the spirit
of complete equality between Hungary and the
Soviet Union, brotherly cooperation, and
internationalism, for an equitable and just
settlement of questions pending between the two
socialist countries.

Prime Minister Nagy spoke after Kadar to announce that
the National Assembly would meet soon after the
restoration of order. "On that occasion," he said,

I will submit an all-embracing and basic program
of reform. This program will cover all the
important problems of our national life. This
program demands the reorganization of the
government on the basis of the unification of broad 
democratic national forces represented by the
reorganized Patriotic People's Front.

The Hungarian government would begin talks with the Soviet
Union on current problems, including the withdrawal of
Soviet forces stationed in Hungary, Nagy added.

In the afternoon a massacre occurred. Soviet tanks and
Hungarian security police fired on unarmed crowds in
front of the Parliament Building and killed some 100
people. Eyewitnesses said that Soviet tank crews had
mistaken security police fire for an attack on their
unit and had shot blindly into the crowd. The fighting
continued through the day, contrary to the government's
claim that its forces had restored order.

In the afternoon Mikoyan and Suslov arrived in Budapest
to conduct negotiations.

President Eisenhower called the uprising a "renewed
expression of the intense desire for freedom long held
by the Hungarian people."

OCTOBER 26	Fighting continued in Budapest and throughout the
country. The freedom fighters built a net of
strongholds in Budapest. A large area in the country,
especially in Trans-Danubia, was controlled by the insurgents.

The government appealed to the inhabitants of Budapest
to keep off the streets. The Ministry of the Interior
warned that everyone carrying firearms would be shot at
by mopping-up troops. The amnesty for freedom fighters
was extended repeatedly.

At 1613 hours a statement by the HCP Central Leadership
was broadcast over Radio Budapest. Under the pressure
of events it took a relatively conciliatory stance. In

[page 5]

OCTOBER 26 (cont.)	order to put an immediate end to the bloodshed, the
CL recommended six important measures including the
election of a new "national" government.

This government will have the mission of
making good without fail the mistakes and
crimes of the past and, relying on the entire
nation, will help solve our people's very
legitimate demands, and with our people's
inexhaustible strength, create a free country of
well-being,' independence, and socialist
democracy.

The new government would start Negotiations with the
Soviets to come to an agreement on bilateral relations
on an equal footing. The CL approved the election of
enterprise workers' councils in cooperation with the
trade unions and conceded that the justified economic
demands should be met by wage increases. The
statement ended with a dramatic appeal to "let the nation's
unity and reconciliation replace the tragic era of
murderous fraticide [sic]!"

At 1953 hours the Trade Union Presidium endorsed the
CL's statement on the organization of the workers'
councils:

Enterprises will be managed by workers'
councils. This completes the process of
taking over the factories as the property
of the people. Workers, technicians, you
can now regard the enterprises entirely as
your own. From now on you will manage them
yourself. The over-centralized management
of the factories which prevailed up to now
will cease, along with the faults arising
from it.

The statement hinted that the new government would
increase the wages of those with low salaries and
appealed for workers to return to their jobs.
Following this appeal commentators outlined the tasks of the
workers' councils: "The workers' council should decide
on all questions of production, administration, and
plant management. A director's advisory board should
be appointed by the council to assist the permanent
factory director."

After extensive negotiations with Hungarian leaders,
Mikoyan and Suslov departed from Budapest.

[page 6]

OCTOBER 26 (cont.)	It was disclosed that early in the morning there was
another massacre, this time in Magyarovar, a little
town near the Austrian border. Here some 80 people
were killed and about 100 wounded when a detachment of
AVH men opened machine-gun fire on a large, unarmed
crowd of demonstrators.

OCTOBER 27	Radio Budapest continued broadcasting reports claiming
that the resistance of the insurgents had been broken,
except for "certain isolated groups." At the same
time, the curfew was upheld and the insurgents were
urged to lay down their arms.

At 1118 hours Radio Budapest announced the formation of
a new "national government" with Imre Nagy as prime
minister. Radio Budapest announced that "the Government
of the Polish People's Republic has sent great quantities
of medicine to help the Hungarian people. Included in
the consignment is a great quantity of blood plasma,
dextrose, and bandages, as well as various other important
pharmaceutical articles. ..." A free radio station
set up in Gyor commented that "the just struggle of the
people is progressing with long strides toward complete
victory."

OCTOBER 28	A Szabad Nep editorial conceded that a "great national
democratic movement" and not a "counterrevolutionary
fascist attempt at a coup d'�tat", had taken place in
the previous few days. This movement was led, according
to the party daily, by "Communists and nonparty
intellectuals."

At 1320 hours Radio Budapest read a communique" from
Nagy, ordering an immediate general cease-fire. Army
forces were commanded to return fire only when attacked.

In an address over Radio Budapest at 1725 hours, Nagy
supported the theses of the Szabad Nep editorial on the
nature of the uprising, saying that the government condemned
the view that the new popular movement was
"counterrevolutionary." The government supported the new agencies
of democratic self-government, he said, and it intended
to organize a new army, reach an agreement with the
Soviet government on the immediate withdrawal of
Soviet forces from Budapest, and start negotiations on
the total withdrawal of these forces from Hungarian
territory. Nagy also said that the government planned
to dissolve the security police (AVH) and would abstain
from reprisals against participants in the armed fighting.

After Prime Minister Nagy's address, Radio Budapest
broadcast a CL statement announcing the organization of
a six-member Party Presidency with the task of convoking

[page 7]

OCTOBER 28 (cont.)	the fourth party congress as soon as possible. Janos
Kadar was elected president of the new body, and Imre
Nagy one of its members. The Politburo and Secretariat
were dissolved. Later Radio Budapest said that a
"National Committee" had been formed to coordinate
the work of the new revolutionary institutions.

The setting up of new revolutionary institutions such
as workers' and revolutionary councils and national
committees that superseded state and party
administration neared its final stage throughout the country in
counties, towns, villages, civilian and military
organizations, in schools, - factories, collective farms, and
courts. Some of the revolutionary councils, such as
those in Gyor and Miskolc, exerted pressure on the
central government to fulfill their demands. (In
Trans-Danubia even a large territorial council, the 
Trans-Danubia National Council, was established on October 30.)

OCTOBER 29	The party organ, Szabad Nep, appeared for the first time
with the revolutionary Kossuth emblen and took issue
with a Pravda editorial entitled "The Collapse of the
Adventure Directed Against the Hungarian People." While
criticizing the Pravda editorial, the Szabad Nep
commentator pointed out that

the rebelling people of Pest and Buda want
freedom and a life without . . . fear or terror.
They want more bread and national independence.
Is this what Pravda called an adventure? . . .
Something really did collapse, and that was the
rule of the Rakosi-Gero clique.

Heavy fighting continued in Budapest, particularly at
the Kilian (Maria Theresa) Barracks.

In the afternoon the Minister of the Interior misleadingly
announced the abolition of the security police and of
all agencies with "special rights." The Minister of
Defense announced the beginning of the withdrawal of Soviet
units from Budapest, saying that Hungarian Army units
had replaced them.

October 30	The mass evacuation of Soviet troops continued
through-out the day.

In the morning hours freedom fighters laid siege to the
headquarters of the Budapest organization of the HCP
which was defended by secret police, occupied the
building, and summarily executed a few AVH men who had fired
on the crowd.

[page 8]

OCTOBER 30 (cont.)	At 142 8 hours Imre Nagy announced over Radio Budapest
that in full accord with the HCP Presidium the
one-party system was replaced by "democratic cooperation"
among the four coalition parties of 1945 -- the
Communists, Social Democrats, Small Holders, and
National Peasants. Within the national government
a seven-member inner cabinet was also created which
included Janos Kadar as minister without portfolio.

The central broadcasting station in Budapest was placed
under the direction of revolutionary writers and was
renamed Free Radio Kossuth. The new management of the
radio denounced the former Radio Kossuth as a tool of
falsehood over many years; this radio station told lies
at night, "told lies in the daytime, told lies on every
wave length." The free radio stations in the
countryside continued their broadcasting.

Late in the afternoon Mikoyan and Suslov again arrived
in Budapest and agreed to open Hungarian-Soviet
negotiations about the withdrawal of all Soviet troops from
Hungary. They informed Prime Minister Nagy of the draft
of a conciliatory Soviet government statement scheduled
to appear in Pravda the following day.

Jozsef Cardinal Mindszenty, who had been sentenced to
life imprisonment on trumped-up charges, was freed by
Hungarian soldiers from house-arrest in Felsopeteny,
a small village in northern Hungary, where he had been
held since his formal release from prison in July 1955.

OCTOBER 31	Early in the morning Mindszenty arrived at his residence
in Buda. He was welcomed by a cheering crowd and then
appeared on the balcony of the residence and spoke a few
words of gratitude.

Hungarian newspapers published the text of a Soviet
government declaration of October 30, which said that
the Soviet government was ready to examine the question
of the Soviet troops stationed on the territory of
Hungary, Poland, and Romania under the Warsaw Treaty.
Moscow conceded that there had been "violations and
mistakes" in "relations between socialist states,"
particularly "in the economic and military spheres."
The Soviets expressed "deep regret" that the Hungarian
uprising had "led to bloodshed" even though forces of
"dark reaction" had joined in it.

Soviet Army units moved out of Budapest leaving the
city under the control of the National Guard, which
consisted of civilian freedom fighters and Hungarian Army
units.

[page 9]

OCTOBER 31 (cont.)	The Hungarian government sent Moscow a note asking
that the Soviets fix a time and place to negotiate
their leaving Hungary.

The revival of the noncommunist parties started.

In the afternoon Nagy made a speech at the Kossuth
Memorial in which he stated that he had not asked for
Soviet military aid and that such measures had taken
place without his knowledge.

NOVEMBER 1	After Mikoyan's and Suslov's return from Hungary new
Soviet military units entered Hungarian territory. The
Soviet leaderd, Khrushchev, Moldtov, and Malenkov,
opened discussions on the Hungarian situation with
Chinese, Polish, Czechoslovak, Romanian, and Bulgarian
party leaders in Moscow, near Brest-Litowsk, and in
Bucharest. These discussions continued the next day.

At 1500 hours it was announced that in addition to
his duties as Prime Minister, Imre Nagy had taken over
as acting Minister of Foreign Affairs. Later in the
day he made an appeal to the United Nations and to the
four Big Powers to safeguard Hungarian neutrality. He
requested that the UN Secretary-General put the
Hungarian question on the agenda of the forthcoming
General Assembly meeting.

At 1812 hours Free Radio Kossuth reported that in the
morning Premier Nagy had told Soviet Ambassador
Andropov that the Hungarian government was informed of
the entry of new Soviet military units into Hungary
and demanded their immediate withdrawal. Furthermore,
he told Andropov that "the Hungarian government
abrogates with immediate effect [its membership in] the
Warsaw Pact and at the same time declares the
neutrality of Hungary."

At 1950 hours Free Radio Kossuth broadcast an address
by Nagy to the Hungarian people in which he announced
the declaration of neutrality of the Hungarian People's
Republic and appealed to Hungary's neighbors to respect
the irrevocable decision taken by the Hungarian people.
"The working millions of Hungary," he said, "protect
and strengthen . .. . the consolidation in our
country -- a free, independent, democratic, and neutral Hungary."

At 2150 hours Janos Kadar made his last address over
Free Radio Kossuth to the population before severing
his relations with Imre Nagy. He hailed the "glorious
uprising" of the people [communist writers, journalists,
university students, the youth of the Petofi Club, and
veteran fighters] which toppled the rule of Rakosi and
achieved "freedom for the people and independence for

[page 10]

NOVEMBER 1 (cont.)	the country," without which there could be no socialism,
Kadar also warned, however, against the dangers of a
"counterrevolution" replacing the Rakosi type tyranny.
Moreover, he announced the formation of a new communist
party under the name of the "Hungarian Socialist Workers'
Party." During the night under unknown circumstances
Janos Kadar left Budapest accompanied by Ferenc Munnich,
a former Moscovite and Ambassador to Moscow and Belgrade.

NOVEMBER 2	Janos Kadar, officially "somewhere in eastern Hungary"
but in all probability in the Carpatho-Ukrainian town
of Uzhgorod, began to organize "a new revolutionary
center" to wipe out the revolution and to overthrow the
legal Nagy government with Soviet help.

Soviet troops took control of Budapest airport on
the grounds that they had to expedite the evacuation of
wounded Soviet soldiers, women, and children as well ask
Hungarian Communists endangered by the Hungarian rebels.

Nagy sent three protest notes to Soviet Ambassador
Andropov about the re-entry of Soviet troops into
Hungarian territory. He also sent another message to
the UN announcing that "large Soviet military units"
were "marching toward Budapest." The UN Security
Council met to discuss the "critical situation in
Hungary." Soviet delegate Arkady A. Sobolev said that
reports of a Soviet march on Hungary were "utterly
unfounded."

President Eisenhower offered Hungary 15,000,000 dollars
worth of surplus food and 5,000,000 dollars worth of
other food and medicines.

NOVEMBER 3	The Hungarian government was reorganized. Imre Nagy
remained Prime Minister and acting Minister of Foreign
Affairs. Pal Maleter became Minister of Defense. All
the other 10 members of the government, partly
representatives of the reorganized democratic parties, were
ministers without portfolio. Janos Kadar also figured
on the list of ministers although at that time he was
no longer in Budapest.

Khrushchev and Malenkov met in Brioni with Tito, who
agreed to a planned Soviet intervention in Hungary.

In Budapest, a Hungarian military commission headed by
Defense Minister Pal Maleter, who had sided with the
freedom fighters from the early stage of the uprising,
began talks with a Soviet military delegation about
Soviet withdrawal from Hungary. These negotiations
started in the afternoon in the Parliament Building.
The discussions seemed to proceed in an atmosphere of
friendliness and trust and resulted in an agreement to
meet again at Soviet headquarters in Tokol on Csepel
Island late in the evening of the same day.

[page 11]

NOVEMBER 3 (cont.)	In the evening Cardinal Mindszenty made a radio address
in which he covered a wide range of subjects, from
international relations to national politics and the status
of the Church. He pointed out that the crux of the
matter in the Hungarian situation was what the Soviets
decided to do. He reaffirmed Hungary's special position
in that part of the world as a bastion of the West. At
the same time, he denied national enmity toward anyone
and professed a desire to live in honorable peace with
all. He specifically denied that Hungary was
experiencing a "revolution," calling it a "national struggle for
freedom." He called for free elections under
international supervision, open to any party that wished to
participate; end he asserted that the Catholic Church .
"does not set itself in opposition to the justified
direction of historic progress - on the contrary, it
facilitates healthy evolution in every respect." As for
the Church, he said, "we rightfully expect the immediate
reinstitution of free Christian religious instruction
and the return to the Catholic Church 6f its institutions
and associations, including its press."

Less than an hour after the cardinal spoke, the Soviet
ring of steel closed around Budapest.

The Hungarian-Soviet military negotiations proceeded at
Soviet headquarters. Toward midnight, telephone contact
was broken off with the Hungarian delegation, which was
arrested by NKVD General Serov and his men.

NOVEMBER 4	At 0400 hours an overwhelming force of eight Soviet
divisions [seven armored] with heavy air support attacked
Budapest and other key cities and occupied most of the
country's airfields, highway junctions, bridges, and
railway yards in order to wipe out the national
uprising.

At 0405 hours on Radio Szolnok Ferenc Munnich announced
the establishment of the "Hungarian Revolutionary
Worker-Peasant Government."

At 0420 hours Imre Nagy addressed the Hungarian people
over Free Radio Kossuth:

This is Prime Minister Imre Nagy speaking.
Today at daybreak Soviet troops attacked our
capital with the obvious intent of
overthrowing the legal democratic Hungarian government.
Our troops are in combat. The government is
at its post. I notify the people of our
country and the entire world of this fact.

Nagy's dramatic announcement was repeated many times and
in English, French, German, and Russian as well.

[page 12]

NOVEMBER 4 (cont.)	Shortly after 0500 hours on Radio Szolnok Janos Kadar
announced the composition of the new "Hungarian
Revolutionary Worker-Peasant government" under his
prime ministership, oulined its program, and called
for support.

Before Free Radio Kossuth went off the air at 0725
hours, the Hungarian Writers' Union launched an SOS to
the world. Although Free Radio Kossuth in Budapest was
silenced, some free radio stations in the countryside
continued for days to report on bitter fighting with
Soviet forces and called for Western help.

Early in the morning Premier Nagy and some members of
his government sought refuge at the Yugoslav Embassy;
Cardinal Mindszenty went to the American Embassy. As
sole representative of the' legal Hungarian government,
Minister of State Istvan Bibo remained in the Soviet
occupied Parliament Building and issued a declaration
that said that Hungary had no intention of pursuing an
anti-Soviet policy; repudiated before the whole world
the slanderous statement that the "glorious Hungarian
revolution" was stained by fascist or anti-Semitic
excesses; and called for passive resistance against
the occupation forces and the puppet government.

After futile Security Council meetings, the UN General
Assembly met in the afternoon and put the "situation
in Hungary" on its agenda. The General Assembly passed
a resolution calling upon the Soviet government to stop
its armed attack on Hungary immediately, to withdraw
all its forces, and to permit UN observers to enter
Hungary.

"The Hungarian resistance," as the report of the UN
Special Committee later put it, "was a heroic
demonstration of the will of the Hungarian people to fight for
their national independence."

- end -

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