Dear friends, comrades. Many of you are aware of the Hungarian Uprising of 1956. The uprising was mostly anti-Soviet. But was it anti-communist? The facts are very contradictory.
Were the ranks of the Hungarian special services and army the former Hortists or Salashists?As Tony Benn might have put it, the Hungarian Uprising was not anti-communist, but it did contain anti-communists within it. This is where the contradiction lies in my opinion, because it's relatively easy to point to anti-communist figures involved in the uprising despite Nagy's leadership. Nonetheless, Nagy genuinely wanted to a build a non-aligned socialist state and given his popularity he would have almost certainly been elected to do so, in this sense the uprising can't be described as anti-communist.
Were the ranks of the Hungarian special services and army the former Hortists or Salashists?
Do you have sources? They are useful to me - it is necessary to prove that the former fascists fought on both sides of the barricades.There were some former "reformed" Arrow Cross members in the ÁVH. Apparently they were deemed as useful because, whilst they had to sign waivers renouncing fascism, these documents also acted as their confessions, which could be used against them at a moments notice. In regards to the Hungarian People's Army, there were certainly a large number Hungarian WW2 veterans involved, including former career officers who could be considered Horthyist.
Do you have sources? They are useful to me - it is necessary to prove that the former fascists fought on both sides of the barricades.
But then I think that the insurgents can be divided into factions - workers' socialists, extreme nationalists and liberals.In Budapest and elsewhere all the major factories formed workers councils and on the 14th November they convened in the Egyesült Izzó factory to form the Central Workers Council of Greater Budapest with over 500 delegates each from different factory councils and district councils including delegates from councils in the provinces like Borsod. Their demands included workers control of the factories through the workers councils, a "truly socialist" democratic government and the re-establishment of the independent trade unions with a right to strike. On the 19th November all the revolutionary councils from the provinces convened in Budapest to form a National Workers Council and the Russian Major General Grebennik even met with the CWC to discuss demands.
Several times members of the NWC leadership were recalled by their members for faltering in the face of the Russians and in their place more revolutionary members were elected instead. When the Russians attempted to arrest the leaders of these workers councils the threat of the workers on strike were enough to turn the Russians back. Finally on the 11th December the government agreed to a meeting at the Parliament in Budapest but once the leadership arrives they were arrested and the workers went on strike once again as a result. The older workers and leaders involved in this struggle were often those who had been involved in the 1919 revolution or had been involved in the strikes against the Horthy government or later.
Yes, there were also elements of nationalists and liberals involved in the broad struggle but at the very base was a militant working class seeking control of their workplaces. The Stalinists point to the fascists involved to disguise the existence of the workers councils and the West-aligned liberals. The West points to the liberals to hide the fascists and the workers councils.
Yes, there were also elements of nationalists and liberals involved in the broad struggle but at the very base was a militant working class seeking control of their workplaces. The Stalinists point to the fascists involved to disguise the existence of the workers councils and the West-aligned liberals. The West points to the liberals to hide the fascists and the workers councils.