Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

The Days When Hungarian Workers Defied Stalinism

The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 is, so to speak, a “forgotten revolution.” Erased and banished from popular memory, it was a thorny subject for Soviet authorities and remains one for Western capitalists today. What made this revolution so subversive?

Facebook Twitter Share

The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 is, so to speak, a “forgotten revolution.” A revolution whose memory has been “erased,” banished. And it is understandable from a certain point of view. It was an inconvenient revolution for both capitalist powers in the West and Stalinist bureaucracies in the East. And it remains inconvenient for capitalists to this day.

The Hungarian Revolution’s social and political content was extremely subversive: a working-class revolution in a so-called “socialist” country against the local Stalinist bureaucracy that did not turn towards Western powers or the former local ruling classes to restore capitalism. On the contrary, the insurgents of the Hungarian Revolution were fighting to build true socialism, liberated from the bureaucracy of the Soviet Union, in which the workers, peasants, and oppressed masses would be the true masters of their destiny and power.

The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 is not only a “forgotten revolution,” but also one of the greatest workers’ revolution of the 20th century. Over the course of a few days, councils of workers and students formed in neighborhoods all over the country. The revolutionary wave dealt a hard blow to Hungarian totalitarianism. The spontaneous councils that sprang up in the factories, villages, and lower-class neighborhoods reorganized economic, political, and social life. These councils declared freedom of the press and allowed for the distribution of all sorts of propaganda, except concerning the former fascist dictator Horthy. They distributed arms to the general population and a major part of the police and army joined the revolutionary cause.

These new democratic institutions were the very demonstration that an alternative political regime to Stalinist bureaucratic terror was possible, as they not only conserved the foundations of the nationalized economy, but also they strengthened it through reforms.

The Hungarian Revolution demonstrated that the restoration of capitalism and private property, which came a few decades later, was not the only possibility opposite the policies of the bureaucracy in power; a revolutionary left-wing alternative did indeed exist against the Stalinist falsification of socialism. Quite the reverse, crushing the Hungarian Revolution by Stalinism with fire and sword in 1956, and the subsequent revolutions in Czechoslovakia in 1968 and in Poland in 1980, created the very conditions for Stalinism’s self-implosion, the fall of the Soviet Union between 1989 and 1991, and the restoration of capitalism. This relatively pacific process involved an economic and social counterrevolution on a historic scale for which the region’s masses are still paying the price.

The importance of the Hungarian Revolution lies in its very ability to contradict the rhetoric of “anti-totalitarian” intellectuals in the aftermath of May 1968, these “renegade gauchistes” who affirmed what they believed to be a continuity between revolutionary Marxism and Stalinist totalitarianism. For eighteen days the Hungarian workers demonstrated that socialism and liberty could go very well together. Their very acts openly refuted the intellectual charlatans and the so-called “totalitarian left,” which had caused so much harm to Marxism by marginalizing it and undermining the revolutionary traditions of the 1970s. Reflecting recent French political life, this rhetoric clearly aimed to impose more moderate, liberal and postmodern solutions.

This is why on the anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution, it is important to remember and take lessons from it.

Facebook Twitter Share

Juan Chingo

Juan is an editor of our French sister site Révolution Permanente.

Twitter

Philippe Alcoy

Philippe is an editor of Révolution Permanente, our sister site in France.

Twitter

Europe

Berlin’s Mayor Loves Antisemites

Kai Wegner denounces the “antisemitism” of left-wing Jews — while he embraces the most high-profile antisemitic conspiracy theorist in the world.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 22, 2024

A Left-Wing Bar Needs to Be Open to Everyone, Including Palestinians

Syndikat, an anarchist bar in Berlin's Neukölln district, has said that Palestinian groups aren't welcome. As leftists who meet up at Syndikat, we think the bar should work like any other left-wing space internationally.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 20, 2024

At a Meeting in Paris, 1,200 People Put Revolution Back on the Agenda

Last Wednesday, 1,200 people attended a meeting of Révolution Permanente, the sister site of Left Voice in France. The group has been playing an important role in the fight against neoliberal reforms and the Far Right, while showing that a world beyond capitalism is more possible than ever.

Feargal McGovern

March 12, 2024

Berlinale: Filmmakers Say What the Rest of the World is Saying

At the Berlinale film festival, Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers called for equality and peace. German politicians want to ban such hateful talk.

Nathaniel Flakin

February 28, 2024

MOST RECENT

A square in Argentina is full of protesters holding red banners

48 Years After the Military Coup, Tens of Thousands in Argentina Take to the Streets Against Denialism and the Far Right

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Argentina on March 24 to demand justice for the victims of the state and the military dictatorship of 1976. This year, the annual march had renewed significance, defying the far-right government’s denialism and attacks against the working class and poor.

Madeleine Freeman

March 25, 2024

The Convulsive Interregnum of the International Situation

The capitalist world is in a "permacrisis" — a prolonged period of instability which may lead to catastrophic events. The ongoing struggles for hegemony could lead to open military conflicts.

Claudia Cinatti

March 22, 2024

What “The Daily” Gets Right and Wrong about Oregon’s Move to Recriminalize Drugs

A doctor at an overdose-prevention center responds to The Daily, a podcast produced by the New York Times, on the recriminalization of drugs in Oregon. What are the true causes of the addiction crisis, and how can we solve it?

Mike Pappas

March 22, 2024

Lord Balfour Was an Imperialist Warmonger 

We should give our full solidarity to the Palestine Action comrade who defaced a portrait of Arthur Balfour at Cambridge University. But the problem for everyone who opposes the genocide against Gaza is how to massify and politically equip the movement.

Daniel Nath

March 21, 2024