http://visegradpost.com/en/2016/10/22/1956-60-years-ago-hungary-rose-against-communism/

October 23, 1956, is a date that will forever be engraved in the history of Hungary and of the world. Exactly 60 years ago, communism faltered in the Eastern Bloc: the Hungarians took to the streets for their freedom. Some have paid it with their lives, others only had a few days of hope before a bloody crackdown by Moscow, which then made Hungary endure communism for another three decades.

In 1948, following rigged elections, the Communists took power in Hungary, establishing a totalitarian regime. The first few years were the darkest due to a true Stalinist terror with deportations in the gulags, executions, show trials and omnipresent AVH secret police having punctuated the lives of Hungarians between 1948 and 1953. After Stalin’s death, Imre Nagy who has been appointed to be head the Cabinet. His policy was a series of reforms to make the regime softer, and it included the abolition of internment camps and of the autonomy of the secret police. However, he was sacked less than two years later.

In late June 1956, after the workers’ uprising in Poznan in Poland got repressed by the authorities, the new head of the Communist Party initiated reforms similar to those of Imre Nagy against which Moscow threatened military intervention. In October, in Hungary, organizations bringing together students and intellectuals organized demonstrations in major cities of the country demanding the return of Imre Nagy. A rally in support for Poland under the auspices of the Polish-Hungarian friendship was held at the foot of General Bem’s statue. It was during this event that the 16 points of the Petőfi Circle were adopted, listing the political and economic measures desired by the student assemblies, including the evacuation of Soviet troops and free elections.

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Throughout the day of 23 October, a growing crowd joined the protests organized by students: in front of the statue of General Bem – where the communist coat of arms was first snatched of the Hungarian flag, eventually becoming the symbol of the Revolution – and on Kossuth tér, the square of the Parliament, where nearly 200,000 people attended. Despite the call to the dispersion of the Communist Party leader Ernő Gerő, the crowd went to the spot where stood a huge statue of Stalin. The demonstrators demolished the sculpture of which only the boots remained standing, the head of the Soviet dictator lying on the ground. This action was one of the enduring images of the Revolution. As night fell, some protesters went to the headquarters of the Hungarian Radio to try to read the 16 points. The tanks and secret police deployed there opened fire on the defenseless crowd marking the beginning of the armed conflict. Still, the building got occupied by protesters.

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The next day, Soviet tanks were ordered to enter Budapest while Nagy was again appointed Prime Minister. Despite his promises of continuing reforms, street fights erupted between demonstrators who seized weapons – including many minors, the “kids of Pest” – and regime forces. One of the symbolic places was the Corvin Passage whose revolutionaries were called “corvinists” (korvinisták). Moscow also decided to place János Kádár at the head of the Communist Party to replace Gerő. The new leader has called the uprising a “counter-revolution”, the official term until the fall of communism. On October 25, about 5,000 people gathered peacefully at Kossuth tér but snipers of the AVH and the present Soviet tanks fired into the crowd making a total of nearly a thousand dead. This bloody moment led to the fall of the government on October 28, the removal – temporarily – of Soviet troops and the restoration of pluralism and the release of political prisoners, whose most famous was Cardinal József Mindszenty.