The rise and fall of the Hungarian working class

Abstract

The working class has been a very important actor over the last century of Hungarian history, as a consideration of its origins and political traditions in the pre‐socialist period shows. The failure of the revolution of 1956 in which the Workers' Councils played a prominent role was fundamental to the ‘proletarianization’ which ensued under Kádár. However workers have maintained some resources of countervailing power, and the legacy of the revolution remains a potent source of inspiration, not infinitely manipulable by the newly emerging political elites.