1956: The mid-twentieth century seen from the vantage point of the beginning of the next century

Abstract

This contribution examines the place of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution in the wider context of world and European history, and explores its place in time, in alternative characterisations of the twentieth century and the changing character of revolutionary change. Its significance can be understood in several ways: as the greatest single attempt to challenge the Soviet hegemony in Eastern Europe in the post-war period; as an early reflection of the contradictions and instability of the Soviet communist system; as the context that enabled the introduction of what was perhaps the most viable form of a reformed version of the Soviet-type system under the Kádár regime; and as the subject of a still unfinished contest over the legacy and historical memory of the revolution.

Notes

¹For general reading on the 1956 Hungarian Revolution see the following: Litván et al. (1996), Békés et al. (2002), and Congdon and Király (2002). See also the website of the Institute for the History of the 1956 Revolution, http://www.rev.hu (English version).

²On the Kádár system and the period of its establishment see Rainer and Péteri (2005).

³Despite the acceptable arguments against the use of the term ‘totalitarianism’ within the analytical framework of the Soviet-type systems (see e.g. Fitzpatrick 2000, pp. 1 – 14) here I use the term because my viewpoint is mainly that of political history. On the new wave of totalitarian concepts in Eastern Europe see Rupnik (1988, pp. 263 – 289).

⁴On János Kádár see Shawcross (1974) and Huszár (2001 – 2003). An English version of Huszár's biography János Kádár—A Political Biography is currently in press.

⁵The Hungarian emigration after 1956 is still a relatively under-researched part of history. On its political character see Borbándi (1989). On the émigrés' attitudes towards communism and the country they left behind see Csepeli et al. (1998, pp. 253 – 286).

⁶Most famous of those programmes is the ‘16 Points of the Budapest Technical University Students’: see Békés et al. (2002, pp. 188 – 190).

⁷On workers' councils see Arendt (1963, pp. 270 – 271), Heller and Fehér (1983), and Lomax 1976).

⁸For a discussion of the consequences of this fear of 1956 for Hungary in the 1960s and beyond, see Rainer (2005).

⁹Mór Jókai (1825 – 1904) was a novelist and the greatest representative of nineteenth century romanticism in Hungary. He wrote significant works on the 1848 – 1849 Hungarian Revolution and the fight for freedom.