During the Hungarian Revolution he acted as the Minister of State for the Hungarian National Government. When the Soviets invaded to crush the rebellious government, he was the last Minister left at his post in the Hungarian Parliament building in Budapest. Rather than evacuate, he stayed in the building and wrote his famous proclamation, "For Freedom and Truth", as he awaited arrest.[1]
Bibó was arrested on 23 May 1957 and sentenced to life imprisonment on 2 August 1958 but released in the 1963 amnesty.
The Poverty of Eastern European Small States': (A kelet-európai kisállamok nyomorúsága, Új Magyarország, Bp., 1946 (in Hungarian)); Misère des petits États d'Europe de l'Est. L'Harmattan, 1986 (out of print); Albin Michel, Paris, 1993 (current edition) (in French)
The Paralysis of International Institutions and the Remedies. A Study of Self-Determination, Concord among the Major Powers, and Political Arbitration (introduction by Bernard Crick). The Harvester Press, Hassocks, 1976
Democracy, Revolution, Self-Determination: Selected Writings. Edited by Károly Nagy. Translated by András Boros-Kazai. Columbia University Press, New York, 1991
The Art of Peacemaking: The Political Essays of István Bibó. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015
Bust of István Bibó by sculptor Géza Széri-Varga (2005) on the banks of the Danube in Budapest near the Hungarian ParliamentThe Budapest Eötvös Loránd University named a special honors society/extracurricular studies program after Bibo – the Bibo Istvan Szakkollegium. The society is open to students of law or political sciences who pass a rigorous entrance exam. Attaining membership in the society is considered an honor of its own.