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The Soviet occupation

The country woke on November 4 to the sound of artillery, as the Soviet attack on Budapest and several other cities began at 4.15 a.m. However, almost an hour went by before the formation of the new Kádár government—the Hungarian Revolutionary Workers’ and Peasants’ Government—was announced in a radio transmission from Uzhgorod (Uzhkhorod, Ungvár). The speech read by János Kádár stated that the mass movement of October 23 had changed into a fascist uprising. For that reason, it had become necessary to call on Soviet troops for help. He promised impunity to all who had ‘joined the movement for honest, patriotic reasons’ and added that several of the revolution’s demands would be met. For instance, the new government would initiate negotiations on the withdrawal of Soviet troops once order had been restored.

A quarter of an hour after Kádár’s announcement, Imre Nagy read a proclamation on Free Kossuth Radio. It was too soon for the prime minister to have an accurate picture of the situation. He did not yet know what had happened to the Hungarian negotiators arrested by the Soviets in Tököl the night before. All he could tell the nation at this stage was that the government had not invited in the Soviet forces. He did not give (and could not realistically have given) an order to resist, although he did not forbid resistance either. (However, the generals in the Ministry of Defence at the time forbade the Hungarian army to resist, based on a written order they received from Major General István Kovács, who had been arrested at Tököl.) Imre Nagy made one more effort. He appealed on the radio for the Maléter team of negotiators (the army chiefs of staff) to return from Tököl immediately. When this had no effect, he accepted the offer of asylum at the Yugoslav Embassy. There he was joined during the day by 42 people, counting family members. Cardinal József Mindszenty, who was also in the Parliament building at the time, took refuge in the American Embassy. Minister of State István Bibó, the only representative of the lawful Hungarian government to remain in the Parliament building, addressed a proclamation to the nation and the world, defending the revolution and the nation that had conducted it.

The Soviet forces had to pursue two main purposes. One was to occupy military installations, disarming the Hungarian army and the national-guard units. The other was to abolish the revolutionary councils and committees and other revolutionary bodies, and isolate those directing them.

On the military side, the Soviets had surrounded the Hungarian barracks overnight. At dawn, they called on those inside them to lay down their arms. The response even to token resistance was to open fire, which happened in Záhony, Komárom, Békéscsaba, Szombathely, Székesfehérvár and several other places. W The Hungarian army was unable to defend itself against such rapid, surprise attacks. Only in a handful of places was any attempt made to resist (partly because of the Defence Ministry order). Units defending the Petõfi Barracks in Budapest engaged with the enemy, but soon saw that the battle was hopeless and laid down their arms. Soldiers, national guards and armed civilians controlling the main road through Soroksár (20th, now 23rd District) had a short gun battle with a Soviet unit at Jutadomb, but having caused severe losses to a superior Soviet unit heading for the city centre and forced it to retreat, they themselves retreated from their positions. Only in two places—Csepel (22nd District) and Dunapentele (Sztálinváros, Dunaújváros)—did lasting, well-organized cooperation develop between the army and the armed revolutionaries. However, neither of these was attacked on November 4. Elsewhere, after the Soviets had occupied the army barracks, they disarmed the soldiers and in most cases dispersed them. The officers were only allowed to retain side arms if the locality had seen no armed resistance or firing at all.

Even so, the Soviets found that the modern military technology introduced did not have the desired results in Budapest. There were strong clashes at various places in the city. The armed revolutionaries could never have imagined they could defeat such strong Soviet forces directly. However, they believed they could hold out until Hungary’s predicament had caused such international outrage that the attackers would be forced to withdraw. They also trusted that the UN would aid them, diplomatically in the main, although some broadcasts from Radio Free Europe were construed to mean that military help could be expected as well. Another problem for the Soviets was that the armed revolutionaries reacted differently from the military. They were often led by their emotions, rather than logical considerations. This meant they were psychologically incapable of bowing to enemy superiority, which would mean surrendering freedoms they had won only a few days before. The results of their self-sacrifice resembled those of October 24. They managed to prevent the Soviets from breaking all the resistance in a single attack. However, this time there was no scope for a bilateral political settlement. The only chance of help lay with strong international pressure, which the Hungarian revolution never received. The organized resistance broke up after a few days. Molotov cocktails were powerless against T-55 tanks. The determination of the Soviets, who responded to every attack with a tank bombardment, broke people’s will to resist and weakened the bonds between the public and the armed rebels. The strongest attacks were made on the places where heavy fighting had occurred before October 28—Corvin köz and surroundings (8th and 9th districts).

Disabled Hungarian tanks in Üllõi út (8th and 9th districts) Boráros tér (9th District), the area round the Eastern Railway Station (7th and 8th districts), the Széna tér area of Buda (1st and 2nd districts) and the Móricz Zsigmond körtér area (11th District). On the afternoon of November 5, two hours of preliminary bombardment preceded a concentrated attack on the Corvin köz group. Although the Corvin Cinema, which acted as its headquarters, was burnt out, the Soviets could not break the resistance of the men commanded by Gergely Pongrátz until the following morning. Before the intervention, there had been less surveillance of the groups formed since the ceasefire, so that these were able to sustain themselves for longer. The forces in the 7th District, which combined during the fighting, under the command of Lajos Steiner, managed to defend their base in Dob utca until November 9. They then retreated north-westwards towards the village of Nagykovácsi in the Buda Hills, hoping to link up with armed units rumoured to be holding out there. The army officers deployed by the government after October 28 to organize and train the revolutionary groups left their units fairly soon after the Soviet intervention. This was partly because they thought further bloodshed was useless, and partly because the men were more inclined to obey their elected commanders, which made it pointless for them to stay. On the other hand, there were many cases of conscripted soldiers and army officers joining the armed struggle.

Éles sarok (10th District) in November 1956 Corporal Sámuel Silye, for instance, led and organized the resistance at Éles sarok, a road junction in Kõbánya (10th District), where the rebels held out until November 8, destroying several Soviet tanks. Officers who had left their unit took over command of the group based at the Schmidt Mansion in Óbuda (3rd District), which made several successful attacks on the intervention forces up to November 7. The parts of Budapest where resistance lasted longest were Újpest (4th District) and Csepel (21st District).

These districts escaped the initial attack on the heart of the city. The real fighting in them began later, which meant the resistance could be better prepared. In Csepel, the national guard and the local army unit joined forces against the Soviets. Although the latter managed to capture most of the heavy weaponry in a surprise attack, some batteries, which had been well sited by Hungarian artillery officers, continued to do serious damage to the Soviets for several days. The Csepel forces also had some anti-aircraft guns, with which to fire on Soviet planes and even bombard the runway at Tököl. They slowed the Soviet entry into Budapest by blowing up roads and blocking the way with girders from the steelworks. There were plans to blow up bridges as well, but these never materialized. The resistance of the Csepel forces was broken on November 9 by the increasing superiority of the Soviet forces.

The corner of Ráday utca and Boráros tér (9th District) on November 10, 1956. The Csepel oil refinery is seen burning in the background The Soviet forces met with resistance in several places outside Budapest, although the revolutionary military councils decided to surrender without resistance and advised national-guard units and other armed groups to do likewise. A compromise between surrender and resistance was to withdraw from the locality, which left open the possibility of resuming the struggle later. Groups of armed young rebels, many commanded by army officers, withdrew into the hills and woods round several towns (Keszthely, Szekszárd, Pécs, Tatabánya, Miskolc, Sátoraljaújhely etc.) On November 5, a force of about 200 national guards from Sátoraljaújhely burst in on a meeting called by local communist-party leaders and took several hostages. However, they released their prisoners on November 7, and on the 10th, they laid down their arms and returned to the town. People fled to the woods from several villages as well, mainly because they had experienced ill-treatment in the Second World War and they heard news of the Soviets rounding up young people and sending them to Siberia. The local national guard and national committee <revolutionary councils and committees> in Dunapentele armed civilian volunteers as well, to make the defence of the town as effective as possible. Their radio station, named the Rákóczi Transmitter after the leader of the 1703–11 war of independence, broadcast news and appeals for assistance in Hungarian and German. Meanwhile they tried to convince the Soviets of the justice of their cause by distributing leaflets in Russian. On November 7, the Soviets attacked the steel town that had been named after Stalin, as the pride of Hungarian socialist construction. It was bombarded from the air and by heavy artillery. The resistance was overcome by vastly superior forces in about two hours, and by the afternoon the defence had collapsed. o

The armed resistance in several university towns was led by students. Members of the students’ federation Mefesz in the border town of Sopron acquired some heavy artillery. They decided to resist on the morning of November 4, and large numbers of national-guard members arrived from neighbouring villages to support them. However, in the afternoon, the university students abandoned the struggle and fled to Austria instead. There was serious fighting in Veszprém, where the Soviets had trouble occupying rebel positions in the castle district. The defenders continued to resist in other parts of the town the next day.

In Pécs, one of the university battalions, commanded by army officers and reinforced by groups of national guards and miners, blocked the roads from the city into the Mecsek Hills and prevented the Soviets from reaching them for two days. On November 6, they retreated to Vágotpuszta, an isolated hamlet to the east of Orfû, where Géza Horváth organized several hundred men into a rebel guerrilla force known as the ‘Mecsek Invisibles’. On November 9, they managed to knock out the Soviet commander’s car, killing Major Kornushin, the military commander of Pécs city. The force suffered badly from several attacks backed by heavy artillery. On November 19, the remaining men decided to abandon the struggle. After travelling for several days on foot, they reached Yugoslavia on November 22.

The other, equally important Soviet objective was to abolish the controlling bodies that had arisen during the revolution and to isolate those directing them. KGB officers were sent to Hungary, charged with removing the heads of the government and armed forces in Budapest and even arresting local leaders in provincial towns. The workers’ councils were given special treatment from the outset. For some time (and with some justification), they were equated with the soviets that had formed during the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917. In other words, they were treated as organizations of proletarian power, which might cooperate with the puppet authorities. However, officials of workers’ councils unwilling to cooperate in the consolidation and return to work, as the Soviets required, were also arrested. That happened, for instance, to the members of the county workers’ council who met on November 5 in Miskolc to negotiate with the Soviet command and local HSWP leaders.

In the early days of the intervention, the Soviets trusted nobody except a few politicians and some ÁVH men and party functionaries prepared to serve alongside the Soviet army. So those arrested were sent off to prisons across the Soviet border, in the Ukraine. The deportees included some politicians, but the vast majority were young people who had taken up arms on the rebel side. By November 15, 846 Hungarians were recorded as having been deported as prisoners to the Soviet Union, including 68 youths and nine young girls.

Although the arrests helped to restore order and crush the armed resistance to the intervention, they also stiffened the passive resistance of the public. There was no return to work anywhere after the Soviet attack. Strikes that were called were in most cases intended to further the release of leaders who had been arrested and deported. The rail strike threatened to cripple the whole transport system, because rebels in several places damaged the track. (A bomb went off in December, severely damaging the line between Pásztó and Szurdokpüspöki.) For this reason, Kádár and Ferenc Münnich, the second-in-command in the government, had to persuade the Soviets in mid-November to halt the deportations and release some prisoners.

Four factors prevented the revolution being crushed immediately after November 4. One was the armed resistance, and the second the political opposition, which became stronger after the armed resistance ended. Then there was the consistent struggle by the revolutionary councils that had been formed during the revolution, more especially by the workers’ councils. Finally, there was the Imre Nagy group inside the Yugoslav Embassy.

In areas where there was little or no fighting, national or revolutionary councils formed during the revolution carried on administering after November 4, or stepped aside in favour of workers’ councils. The former were more typical of smaller places and the latter of towns. The national guard in most villages dissolved after the second Soviet intervention (although it was often revived to keep order a few days later) and some leaders fled. The revolutionary council, on the other hand, usually remained, perhaps augmented by one or two members of the earlier council executive committee. There were no signs in the villages of the new Kádárite communist party, and the Soviet army did no more than pass through, without helping to restore the old council system of local government by maintaining a presence. So the old functionaries also bided their time, well aware, after the events of October, how weak was their position and how strong the popular anger against them.

The arrest or flight of the leading figures in the revolutionary councils and committees left the workers’ councils as the main revolutionary institutions in the towns. They negotiated with the Soviets, because they had the most effective weapon that remained: strike action. The Soviet attack had cemented national unity. Everywhere the same conditions were laid down for a return to work: an immediate ceasefire, the withdrawal of Soviet troops, a total amnesty, the return of the Imre Nagy government, and securing of the gains made in the revolution. Oddly enough, negotiating with the Soviet authorities strengthened the position of the workers’ councils. The functionaries returning to the administration had to acknowledge that the occupiers had accepted the workers’ councils as negotiating parties. The prestige of the workers’ councils with the public increased in places where releases were obtained, so that in several towns, they managed to take over or gain control of the local administration after November 4.

Meanwhile the Yugoslav Embassy sheltered Imre Nagy and all the members of the HSWP Executive Committee elected on October 31, except for Kádár, and for Sándor Kopácsi, who was under Soviet arrest by then.

The Yugoslav Embassy, opposite Hõsök tere (6th District), guarded by Soviet tanks in November 1956 (photo by Jenõ Virág) The Soviet-Yugoslav agreement and settlement had only been a partial success. The Yugoslavs had managed to neutralize Imre Nagy early in the morning of November 4, but they had not persuaded him to resign. On the afternoon of November 7, the Kádár government moved under armoured guard from Szolnok to Budapest and took an oath of office before István Dobi, president of the Presidential Council. However, the Nagy government would have to be eliminated before the Kádár government could gain real legitimacy or recognition. It was not just Nagy who was trapped by his presence in the Yugoslav Embassy, but all the other participants in the crisis. Nagy would not resign and recognize the Kádár government. The Yugoslavs, who could not withdraw asylum from him without a grave loss of face, failed to persuade Nagy to resign or Kádár (or more precisely the Soviets) to reach a political agreement with Nagy. Moscow could not afford to place its promising relations with Tito in jeopardy by kidnapping Nagy. No solution was found until November 22. Until then, the presence of Nagy and his team in the Yugoslav Embassy presented Kádár with the constant spectre of dual power.

These were among the reasons for the relatively long provisional period, in which the regime, having taken a few immediate tough measures, seemed to be seeking agreement with individual groups. Promises of concessions and reforms featured prominently in government statements at this stage.

However, Kádár’s position was even more complex than that. He had to cope, in obtaining and consolidating his power, not only with Imre Nagy (and public opinion), but with the hard-liners ranged behind the new government and party. Furthermore, the Soviets initially gave little more than nominal support to the politician they had set up as Hungary’s head of government, while actually taking decisions on his behalf, often without consulting or even informing him. Kádár had to prove his aptitude, but before that, he had to establish, almost from scratch, the institutions needed to exercise power. At the same time, he had to persuade the country to return to work.

Work began in Szolnok on November 5 to organize the military and Interior Ministry special forces and establish the Military Council of the Hungarian People’s Army. One of the first government orders issued forbade the operation of the revolutionary military councils. Without stabilizing the shaken army and establishing a special force capable of breaking the resistance, it would be impossible to secure the withdrawal of the Soviet army. This was essential for Kádár. He needed to gain some elbow room alongside those aiding him, to demonstrate abroad, before the UN, that Hungary retained a measure of sovereignty, and to show the public some specific results, not just promises. Establishing such a force was not easy. Although the army did not oppose the Soviet attack, it did not submit to the Kádár government. The officers were turned against the Soviets and the new government not by the general situation and by some specific aspects of the intervention. They were alienated by the indignities they had suffered, by the disarming of the army, and the dispersal of the rank and file. The police were pleased that the ÁVH had been disbanded and wanted no part in establishing a successor organization that might become a rival. In any case, most police officers supported the revolution and did not want to assist in undoing its achievements. So in the early period, members of the police and the professional army gave lukewarm support to government ideas for establishing a new security force. The Soviets were able to supply the arms, but the only volunteers came from groups from which the government was still trying to dissociate itself (former ÁVH men and party functionaries).

Kádár’s other urgent task was to organize a party alongside his government. The members of an HSWP Executive Committee were nominated when the government moved to Budapest, but for a long time, the list was not made public. Kádár and his associates still hoped to win over some of the group in the Yugoslav Embassy, which might give a shred of public credibility to the ‘revolutionary’ epithet in the puppet government’s name. Recruitment was impeded because the Kádár group kept the name of the party that Imre Nagy’s group had founded, which caused general confusion. Furthermore, it failed for a while to publish a clear programme, to some extent intentionally. That meant they could not expect support from the reformers <radicals and reformers>, while the new leaders themselves shied away initially from the returning Stalinist cadres, whom they saw as a threat to their power. Most members of the team that took over on November 4 were vulnerable because of their earlier conduct. Prime Minister Kádár, as a member of Imre Nagy’s last government, had voted in favour of neutrality on November 1. On the other hand, he, Antal Apró, Károly Kiss and Ferenc Münnich had taken part in dissolving the Social Democratic Party in 1948. In the first half of November, the leadership was still dissociating itself more strongly from the Rákosi group than from Imre Nagy and his followers. At the November 11 meeting of the HSWP Provisional Central Committee, political objectives and self-defence alike prompted the leadership to put forward a list of Rákosi-ite politicians ‘who may not play any leading part in the life of the party or of the country.’

The new county party committees were advised to draw up similar blacklists, but this tended to foment serious internal conflicts and personal antagonisms. There were sharp struggles for power between the old leaders (who had fled or been ousted in October), the reformers <radicals and reformers> (who had taken over the party during the revolution) and those ready to support any leadership, regardless of convictions, to retain their position and power. Building up the party was also difficult because the Kádár group did not even have the strength to defend its own people. Workplace and workers’ councils continued to operate, with reluctant recognition from the Revolutionary Workers’ and Peasants’ Government <Kádár government>. These dismissed local cadres known to have served the Rákosi regime, banned the new party from organizing at work places, or rejected its applications to establish work-place party offices. Many people hesitated to risk their present livelihood for the future advantages of party membership.

The Kádár group had even less success in taking control of the public administration and restoring the communist system of local government. There was no way of implementing the order issued on November 7 restoring the legal and personnel position in the state administration that had prevailed on October 23. Only after November 10, when a further order threatened with dismissal those who failed to reoccupy their offices did members of the old administrative apparatus start trickling back. Even then, they found they still had to share local authority with the workers’ councils and revolutionary councils. The same applied in many national public offices and ministries, where the direction of affairs remained in the hands of committees formed during the revolution, or there was a workers’ council with strong influence. (That applied, for instance, in the Ministry of Metallurgy and Engineering, which ran the country’s heavy industry.)

Only in two county seats, Salgótarján and Miskolc, did groups loyal to Kádár take power locally before November 11. Even there, the revolutionary camp regained strength later, forcing the local ‘workers’ and peasants’ power’ into retreat.

Sunday, November 4 Soviet troops cross the Hungarian border from Romania at dawn. The intervention is led by Colonel-General Lelyushenko. The proclamation by the Soviet-sponsored ‘Hungarian Revolutionary Workers’ and Peasants’ Government’ <Kádár government> is broadcast by Uzhgorod (Uzhkhorod, Ungvár) Radio.

4.15 a.m.: The Soviet troops launch a general attack. Guards Major-General K. Grebennik attacks Budapest with five divisions. Imre Nagy does not issue an order to resist.

5.20 a.m.: A short statement appealing for assistance, by Imre Nagy, is broadcast for the first time. It is repeated several times, in English, French, German, Russian, Czech and Polish as well.

6–8 a.m.: Members of the Nagy government take refuge in the Yugoslav Embassy. Mindszenty is given asylum in the US Embassy. István Bibó is the only member of the Hungarian government remaining in the Parliament building. The Soviets occupy the Defence and Interior ministries and surround Parliament.

7–8 a.m.: National-guard units in the Jutadomb area (20th District) force the Soviet convoy carrying the captured Hungarian negotiators to turn back. Eventually, Maléter and his associates have to be taken from Tököl to Mátyásföld (16th District) by helicopter.

7.57 a.m.: The appeal by the Writers’ Union for assistance is broadcast in Hungarian, English, German and Russian.

The national guard puts up resistance to the attack in Széna tér (2nd District), at the Royal Hotel (6th District), in Blaha Lujza tér (8th District), Garai utca (7th District), Thököly út (14th District), Budaörsi út (11th District), Kispest (19th District), Pestlõrinc (Pestszentlõrinc, 18th District), Soroksár and Pesterzsébet (20th District), Tûzoltó utca (9th District) and Nagyvárad tér (8th and 9th districts), at the Southern Railway Station (1st District) and in Csepel (21st District). The Corvin köz group fight heavy battles in Üllõi út, Práter utca and Kisfaludy utca (8th District). The Soviets and the national guard suffer heavy casualties. Several hundred Hungarian citizens are deported to the Soviet Union.

The Soviets occupy Békéscsaba, Debrecen, Gyõr, Kecskemét, Miskolc, Pécs, Székesfehérvár, Szolnok and Szombathely, after meeting varying degrees of resistance. They surround Dorog, Esztergom, Oroszlány and Tatabánya.

János Kádár and Ferenc Münnich are flown from Moscow to Szolnok by military plane.

In New York, a meeting of the UN Security Council is called in response to the news of the Soviet intervention.

Monday, November 5 The Soviets occupy the Radio building. Resistance continues in Thököly út (14th District), Zalka Máté tér (Liget tér, 10th District), around Lehel út (13th District), and in the 2nd, 3rd, 9th, 13th and 21st districts. A Soviet attack on Corvin köz begins at 1 p.m.

There is fighting in Komló, Pécs and Veszprém. The Rákóczi free radio station begins broadcasting from Dunapentele (Sztálinváros, Dunaújváros). The Soviets enter Tatabánya.

The puppet Hungarian Revolutionary Workers’ and Peasants’ Government <Kádár government> in Szolnok appeals for help from the other socialist countries. The Soviet Union sends a message offering help.

Several thousand people in Cracow protest against the Soviet intervention.

Tuesday, November 6 The Soviets break the resistance in Széna tér (2nd District), Gellérthegy (1st and 11th districts) and Óbuda (3rd District). Almost 300 members of the Corvin köz group set out towards the Austrian border. The strength of the Hungarian resistance decreases sharply, but the rebels in Móricz Zsigmond körtér (11th District), Thököly út (14th District) and Corvin köz defend their positions. Several hundred resisters in the Buda Castle district, armed with heavy weapons, also fight on. A Soviet plane is shot down over Csepel (21st District). The Soviets, at negotiations held at the Kossuth Academy, demand unconditional surrender, which the national guards refuse to accept.

Soviet troops in the Mecsek Hills attack the rearguard of the national guards retreating to Vágot-puszta.

The Soviet convoy carrying Kádár leaves from Szolnok for Budapest in the late evening.

Wednesday, November 7 The Soviet armoured cars carrying Kádár and several members of his government arrive at Parliament. The Kádár government takes the oath of office in the afternoon (However, the lawful Nagy government has not resigned.) The Kádár government restores the state administration applying before October 23. The operation of the revolutionary soldiers’ councils is banned and the revolutionary committees are deprived of their right to act. November 7 is declared a working day, although it is the anniversary of the Russian Revolution of 1917. The requirement to teach Russian in schools is lifted. The ÁVH is disbanded.

Some 300 national guards in the Buda Castle district retreat into the National Archives building. The Soviets attack them with tanks and heavy artillery.

Communists among the rebels of Tûzoltó utca (9th District) hang out the Hungarian and Red flags for November 7. The Soviets attack with increased force. Resistance continues in Pesthidegkút (2nd District), Baross tér (7th and 8th districts), the 20th District and Csepel (21st District).

Some 300–350 insurrectionists in the Mecsek Hills establish the Vágot-puszta Camp. A strike committee forms at the Sopianae Engineering Works in Pécs.

An attack on Dunapentele (Sztálinváros, Dunaújváros) is launched after a 25–30-minute bombardment. The Soviets use heavy artillery against the Hungarian anti-aircraft batteries. The defences collapse in the late afternoon and the Soviets take the town.

Thursday, November 8 Resistance ceases at the Schmidt Mansion in Óbuda (3rd District), in Kõbánya (10th District) and in Thököly út (14th District). Soviet tanks enter Csepel (21st District).

The Soviets occupy the uranium mines at Kõvágószõllõs, outside Pécs.

Soviet and Hungarian soldiers engage the rebels defending the customs house at Hegyeshalom. After a short exchange of fire, the outnumbered rebels retreat into Austria.

In New York, the 2nd Special Session of the UN General Assembly continues its debate on the Hungarian question.

Friday, November 9 The Presidential Council declares the Hungarian Revolutionary Workers’ and Peasants’ Government <Kádár government> to be the highest body of state administration. It also legalizes the Kossuth coat of arms (the Hungarian coat of arms without a crown, introduced in 1849), which had reappeared during the revolution.

Organization of the National Defence Force begins. An Officer’s Declaration is published, requiring unconditional support for the Kádár government. Officers refusing to sign it are dismissed.

Sporadic fighting continues in Széna tér (2nd District) and Vajdahunyad utca (8th District). The Soviets launch a general offensive to recapture Csepel (21st District), with fighter planes and heavy artillery keeping up a steady bombardment.

Rebels from Budapest and Dunapentele (Sztálinváros, Dunaújváros) march through Baja, heading for Yugoslavia.

Soviet artillery bombards the headquarters of the rebels in the Mecsek Hills.

Soviet armoured troops at Tarján fire on a convoy of rebels fleeing from Budapest towards Austria. The Soviets enter Oroszlány. Béla Király and remnants of the national guard prepare to defend themselves at Nagykovácsi.

The Soviets inform Kádár that Imre Nagy and his associates, who have taken refuge in the Yugoslav Embassy, may not leave for Yugoslavia.

The 2nd Special Session of the UN General Assembly passes a further resolution on the situation in Hungary.

Saturday, November 10 The Kádár government announces pay rises of 8–15 per cent and abolishes the tax on childless adults. The First Special Forces Officers Regiment began operating.

Imre Nagy informs Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Rankoviæ in a letter that he is not willing to resign as Hungarian prime minister.

There is sporadic fighting in Budapest.

A government commissioner is appointed to head the Hungarian Red Cross. The International Red Cross resumes aid shipments.

Polish journalists posted in Budapest are expelled.

The Soviet attack forces the Mecsek rebels to fall back to Kisújbánya in the Eastern Mecsek Hills.

Members of the Békés County Revolutionary Council are arrested, which provokes a strike in the Békéscsaba factories. The national guard in Sátoraljaújhely lays down its arms. Soviet forces enter Dorog and Esztergom. The Soviets attack the national-guard units commanded by Béla Király at Nagykovácsi. After resisting for a short time, the rebels retreat westward.

The Kádár government accepts UN aid. A Swiss initiative calls for a conference of the four great powers and India.

The Yugoslav government confirms the right of Imre Nagy and his associates to asylum.

Sunday, November 11 The Provisional Executive Committee of the HSWP hears a report from Kádár on his activity during the revolution. On the same day, he delivers his first radio address since November 4.

The Mecsek rebels consolidate at Kisújbánya. Delegates of the factories and mines in Baranya County endorse a statement condemning the Kádár government and demanding the withdrawal of the Soviet forces.

Tito, in a speech in Pula, describes the events in Hungary as counter-revolutionary and justifies the Soviet intervention by pointing to a danger that socialism would fall. On the other hand, he explains the Yugoslav leadership’s endorsement of the intervention by the force of circumstances.

Monday, November 12 The Kádár government describes the UN resolutions on Hungary as interference in the country’s internal affairs. The official gazette publishes a decree by the Presidential Council dismissing the Nagy government and recognizing the composition of the Kádár government. The presiding committee of the Writers’ Union addresses an appeal to the nation. The Újpest Revolutionary Workers’ Council calls for the establishment of a central workers’ council. Representatives of the Budapest factories are summoned to a meeting on the following day. The national committee of the students’ federation Mefesz begins to operate in the headquarters of Szot, the trade-union movement, in Dózsa György út (6th District).

The rebels hiding in the Mecsek Hills are attacked by the Soviets. Their numbers have dwindled to about 200. There are sporadic skirmishes in the Sátoraljaújhely district. The workers’ councils in Miskolc and Gyõr and the iron-industry workers’ council in Mosonmagyaróvár call for a Soviet withdrawal, free and secret elections, and recognition of the Nagy government and the workers’ councils.

The 11th UN General Assembly places the Hungarian question on its agenda. (The debate begins on January 9, 1957.)

Tuesday, November 13 The Kádár government issues an order in which it permits the workers’ councils to operate. The underground Hungarian Democratic Independence Movement (MDFM) is established. Soviet troops in Budapest prevent the formation of central workers’ council.

The Soviets capture several rebels in the Mecsek Hills. The strike in Békés County continues after several members of the county revolutionary committee are arrested. Workers’ councils form in the Oroszlány and Tatabánya collieries. Rebels blow up the railway line between Dorog and Leányvár.

Wednesday, November 14 The Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council (KMT) is established at a rally at the United Incandescent Lamp Factory (Egyesült Izzó). A KMT delegation negotiates with leaders of the Kádár government in Parliament on the same evening.

The workers’ council at the Ózd waggon works is re-elected. The workers’ councils at the Dorog and Tatabánya Colliery Trust affiliate to the KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council>. The Soviets occupy Salgótarján.

US President Eisenhower also refers briefly to the Hungarian question at a press conference, saying the US would do nothing that would encourage the Hungarians to fight on.

Thursday, November 15 The KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> elects Sándor Rácz as its chairman. Further talks between the KMT and the Kádár government take place in Parliament overnight. The Hungarian Democratic Independence Movement issues its ‘Ten Commandments for Hungarian Rebirth’ and launches an illegal paper, Október Huszonharmadika (October 23). The Csepel workers’ council calls for a return to work.

The Mecsek rebels return to Vágot-puszta. Security-force detachments are sent to the nearby villages of Máza, Szászvár and Magyaregregy. Soviet troops are ordered to Pécsvárad. Further arrests are made in Gyõr. A mass meeting called in Salgótarján decides on a partial return to work. The oil-industry workers’ councils decide to resume production.

A Polish party and government delegation travels to Moscow. The Soviets make important concessions to the Polish demands for greater freedom from Moscow’s tutelage. The two sides issue a joint declaration of support for the Hungarian Revolutionary Workers’ and Peasants’ Government.

Friday, November 16 Kádár, at a secret meeting at Leányfalu, agrees to the Soviet request that the Imre Nagy group should be deported to Romania. A Czechoslovak delegation negotiating in Budapest promises to deliver to Hungary goods worth 90 million Czechoslovak crowns. István Angyal, leader of the Tûzoltó utca rebels, is arrested. A strike of journalists begins in Budapest. The KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> issues an appeal for a return to work, while reserving the right to strike. Meanwhile the KMT delegation has further negotiations with Kádár.

The Mecsek rebels start out westward, managing to break through the Soviet encirclement unobserved. Workers’-council delegates in Pécs vote to go back to work. For the second time, the Soviets occupy Salgótarján, so that the Revolutionary Workers’ and Peasants’ Government <Kádár government> can take power. The factories in Karcag hold a two-day strike to protest against the deportations.

The UN secretary-general appoints a Committee of Three to investigate the Hungarian situation.

Saturday, November 17 Kádár calls on the Yugoslavs to hand over Imre Nagy and his associates to the new government. The central HSWP daily Népszabadság (People’s Freedom) appears despite the journalists’ strike. Establishment of the Kádárite Workers’ Militia begins.

An assembly of workers at the Salgótarján steel plant decides to stay out on strike.

Sunday, November 18 The Yugoslav leadership insists on the guarantee given to Nagy and his group, but has no objection to them leaving for Romania. The KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> delegation negotiates with K. Grebennik, the Soviet commander of Budapest. The Kádár government issues a statement denying that there are mass arrests and deportations. According to an article in the Népszabadság, all the demands of the popular uprising on October 23 will be met.

A workers’ council is elected at the Nógrád Colliery Trust.

The Kádár government reaches agreement with the International Red Cross and the Hungarian Red Cross about the distribution of aid consignments.

The leaders of the students’ union at the Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca (Kolozsvár), Romania, are arrested.

Monday, November 19 Imre Nagy and his associates announce that they do not want to leave the country. The KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> issues a call for the establishment of a national workers’ council. Work resumes at most factories.

The Writers’ Union receives a visit from a Soviet delegation.

Organizations still loyal to the revolution—the KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council>, Peasants’ Association, National Union of Hungarian Journalists (Muosz), Revolutionary Committee of the Hungarian Intelligentsia, Hungarian Union of Fine and Applied Artists, Hungarian Musicians’ Union and Writers’ Union—address a letter to the Indian prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. They call on him to intervene on Hungary’s behalf. János Szabó, commander of the Széna tér rebels, is arrested. The KGB seizes the films that have recorded the events of the revolution and sends them to Moscow.

A new workers’ council is elected at the Alföld Cannery in Kecskemét. Workers’ councils in Baja and Pécs decide to remain on strike.

Some of those deported to the Soviet Union are handed over to the Hungarian authorities.

Pravda, the central daily paper of the CPSU, commenting on Tito’s speech in Pula, accuses the Yugoslav president of intervening in Hungary’s internal affairs.

The UN General Assembly again debates the Hungarian question on November 19 and 20.

Tuesday, November 20 Officers who have not signed the Officer’s Declaration (about a quarter of them) are discharged. An East German delegation has talks in Budapest about providing assistance to the country.

A miners’ delegation from Pécs has talks in Tatabánya and Oroszlány with the coal-miners’ workers’ council and then travels to Budapest for talks with the KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> and the government. The Tatabánya workers’ council, after consultations with the Pécs, Komló and Central Transdanubian workers’ councils, draws up demands to present to the Kádár government. The armed resistance in the Mecsek Hills ends.

Wednesday, November 21 The Kádár government gives a written guarantee to Yugoslavia that Imre Nagy and his associates will not be prosecuted.

Delegations from the Borsod, Dorog, Pécs and Tatabánya miners have talks in Parliament. There is an unsuccessful attempt to form a national workers’ council: the National Sports Hall, where the rally was to be held, is surrounded by Soviet armoured tanks. The KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> calls a 48-hour protest strike. In the afternoon, the KMT negotiates with the government. Major-General Grebennik, talking to Western journalists, describes the deportations as abuses committed by certain officers. The Revolutionary Council of the Hungarian Intelligentsia is established.

The workers at the Baja factories go back to work. The founding meeting of the Nógrád County Workers’ Council begins in Salgótarján. Work resumes in the Transdanubian oil enterprises.

After a three-day debate, the UN General Assembly passes several resolutions on the Hungarian question. Three minutes’ silence is observed in Switzerland to commemorate the Hungarian independence struggle.

Thursday, November 22 Imre Nagy and his associates leave the Yugoslav Embassy in a Soviet military bus, after receiving assurances of safe conduct from the Yugoslavs. However, the undertakings are immediately broken when they are taken to the KGB headquarters in Mátyásföld (16th District). They are flown to Romania the next day.

Nehru sends a message to Kádár suggesting that Hungary should receive the UN secretary-general and a group of UN observers. The KMT delegation has talks with Kádár at night. Electricity consumption has to be restricted in Pécs due to the shortage of coal.

The survivors of the Mecsek rebel force cross the Hungarian-Yugoslav border near Barcs at dawn. The Yugoslavs disarm them and send them to the Koprivnica (Kapronca) refugee camp. The workers’ councils in Gyula decide to continue striking.

Friday, November 23 The Yugoslavs make a diplomatic protest against the abduction of the Imre Nagy group.

The Kádár government recognizes the KMT as a negotiating partner. The KMT calls for a return to work. After an appeal by the Revolutionary Council of the Hungarian Intelligentsia and the KMT to commemorate the revolution, traffic in Budapest stops between 2 and 3 p.m. and the city is plunged into silence.

A delegation from the communist-led World Federation of Trade Unions has talks in Budapest.

Delegates of the Komló, Mohács, Pécs and Szigetvár workers’ councils, meeting at Pécsbányatelep, establish the Baranya County Central Workers’ Council.

Imre Nagy, his associates and their families are taken from Bucharest Airport to Snagov.

Saturday, November 24 An official Hungarian communiqué is issued on the departure of Imre Nagy and his group. The staff of the party daily Népszabadság goes on strike. Government commissioners are appointed for the larger factories.

The strike continues in Komárom and Nógrád counties.

Poland sends Hungary aid worth 100 million zlotys.

The Yugoslav press gives prominence to the Nagy group’s deportation.

Sunday, November 25 Talks between the KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> leaders and government members in Parliament break off after a violent altercation. J.N. Koshla, the Indian ambassador in Prague, arrives in Budapest. He remains in Hungary until December 7.

Local trade-union elections are held under the supervision of the Gyõr-Sopron County workers’ councils.

Monday, November 26 The KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> passes a resolution demanding that the Kádár government make a statement on the fate of Imre Nagy and his associates, and issue a permit for the publication of the KMT newspaper. János Kádár deals at length with the question of Imre Nagy in a radio address. (After that, no further information is given on the matter until June 17, 1958.) Ambassador Koshla has talks with Kádár on bringing in UN observers. The workers’ council in Tatabánya calls for the introduction of two-shift working.

Monday, November 27 The KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> issues a protest against Kádár’s radio address the previous evening. In the evening, a KMT delegation led by Sándor Rácz has talks with Kádár in Parliament. The Kádár government appeals to the peasantry, trying to win them over with promises. The Writers’ Union sends a letter to the diplomatic missions in Budapest protesting against the deportation of Georg Lukács. Recruitment of a battalion of security-force officers begins in Debrecen. The workers’ councils of the Transdanubian Oil-Industry Enterprises, meeting in Nagykanizsa, call upon the branches on the Great Plain and in Budapest to establish workers’ councils. They also appoint a permanent delegate to the KMT.

Tuesday, November 28 Sándor Rácz reports on the negotiations with the government at a combined meeting of the KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> and the Budapest district workers’ councils. The Revolutionary Council of the Hungarian Intelligentsia passes a resolution supporting the revolution’s objectives.

Ferenc Münnich, in a statement, promises a review of the activity of the ÁVH. (No general inquiry is ever held.)

An appeal launching a movement called ‘Budapest Beautiful Again’ is issued by the HSWP-controlled Revolutionary Young Workers’ Association (Fisz).

The strike continues at the Tatabánya and Dorog collieries.

Thursday, November 29 The All-University Revolutionary Committee and the Central Workers’ Council of the Csepel Iron and Metal Works are established. More than 300 miners at Pécsbányatelep go on strike. The factories in Lábatlan call for the establishment of a workers’ council covering all the factories in the Danube-side area. KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> delegates negotiate with the county workers’ council in Salgótarján.

Polish daily papers publish the diaries of their Budapest correspondents in several parts. West Germany <East and West Germany> sends Hungary food and medical aid worth 10 million marks.

Friday, November 30 The Soviets call upon Kádár to begin reprisals, naming six or eight revolutionaries whom they consider should be executed immediately.

The KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> issues a call for readers to boycott the HSWP newspapers until the KMT receives a press permit. The public-supplies commissioner lifts the ban on alcohol sales.

The revolutionary committee in Oroszlány dissolves. Kádár has talks with representatives of the workers’ council in Tatabánya and makes the resumption of work a condition for further talks. The county workers’ council in Salgótarján wants to send a delegation to Kádár, but the meeting is broken up by members of the security forces.

Leaflets and fly-posters appear at the Lomonosov University in Moscow, demanding accurate information on the events in Hungary.

Saturday, December 1 The first issue of the emigré newspaper Nemzetõr (National Guard) appears in Vienna. Kádár, briefing the Yugoslav government, describes the case of Imre Nagy as an internal affair of Hungary’s. The KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> issues a call against the strikes. A decree is published granting a general pardon to all those who have emigrated illegally since October 23. A security-force regiment of 2000 is formed under the Ministry of the Interior.

The town council and workers’ council of Baja hold a joint meeting. The strike by the miners of Pécsbányatelep ends without result. The striking miners in Tatabánya demand that the security forces be disarmed. Only one of two delegations from Salgótarján is admitted into the Parliament building. Its members repeat their demands of November 30 and say that the strike will continue. The workers’ councils of the factories in Balassagyarmat try to halt production at the bakery, but they are prevented from doing so by members of the security forces.

Sunday, December 2 A three-day meeting of the Provisional Executive Committee of the HSWP begins. The events of October are described there as a counter-revolution. The Indian ambassador in Moscow spends December 2–7 in Budapest. He has talks with Kádár, who rejects his proposals for progress. A battalion of the Interior Ministry security-force regiment is sent to the Western border.

The county workers’ council in Salgótarján decides to continue striking. It calls upon the Soviets to take over the public administration in Nógrád County, rather than the vengeful security forces.

Monday, December 3 In Moscow, 150 students of the Lomonosov University are expelled. Students from the Baltic republics are sent home and lectures and events to do with Marxist-Leninist philosophy are suspended until the end of the year.

The Romanian foreign minister announces to the UN General Assembly that Imre Nagy and his group are receiving political asylum in Romania.

Tuesday, December 4 Several thousand women march to Hõsök tere (Heroes’ Square, 14th District), where they place flowers on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and display the flag of the revolution. There is also a demonstration in Szabadság tér (5th District), outside the US Embassy.

A district central workers’ council is formed in Orosháza and subscribes to the KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> demands. The Danube-Side Central Workers’ Council is established in Dorog. The workers’ councils at factories in Esztergom, Lábatlan, Nyergesújfalu and Tokod affiliate. The workers’ council and the management of the Nógrád Colliery Trust reach agreement on a resumption of work.

Wednesday, December 5 A government order dissolving the revolutionary committees is published.

About 12 noon: Several hundred women march towards Március 15. tér (5th District) to lay flowers on the statue of poet Sándor Petõfi, who died fighting against Russian intervention forces in the 1848–9 war of independence. The demonstration ends when the Soviets intervene. Demonstrators at several university hostels prevent students from being deported. The security forces disperse another demonstration in the afternoon in Szabadság tér (5th District). About 200 members of the intelligentsia and of workers’ councils are arrested in the evening. The first volume of the ‘White Book’ (The Counter-revolutionary Forces in the October events in Hungary) appears.

The workers’ council of Nógrád County calls on the miners to return to work.

The UN General Assembly passes a resolution on sending UN observers to Hungary.

The Central Committee of the Czechoslovak Communist Party announces that proceedings have started in 674 cases linked with the events in Hungary.

Thursday, December 6 A KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> memorandum states that its negotiations with the government have ended unsuccessfully because of the government’s inflexibility. The KMT protests against the successive arrests of leaders of the workers’ councils. It calls a national meeting for December 9 to establish a national workers’ council. (In the event this is held on December 8.)

The government organizes communist rallies in several places in Budapest. Workers returning from work attack communists carrying red flags in Népköztársaság útja (Andrássy út, 6th District) and along the Nagykörút (grand boulevard). Crowds hurling stones at the demonstrators are dispersed by security forces and the Soviets. Gunfire is exchanged near November 7. tér (Oktogon, 6th District), and security men fire into a crowd of workers by the Western Railway Station. A crowd of counter-demonstrators that gathers in the afternoon in Baross tér (7th and 8th districts) is also dispersed by security men and the Soviets.

There are demonstrations in Békéscsaba, Gyula, Sarkad and Tatabánya. A strike breaks out in Békéscsaba the next day to protest against the arrests. The collieries in Nógrád County go on strike after workers’ leaders in the county are arrested. The Danube-Side Central Workers’ Council meets in Esztergom.

The 9th Session of Unesco adopts a resolution on assisting with the repair of schools in Hungary.

Friday, December 7 The KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> holds a meeting. A letter is sent to the Soviet prime minister proposing direct relations between the KMT and the Soviet government. Kádár receives Yugoslav Ambassador Dalibor Soldatiæ and holds out prospects of settling the affair of Imre Nagy and his associates peacefully. The security forces disperse a demonstration in Baross tér (7th and 8th districts), near the Eastern Railway Station.

The authorities prevent the establishment of a central workers’ council in Baja. Demonstrations take place in Pécs, Esztergom and Berettyóújfalu, and at Orosháza, Dévaványa, Battonya, Mezõkovácsháza, Gyulavári, Doboz and Sarkad, all in Békés County. A communist demonstration is advertised for the next day in Salgótarján.

The 14th Summer Olympics in Melbourne close. Many of the Hungarian contestants remain abroad.

Saturday, December 8 A Bács-Kiskun County workers’ council is established in Kecskemét. The Soviets disperse another demonstration in Battonya. The strike and protests in Tatabánya continue due to the arrests. An armed guard is set up on one housing estate in the town to obstruct the raids by the security forces.

A delegation from the Nógrád County Workers’ Council sets out for Budapest to attend a KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> meeting. In Salgótarján, the Soviets and the security forces open fire on a crowd of demonstrators. The massacre, which lasts for 8–10 minutes, leaves 52 dead and about 150 wounded. On hearing news of the shooting, the KMT calls a 48-hour strike. The railway bridge over the Zagyva river at Pásztó is blown up to obstruct the deportations.

Sunday, December 9 The government outlaws the workers’ councils, including the KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council>. The workers’-council delegates assembled at the headquarters of the building trades union in Budapest are arrested. KMT representatives personally deliver the call for a strike to the major centres in the provinces.

György Marosán delivers a speech before 1200–1500 communists in Pécs, after which there is a pro-government demonstration in Széchenyi tér, the city’s main square. Protests take place at Dévaványa, Szeghalom and Vésztõ in Békés County, and in Miskolc. A meeting in Oroszlány votes to return to work. Arrests continue in Salgótarján. Two leaders of the national guard at the steel works there are brutally murdered by security men. The Nógrád County Provisional Executive Committee of the HSWP holds a meeting of almost 120 county activists.

Monday, December 10 The Soviets open fire during a demonstration in Miskolc. The Szinva Bridge collapses under the fleeing crowd and several people are killed. The workers’ council at the Lenin Foundry in Miskolc bans organization by the HSWP at the works. The strike continues in Gyõr. A 48-hour strike is called in Eger. Demonstrations and wreath-laying ceremonies are held in several places. The security forces, with Soviet assistance, attack the miners’ quarter in Tatabánya late in the evening. The local guard ceases its resistance after several hours. Three people die in the fighting.

Monday, December 11 The 48-hour strike called by the KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> begins, halting production, rail traffic and public transport throughout the country. In response, the Kádár government declares a state of emergency and orders the disarming of factory guards.

The KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> leaders, Sándor Bali and Sándor Rácz, are arrested at the Parliament building, where they have arrived for negotiations. The Central Workers’ Council of the Csepel Iron and Metal Works comes out against the strike again, but all the factories stop work nonetheless. A start is made to reinstalling the ‘Iron Curtain’ along the Western border. The government commissioner for public supplies reintroduces the ban on alcohol sales.

The Hungarian UN delegation walks out of the General Assembly because of attacks made on the Kádár government. The president of the International League of Red Cross Societies pays a visit to Budapest.

Most factories in Baja, Debrecen and Kecskemét join the strike. Arrests begin in Baja. There are further demonstrations in Eger and Zalaegerszeg.

Tuesday, December 12 The internment camps are reopened. The security forces disperse a demonstration in Bosnyák tér (14th District). Demonstrations are held in Gyoma and Kecskemét. Security men in Eger fire on demonstrators, killing eight and wounding 27.

The UN General Assembly passes a further resolution condemning the Soviet intervention in Hungary.

See also:

• The workers’ councils head the resistance
• The Kádár government takes over
• The final burst of resistance