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In communist-controlled Hungary, a people
revolt erupted in 1956, but it was defeated by the
Soviet military and followed by a harsh and Moscow
regime. Many fled the country, but gradually the demands
for reform grew. Since Hungary abolished the Communist
Empire in 1989 and became a multi-party democracy, the
country has been characterized by strong tensions
between socialists, with roots in communism, and liberal
and conservative forces.
In a relatively free and democratic parliamentary
election in the fall of 1945, the bourgeois Smallholder
Party prevailed, but was pressured by the Soviet
occupation power to form a unifying government with the
three other major parties elected in parliament: the
Social Democrats, the Communists and the National
Peasant Party. Over the next few years, the Communists
strengthened their position and took full control of
Parliament in the June 1949 elections. Two months later,
a new constitution was adopted which transformed Hungary
into a communist one-party state with state-governed,
centralized economy. The country was brought under
Moscow's control in the newly formed Soviet bloc and in
1955 became a member of the defense cooperation in the
Warsaw Pact.
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ABBREVIATIONFINDER:
List of most commonly used acronyms containing Hungary. Also includes historical, economical and political aspects of the country.
Under the leadership of Stalinist Mátyás Rákosi, the
Communist Party pushed hard politics against dissent,
with arrests and labor camps. After merging with the
Social Democrats in 1948, the party was renamed the
Hungarian Workers' Party (MDP). After the death of
Soviet leader Josef Stalin in 1953, Rákosi was replaced
as head of government by reformist Communist Imre Nagy
and the repression was alleviated. Rákosi, however,
retained control of the party leadership and got Nagy
dismissed in 1955. The following year, when the Soviet
Union's new leader Nikita Khrushchev officially withdrew
from Stalin's policy, Rákosi himself had to resign.
There was hope for more democratic development, and
students and other opposites demanded Nagy again. On
October 23, 1956, a spontaneous uprising broke out in
Budapest and spread rapidly across the country.
The People's Rescue is knocked down in 1956
 Nagy returned as prime minister, abolished the
one-party system and promised free elections. But when
he also announced a neutral foreign policy and exit from
the Warsaw Pact, Moscow struck. On November 4, 1956,
Soviet forces moved into Budapest and deposed Nagy.
After several days of hard fighting, the resistance of
the Hungarians was crushed. Of 20,000 arrested
insurgents, 2,000 were executed. János Kádár, a member
of Nagy's coalition government and just taking over as
Communist Party leader, formed a new, Moscow-based
government. Nagy was allowed free by Kádár but was
seized by Soviet troops and hanged in 1958. Kádár now
ruled with an iron hand. Non-Communist parties and
groups were dissolved and dissenters were persecuted.
Around 200,000 Hungarians fled the country in the years
following the uprising.
A liberalization began in 1961 and many dissidents
were granted amnesty. Hoping that higher living
standards would reduce Hungarians' dissatisfaction,
Kádár tried to lighten the planning economy with
cautious market economy reforms. The Communist Party,
reorganized in 1956 by the circle of Nagy and renamed
the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (MSzMP), retained
its power monopoly but gave organizations, corporations
and state and municipal bodies some autonomy. The public
debate was also more open than in other eastern states.
Demands on democracy
In the 1970s, however, the economy began to stagnate
and opposition to the regime intensified. The economic
crisis of the 1980s and the upheavals of the Soviet
Union contributed to an increasing demand for democratic
reforms. In September 1987, the Hungarian Democratic
Forum (MDF) was formed and in the spring thereafter the
student movement Youth Democrats (Fidesz) and a network
for independent groups. It was the beginning of a free
party system in Hungary. Demands for political pluralism
were also raised within the Communist Party. In May
1988, Kádár was appointed party leader and succeeded by
Károly Grósz. Many younger reform-minded communists
replaced the "cadars" of the Central Committee and the
Politburo. Censorship was abolished, strikes and
demonstrations allowed. In early 1989, the Communist
Party advocated a transition to multi-party systems, at
the same time as a party inquiry concluded that the 1956
revolt had been a genuine uprising and no
counter-revolutionary uprising. Imre Nagy was reinstated
and honored in June with a new funeral ceremony that
gathered over a quarter of a million people. In the
summer, Hungary opened its borders to East Germans on
the way west and thereby helped to demolish the iron
curtain. Shortly thereafter, the Communist Party began
to negotiate with the opposition. In the autumn of 1989,
Parliament adopted a series of legislative proposals on
Hungary's transformation into democracy with multi-party
systems. From October 23, 1989, Hungary was no longer a
socialist people's republic. In the summer, Hungary
opened its borders to East Germans on the way west and
thereby helped to demolish the iron curtain. Shortly
thereafter, the Communist Party began to negotiate with
the opposition. In the autumn of 1989, Parliament
adopted a series of legislative proposals on Hungary's
transformation into democracy with multi-party systems.
From October 23, 1989, Hungary was no longer a socialist
people's republic. In the summer, Hungary opened its
borders to East Germans on the way west and thereby
helped to demolish the iron curtain. Shortly thereafter,
the Communist Party began to negotiate with the
opposition. In the autumn of 1989, Parliament adopted a
series of legislative proposals on Hungary's
transformation into democracy with multi-party systems.
From October 23, 1989, Hungary was no longer a socialist
people's republic.
The Communist Party, now deeply divided over
democratization, was split at its congress in October
1989. The reform supporters formed the Hungarian
Socialist Party (MSZP), while a smaller and more purely
communist faction retained the old party name.
In Hungary's first free parliamentary elections in
the spring of 1990, bourgeois MDF became the largest
party. A government was formed by the MDF, the
Smallholder Party and a small Christian Democratic
party. MDF leader József Antall became prime minister.
In 1993, the Socialist Party's popularity grew,
partly as a result of the internal divisions of the
ruling parties. In the 1994 parliamentary elections, the
Socialist Party, which won its own majority in
parliament, nevertheless chose to form a government with
the Liberal Peace Democratic Alliance (SZDSZ). In this
way, it was hoped to broaden the support for the deficit
policy that was deemed necessary to reduce the budget
deficit and attract investors to the country. In June
1994, the new government joined with Socialist leader
Gyula Horn as prime minister.
"Black Sunday" 1995
On March 12, 1995 - later referred to as "Black
Sunday" - the government proposed drastic cuts in
welfare, redundancies in the public sector, tax
increases and currency devaluation, the forint. The
savings faced harsh domestic criticism and mass
demonstrations. After a couple of years, the economy
began to recover and the government parties hoped it
would give them wind of the sails ahead of the 1998
elections. But the hopes were shameful; The Socialist
Party lost more than a quarter of its mandate and the
Peace Democrats lost over half. The winner of the
election instead became the right-wing party Fidesz.
The leader of Fidesz, Viktor Orbán, formed government
with the MDF and the Small Farmers Party. The government
soon faced a delicate situation in connection with
NATO's bombings in Serbia in 1999, which began shortly
after Hungary became a member of the defense alliance.
Although the air strikes also affected the large
Hungarian minority in Vojvodina, the part of Serbia
bordering Hungary, the Budapest government had to
support the campaign.
EU membership 2004
After the parliamentary elections in the spring of
2002, the Socialist Party formed a government together
with the Peace Democratic Alliance. They had a scarce
majority, nine mandates more than the right alliance
between Fidesz and MDF. The politically independent
former banker and finance minister Péter Medgyessy
became prime minister. It was an important priority to
speed up ongoing EU membership negotiations and already
at the end of the same year Hungary got EU sign-up to
become a member in 2004. However, as several times
before, Hungary was invited to stop discrimination
against the Roma minority and to get covert with the
large budget deficit. In a referendum on EU membership
in the spring of 2003, the Yes side won 84 percent of
the vote.
After a government crisis in the same year, Medgyessy
resigned and was succeeded by Ferenc Gyurcsány, a former
member of the old Communist Party Youth League who
created a fortune in the privatization of state property
and real estate deals.
Violent protests in 2006
The parliamentary elections in April 2006 became the
first since the fall of communism when a government
could remain in a second term. The coalition with the
Socialist Party and the Peace Democrats took 210 seats
against 175 for the opposition. Gyurcsány gained renewed
confidence as prime minister. But his popularity
dwindled when it was discovered that his government had
lied about the economic situation before the election in
order to retain power. The government had promised tax
cuts, but in fact planned tax increases and cuts in
government spending. In Budapest, violent protests
erupted against the government and against the planned
austerity measures. Fidesz party leader Viktor Orbán
demanded Gyurcsany's departure. Kravall police were
deployed, but protests continued during the fall. High
gasoline prices and more expensive transport contributed
to dissatisfaction.
A commission of inquiry found that the police used
violence against protesters and that both government and
opposition blamed the chaos on the streets. The Minister
of Justice, the Chief of Police and Budapest's Chief of
Police resigned.
The fees in health care were challenged in a
referendum in the spring of 2008, propelled by the
opposition. Four-fifths voted against the charges and
the government was forced to withdraw them. The conflict
over health care policy caused the Peace Democrats to
leave the government, and the Socialist Party continued
to govern on its own.
Financial crisis
In the autumn of 2008, the global financial crisis
hit hard on Hungary. The value of the forint fell, and
the government was forced to borrow € 20 billion from
the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the EU and the
World Bank. This meant strict conditions for reducing
the budget deficit. The government was pressured to
tighten up more, at the same time as resistance at home
grew against cuts in the welfare system. In April 2009,
Gyurcsány resigned.
Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai has been appointed as
Prime Minister. He announced new austerity measures,
including freezing of public wages, and tax increases,
which were met by new demonstrations in Budapest.
By the time of the 2010 parliamentary elections, the
economy had begun to recover. But the population did not
forget the unpopular cuts and more than half of the
voters joined Fidesz in the election. Party leader
Viktor Orbán promised to stimulate growth and create one
million jobs in ten years. Fidesz received 262 of 386
seats, against 59 for the Socialist Party. The
right-wing extremist and racist Jobbik took his seat in
Parliament for the first time with 47 seats. A
government with Fidesz and its alliance partners the
right-wing party KDNP was formed under the leadership of
Orbán. The government parties controlled two-thirds of
the parliament, which meant that they could, by their
own power, change the constitution of the country.
The great election successes in 2010 for Fidesz and
Jobbik testified to strong nationalist trends in Hungary
with increasingly open anti-Semitic outcomes and rising
violence against Roma.
New constitution is introduced
At the New Year 2010/2011, Hungary took over the EU
Presidency. In the middle of the presidency, Parliament
adopted a new constitution that was considered, in many
respects, contrary to basic democratic norms. Opposition
and the outside world came warnings of reduced
independence for the central bank, media governance,
limited religious freedom, unfair electoral system,
reduced legal security, politicized state administration
and social discrimination. When the Constitution came
into force in January 2012, major protests were held in
the streets of Budapest by opposition and activists.
Prime Minister Orbán's emphasis on Hungarian identity
and self-sufficiency in combination with aggressive
rhetoric against the EU and the international banking
system has won favor among many Hungarians.
With the help of the large majority in Parliament,
the government parties were able to implement
constitutional amendments that transformed Hungary's
political, economic and social system from the ground
up. From the outset, there was an ambition behind the
transformation of society with Hungary's communist past
and the elitist networks that remained influential even
in the first decade of the 21st century. But the result,
according to the critics, was that Fidesz created a
similar system characterized by corruption.
Despite criticism from the EU and the outside world,
in March 2013 Parliament voted for new controversial
changes to the Constitution, including the
Constitutional Court's influence on legislation (see
Political system). The opposition boycotted the vote.
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