The Economic Platforms of the Re-formed
Hungarian Political Parties in 1956
Susan Glanz, Division of
Administration and Economics, College of Professional Studies
Abstract
In 2006 Hungary celebrated the 50th anniversary of the 1956
revolution. Before 1989, in Hungary, doing research on the events
was taboo; and after - most research and publications centered on
the political events. My project focused on the economic platforms
of the parties that flourished for one week. On October 30, 1956
Imre Nagy, the prime minister announced the termination of the
one-party system. The multiparty democracy was short lived; it
lasted for six days, from Tuesday October 30, 1956 to Sunday,
November 4th, when the second Soviet invasion of Hungary began.
This announcement jump started several political parties into a
flurry of activities. Due to the short time that the parties were
allowed to openly function, they did not have time to develop
detailed platforms. Of the 13 political parties only three parties,
the Christian Democratic Popular Party (Keresztény Demokrata
Néppárt), Christian Front (Keresztény Front), and Christian
Hungarian Party (Keresztény Magyar Párt) were new parties; three
existed before the war and seven had their start in the post
1945 period. The party goals were disseminated through street
posters, newspapers and radio. The “old” parties had the advantage
of being able to refer to their pre-1948 platforms. All parties
directly or indirectly mentioned the maintenance of the land
reform, public ownership of large industries and the return to some
form of private ownership in the service and retail industries, and
promised increased wages.