A harmadik Magyar Köztársaság 25. évfordulója

The Third Republic of Hungary – 25th Anniversary

Communism officially ended in Hungary on the 23^rd of October 1989, when Mátyás Szűrös, provisional President, proclaimed the Republic of Hungary on the anniversary of the failed 1956 Uprising. A crowd of 100,000 witnessed the moment history was made once again on the very same balcony of the Parliament building where Imre Nagy had made a speech 33 years earlier.

The Hungarian People’s Republic (1949-89) was a socialist state governed by the Socialist Workers’ Party, which was under the influence of the Soviet Union. The Soviet intervention in 1956 only brought more troops to Hungary, making it even easier for the Russians to control politics in Hungary for the next decades.

Although the 1960s brought some economic and cultural improvement, the country was still far from a democracy: the one-party system, the pro-Soviet foreign policy and the Russian troops kept it safely behind the Iron Curtain. János Kádár, leader of the Hungarian Communist Party since 1956, allowed Hungarians more freedom in the Sixties than was usual in the Eastern Block. Many people prospered because private businesses were legalized, the living standards became higher, leading to what Nikita Khrushchev, the former Soviet leader, dubbed as “goulash Communism.”

However, by the 1980s it became clear that Hungary was deep in foreign debt, as the money was used to subsidize unprofitable industries. The economy stagnated, inflation hit hard and more and more people became dissatisfied with the political system that prevented real progress. The economic crisis resulted in demands for reform both within and outside of the party.

In mid-1987, Kádár installed Károly Grósz as Prime Minister, who started moderate changes and encouraged free-market principles. In 1988, Kádár was removed due to his failing physical and mental health and the time was ripe for major reforms. Miklós Németh, a more radical reformer was appointed Prime Minister. In January 1989, the Parliament adopted a “democracy package,” which included a radical revision of the Constitution and a new electoral law, granted the freedom of association, assembly and the press after decades of secret surveillance and censorship.

In the meantime, similar tendencies were present in the Communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, which led to the Revolutions of 1989, and finally, to the fall of Communism. The people of Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Romania showed their opposition to the one-party rule the Soviets had imposed on their countries. The first cracks in the Iron Curtain appeared when Hungary began dismantling its 240 km barbed wire fence on the Austrian border, following which thousands of East German citizens went to West Germany via Hungary and Austria.

Negotiations between the Hungarian Communist and the new, independent political forces (the most significant ones were the Hungarian Democratic Forum, the Alliance of Free Democrats, the Alliance of Young Democrats, the Christian Democratic People’s Party and the Independent Smallholders’ Party) began in the spring of 1989. On October 7, 1989, the Communist Party re-established itself as the Hungarian Socialist Party and in a historical session the Parliament passed legislation providing for multi-party parliamentary elections and a direct presidential election, which took place on March 24, 1990.

The legislation transforming Hungary from a People’s Republic into the Republic of Hungary not only guaranteed human and civil rights, but also separated the judicial, legislative and executive branches of government, laying the foundations for a democratic state.