The 1956 Hungarian Revolution Echoes in Poland

The article highlights the reaction of Polish society and government to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. It is emphasized that the history of Poland and Hungary was closely intertwined in 1956 and reflected in the course of political events of that time. Poznan workers' uprising in June 1956 caused a great resonance in Hungary and the Hungarian authorities intended to use the events in Poznan as a pretext for resolving the political crisis in Hungary. Hungarian protesters, expressing solidarity with the Polish people and supporting change in Poland, demanded a "Hungarian path to socialism". The Hungarian revolution, which had a bloody and tragic character, had a lively response in Polish society. The activity of Polish information publications and the ways in which information about the Hungarian revolution reached Poland are described. It is emphasized that the speeches and publications of journalists had a significant impact on the attitude of Polish society to the Hungarian Revolution. The activity of the new Polish government in search of like-minded people and allies among the countries of "people's democracy" is analyzed. It is noted that the Polish leader V. Gomulka, proclaiming the "Polish road to socialism", took into account the analogies and similarities between the events and changes that took place in Poland and Hungary. The Polish authorities realised the catastrophe from which their country and the party, which managed to resolve the socio-political crisis in a bloodless way, escaped. Gomulka was convinced that only by resolving the Polish-Soviet problems it was possible to avoid a repeat of Poznan and Budapest. The process of providing humanitarian aid to Hungary by Poland is analyzed. It is noted that the greatest assistance to the Hungarians during the revolution was provided by Poland. The position of the radio station "Free Europe" and the editorial board of "Voice of Free Poland" is revealed. It is noted that the RWE editorial board felt responsible for the accuracy of the information provided, and deeply understood the impact of its broadcasts on the mood of Polish society. It is emphasized that the events of 1956 in Poland and Hungary marked the beginning of the collapse of pro-Soviet totalitarian regimes in Europe

Relations Between Turkey and Hungary in the Democratic Party Period (1950–1960)

The decennium historical process in Turkish political history between 1950 and 1960 is called the Democratic Party (DP) era. During this period, important issues took place in Turkish foreign policy. Our aim is to reveal the political, commercial and social relations between Turkey and Hungary in the light of archive documents within the scope of important events in Turkish foreign policy. The aim of this article is to emphasise how the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 affected the relations between the two countries and to prove with documents that Turkey supported Hungary during the revolution. This study has been created by benefiting from archive documents, national newspapers and copyrights from both target countries. The study also commemorates the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, which erupted 65 years ago this year. Finally, this article entitled Relations between Turkey and Hungary during the Democratic Party Period (1950–1960) is a qualitative study prepared using the document analysis technique.

Diversity and Defiance within the World Communist Movement

As Soviet leaders worked to manage the contradictions they had unleashed, they faced a wide range of responses from within the world communist movement: worker rebellions in Eastern Europe; revolution in Hungary in 1956; near revolution in Poland; and criticism or ambivalence from Yugoslavia, China, and nonruling communist parties in the wake of de-Stalinization and the crushing of the Hungarian revolution.

The Yugoslav factor in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and its impact upon Yugoslav-Soviet relations

This article is dedicated to the process of normalization of Yugoslav-Soviet relations, which took place on the background of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. The goal consists in identification of causes for the absence of strong negative influence of the Yugoslav factor in the Hungarian events upon the relations between the Soviet Union and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Using the analysis of a wide array of sources and systematic consideration of the international situation that formed in 1956, the authors characterize the dynamics and vector of Yugoslav-Soviet relations during this period, determine the degree of impact of the Yugoslav factor in all its manifestations upon the development of Hungarian events, as well as trace the influence of the Hungarian Revolution upon Yugoslav-Soviet relations. The scientific novelty of this research consists in the analysis of direct and indirect participation of Yugoslavia in the conflict, which has been traditionally regarded as the conflict between the Soviet Union and Hungary alone. The conclusion is made that in 1956, the Soviet Union sought to unite the socialist countries on the background of tense foreign policy situation, trying to overcome the consequences of the conflict of 1948 and “attach” Yugoslavia to the bloc. Despite the fact that such intentions were jeopardized by the events of 1956 due to a range of controversial steps taken by Belgrade, Moscow did not immediately turn to public criticism of the Yugoslavs, as the mutual cooperation between the two countries was rather advantageous that the return to the situation of 1948 – 1953.

To Serve with Words, Letters and Deeds - The First Stage of the Református Család (Reformed Family) Magazine’s Publication (1929-1944)

" The study firstly addresses the crisis period, which made the creation of the periodical necessary. The first issue was published in 1929, but our time travel to understand the era needs to take us back at least to the 19th century since the roots of the crisis can be found there: the defeat of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848; the worker optimism following the 1867 Austro-Hungarian Compromise, which, in addition to spectacular results, further deepened the economic and ethnic gap between the various strata of the population; the people-centred, fickle ideological basis of theological liberalism; the horrors of World War I, the Republic of Councils of Hungary, the Treaty of Trianon. The second main topic outlines one of the successful areas of crisis management, i.e. the domestic mission aspirations unfolding in the Transylvanian Reformed Church District: the role of theology professors, Vécs Society, associations mobilizing certain strata of church members, and related press releases and press products. The third chapter presents the first release period of Református Család from 1929 to 1944: objectives of the periodical, columns, readers, editors-writers. Keywords: the Hungarian Reformed community in Transylvania, crisis period, home/domestic mission, Transylvanian Reformed Women’s Association (1928–1944), Református Család periodical (1929–1944)."

Self-Limitation and Democracy Lefort’s Model of Council Democracy

This chapter explores the theory of council democracy developed by the French political thinker Claude Lefort. Like his onetime compatriot in Socialisme ou Barberie, Cornelius Castoriadis, Lefort also developed an early and a late theory of council democracy. While Lefort and Castoriadis were basically in agreement on the principles of council democracy at the time of Hungarian Revolution of 1956, while they were both members of Socialisme ou Barberie, Lefort provided a markedly different analysis of the council system after he broke with Socialisme ou Barberie and developed with famous theory of the democracy as the empty place of power. In Lefort’s late theorisation of council democracy, the councils collaborate with trade unions and political parties to make up a conglomerated, federalised polity, which is founded upon the principles of self-limitation and mixed constitution. While liberal interpretations of Lefort have stressed how representative, parliamentary government is the best expression of ‘the empty place of power’ and radical democratic interpretations have argued of inherent hostility between democracy and institutions in Lefort’s writings, this chapter argues that Lefort’s theory of council democracy could productively be understood as an institutional approximation of democracy as an empty place of power.

The Historical Councils in Twentieth-Century Europe

The chapter analyses the three primary examples of council democratic organization in the 20th century, that is, during the Russian Revolution of 1917, the German Revolution of 1918-19 and the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. The chapter argues that despite obvious differences between these council formations, the European council movements were united in their attempts to democratise the economy, dismantle the bourgeois state apparatus, and introduce self-governing practices in social, economic, and political life.

The Impact of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution on Institutional Censorship in Communist Romania

"The aim of this article is to tackle the evolution of the censorship mechanisms in communist Romania under the impact of the 1956 Hungarian revolution, mainly by examining documents issued by the institutional censorship (DGPT). It attempts to give an accurate picture of the Romanian-Hungarian cultural-political relations mainly after October-November 1956 by analyzing the exchange of publications between Romania and Hungary, the regulations that stipulated the import of books, the subscriptions to periodicals, the press, as well as the dynamics of the circulation of ideas between the two countries, especially between the intellectual milieus, preeminently around 1956."