Baják László Ihász István: The Hungarian National Museum History Exhibition Guide 4 - The short century of survival (1900-1990) (Budapest, 2008)
Room 20. The Rise and Fall of Communism (1945-1990). István Ihász
During the coalition years, Hungarian literature and art were still characterised by a colourful variety of genres and contact with West European trends. After the "turning point year" (1947) the justification for endeavours in abstract art and the avant-garde in art was questioned, while in music the works of Bartók began to be divided up into an acceptable category and another stamped as formalist, in literature the heritage of Nyugat was attacked in debate, especially in the judgment of Babits and Kosztolányi. The one-sidedly judged principle of realism (socialist realism) ruled alone, and efforts that did not fit in with the solutions that satisfied this narrow programme and schematic form were not to be aired in public. From the mid-1950s cultural policy continued to support traditional styles, but gradually space was also given in our literature and art for stylistic endeavours progressing in parallel with Western European trends. At the 20 th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party (in February, 1956), Khrushchev repudiated the sins of Stalinism, an event that caused an acceleration in the slow political fermentation in the socialist camp, and especially in Poland and Hungary, that had begun with the death of Stalin in 1953: the population connected the name of Imre Nagy, the new Prime Minister chosen by the Kremlin, with the abolition of detention camps and deportations and with restraining extremist economic activities. At first, the beginning of political rehabiiitation affected the ranks of ex-communist party members. After Austria's declaration of neutrality (1955), Hungary found itself on the front line of the Iron Curtain, in accordance with the formation of political power relations in Moscow, from the end of 1954 and for a short period Stalinist control once again was in the ascendancy. As a result of the activities of communist reformers with a certain intellectual sphere of movement in the periphery of power and attracted by the person and creed of Imre Nagy, now relieved of office, there was from the spring of 1956 a spread within the country of political of forums for political debate, while the voice of the media became increasingly braver and more critical. The rehabilitation and reburial on October 6 th of László Rajk and his associates, executed in autumn 1949, developed into mass demonstrations against the system. The citizens of the capital joined the October 23 demonstration organised by Budapest students, and by the evening a revolutionary situation had formed. Mandate certificate of Imre Nagy, 1953
