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

There was no chance of the revolution being consolidated, for the Soviet leadership - exploiting the fact that the attention and military might of the West was concentrated upon the Suez crisis - made up its mind to once again intervene, and at dawn on November 4 it launched an attack of massive strength against the centres of resistance in Budapest and the provinces, putting down any armed resistance by November 12, often slaughtering the revolutionaries, treated as fascists, on the spot. In the parliament building, this is how István Bibó, Smallholder Minister of State, expressed his appeal for aid after November 4,1956: The inaugural programme of the puppet government forced upon the country and led by János Kádár (the Revolutionary Workers' and Peasants' Government) was as yet conciliatory, but the Soviet military directives already spoke of a reactionary fascist counter-revolution. The November days passed in what appeared to be phoney agreement of dual power: the government held meetings with the still-operative workers' councils "inherited" from the revolutionary days. The notion of self-government by the workers was given by the Yugoslavian model, and beginning on October 23 workers councils were formed in the provincial industrial centres and in Budapest. On November 14 their top organisation, the Greater Budapest Central Workers' Council, was created. The government recognised the factory organs and received their delegates. However, as a result of significant leftish radicalisation, at the beginning of December 200 workers' leaders were arrested and a ban placed upon the regional organisations. December 9 saw the statutory rule of the Presidential Council of the Hungarian Republic that introduced the summary trial (statárium). In consequence of the significant political swing to the left in the pre-