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

Between June 14-16, 1985 those Hungarian intellectuals urging change held an illegal meeting at Monor to discuss the nation's condition. It was at this time that two groups with oppositional views were formed: the radical liberals and the populist-national liberals. The basic lines of political division were defined by subcultural opposites stretching back long decades (the urbanisedpopular confrontation). The latter camp met at Lakitelek on September 27, 1987 (inviting Imre Pozsgay, the intellectual leading light of the reformist communists, the secretary-general of the Patriotic Popular Front, who in his speech urged true political pluralism (I), elections and a coalition). As it was illegal to form an alternative political party, the idea of creating an intellectual reform movement, the Hungarian Democratic Forum, was mooted. "Since 1971 we have bought apparent political peace and quality of life, and from foreign sources... we are now paying the price and will continue to do so in the ensuing years", was to be voiced at the sitting of the Central Committee of the HSWP. The first serious rises in the price of meat came at the end of 1987. At the same time the first step of the Károly Grosz government (1987-1988) was to introduce the world passport, with which a long-absent accessory of basic human rights was granted. The Trade Union and Young Communist reformers, sensing that now, besides the role of transmission between the Party and the people, there was a need for some kind of representation of interests, urged dialogue with the government. From 1986, exploiting the waning confidence of the political leadership, Hungarian society began to create alternative political organisations, which quickly began to express their lack of trust in those in power in the form of mass demonstrations. The reform wing of the HSWP achieved recognition at the national conference held in May 1988, signalling that it was time for János Kádár to go. "We all know that in the economic sense Hungary has lost the greater part of its sovereignty. Similarly to many seriously indebted countries around the world it is struggling with the daily dilemma of economic existence or ruin," the Party's secretary-general Károly Grosz was to confess later, at the June 23-24 1989 sitting of the Central Committee of the HSWP. The hopelessly insolvent country (to the tune of USD 21.5 bn.) was ripe for a change in regime. Educated statesmen, acceptable to society, were to take their places in the reform government of Miklós Németh. The greatest result of their short period in power was that through their steps to reform they assisted in the work of a parliament that was finding its legs and opened a wide, peaceful road towards a change in regime. The decision to accept a multiparty system was made by the Central Committee of the HSWP in February, 1989. Parliament could now announce the establishing of parties and the right to strike; it also created a referendum statute. However, the reinterpretation of the "events" of 1956 from counter-revolution to popular uprising undermined the legitimacy of the system. The opposition groups that had been established in the previous years were restructured into legal political parties (the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF), the Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ),