Imre Nagy - avowed communist turned uprising hero By Michael Logan

dpa German Press Agency
Published: Thursday October 19, 2006

Budapest- When Prime Minister Imre Nagy, the man who led Hungary during the 1956 Uprising and ultimately paid for it with his life, was reburied in 1989, hundreds of thousands of Hungarian turned out to pay their respects. The reburial of the national hero symbolically marked the end of the communist regime that Hungarians had unsuccessfully attempted to throw off in 1956, but the irony is that Nagy may well have been sad to see the end of his beloved communism.

Nagy firmly believed in the system up until his execution in 1958, aged 62, and was part of the regime before the uprising.

However, Nagy became one of the regime's most popular figures when he oversaw the redistribution of land from the rich to the peasants after World War 11, and he never lost this popularity.

When the winds began to change after the death of Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin in 1953, Nagy became prime minister for the first time.

Until then, Matyas Rakosi, both prime minister and leader of the Hungarian Communist Party, relied on a vicious secret police force and regular purges to keep the people in line.

But new Soviet Leader Nikita Krushchev, who would later denounce Stalin as a tyrant, was uncomfortable with Rakosi's style of leadership and wanted to soften the reign of terror.

However, Nagy's reign did not last long. He showed a more gentle hand but the economy struggled and Rakosi, always scheming behind the scenes, forced Nagy out in 1995.

When the uprising began on October 23, 1956 after secret police fired into crowds of students trying to have their demands for reform and Soviet withdrawal read out on state-controlled radio, Nagy was the man the people called for.

Yet Nagy, whose bushy moustache and round spectacles made him look more like a greengrocer than a revolutionary leader, was not ready to take on the mantle.

On the first night of the uprising, he famously misjudged the mood of a crowd of demonstrators outside Parliament, referring to them as "Comrades." A chorus of boos greeted his error.

He then asked the 200,000 people to go home and leave it all to the party, something that went down equally badly.

Historians have said that this speech was indicative of the fact that the uprising led Nagy rather than the other way round.

Bela Kiraly, the man who commanded the Hungarian National Guard in 1956 and the last survivor of the elite uprising leaders, acknowledges this but feels that Nagy came good.

"Nagy was a little bit behind the revolution," he told Deutsche Presse Agentur dpa. "But seeing the cruelty, he went along with more than he would have been satisfied with."

The cruelty that Kiraly refers to are the many atrocities committed by secret police and Soviet troops, including a massacre of unarmed protestors outside parliament on October 25.

Nagy, still a firm believer in the communist state, wanted to keep Hungary a one-party system, but he had little choice but to bend to the will of the people and announce a multi-party democracy.

According to Kiraly, it was this decision that convinced Moscow to intervene, and Nagy must have known that while taking, it would sting Moscow even more.

However, once the decision was made there was no going back, and according to Kiraly this is when Nagy first began to show his mettle.

"He saw the nation united after the multi-party system," Kiraly said. "He did all he could. Once the decision was made that we would be destroyed; we would be destroyed."

While Nagy could clearly do little to prevent what was to come, he still trusted in Moscow, however.

Moscow's envoy to Budapest continually assured Nagy that the Soviet Union was ready to let Hungary go, and Nagy continued to believe him until the very last minute, refusing to authorize Hungarian troops to fire on advancing Soviet tanks.

As the tanks approached Parliament on November 4, Nagy was confronted by the reality and fled. However, he still put his faith in communism and took refuge in the Yugoslav Embassy.

However, Yugoslav leader Tito and Krushchev had already cut a deal, and Yugoslav complicity allowed the Soviets to kidnap Nagy and his entourage.

Nagy showed most bravery during his captivity and trial and when he was sentenced to hang, he refused to plead for mercy.

His last statement to the court showed him to be a man of honour and principle who, despite all that the Soviet Union had done, still believed in communism.

"I have twice tried to save the honour and image of communism," he said. "If my life is needed to prove that not all communists are enemies of the people, I gladly make the sacrifice."

He may have been out of touch with the people and he may have made many mistakes, but there can be no doubt that Nagy's bravery ensures his rightful place as one of the uprising's greatest heroes.

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency