Intersecting Lives - Imre Nagy and János Kádár in 1956

Rainer, János M. (2006) Intersecting Lives - Imre Nagy and János Kádár in 1956. Hungarian Studies, 20 (2). pp. 199-207. ISSN 0236-6568

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Abstract

The aim of this paper is not to provide a biographical sketch of the two politicians. There is no doubt that the two persons shaped, in one way or another, the history of Hungary in the second half of the short twentieth century. Though they had worked together in the leadership of the Hungarian Communist Party from late 1944 until the early 1950s (when Kádár was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment during the purges), though Kádár had been released during Nagy’s first period of office as Prime Minister, and though they were both focal points of opposition (if very different ones) during the thaw, during the spring of 1956 – their personal and political encounter occurred during the ’56 Revolution. This encounter was an attempt to harmonize two different sets of political values – radical and moderate anti-Stalinism, a reform communism of principle and one of praxis. Finally, their divergent perspectives elicited a conflict in which Nagy was defeated, while Kádár’s practical approach prevailed only after a short period of re-Stalinization. What follows deals first with the previous history of how the two systems of political values developed. Then comes an account of the moment when their lives crossed, their point of intersection in 1956.

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