Title:
Hungary ’56
Subtitle:
Ideology destroyed, the proletariat armed
Date:
1979
Notes:
Fifth Estate #296, January 29, 1979
Part of:
Fifth Estate 296, January 29, 1979
Fifth Estate Collective
Hungary ’56
Ideology destroyed, the proletariat armed
Thirteen years ago the Hungarian people, led by the Budapest working class, launched an attack on the ruling police state. In the process, the despotism of the state was briefly eliminated and councils of workers emerged, signaling a dramatic break with the old life and posed a genuine alternative for the future. This spark of revolution was crushed only by the intervention of Russian tanks and after weeks of heroic resistance. Those moments in 1956 exist not as memories of defeat, but as a beacon for what is possible.