Hungary's last Stalinist First Secretary; his three months in power ignited the revolution
On the night of October 23, 1956, Gerő took to the radio and denounced the student demonstration: 'We condemn those who seek to instil in our youth the poison of chauvinism.'
A central figure of Hungarian communism, he joined the party at its founding in 1918 and served in the 1919 Soviet Republic. As a Comintern operative and NKVD agent, he worked across Europe in France, Belgium, and Scandinavia, and during the Spanish Civil War he directed the purge of Trotskyists, earning the epithet 'the Butcher of Barcelona.' After WWII he became Rákosi's right hand, driving the Stalinization of Hungary's economy through crash industrialization and collectivization. Appointed First Secretary in July 1956 after Rákosi's forced resignation, he refused reform; on the evening of October 23 his radio broadcast denouncing student demonstrators as 'fascists' and 'chauvinists' detonated the Hungarian Revolution, and within forty-eight hours he was replaced by János Kádár and fled to the Soviet Union.
Career Timeline
- 1918–19Founding member of the KPV; Young Communists activist in the Hungarian Soviet Republic
- 1925–36Comintern and NKVD operative: France, Belgium, Scandinavia, and elsewhere
- 1936–39Spanish Civil War: led the PSUC behind the scenes; directed the purge of POUM Trotskyists
- 1940–44Moscow exile: co-led the KPV Foreign Bureau with Rákosi; propaganda to POWs and enemy forces
- 1945–48Member of the High National Council; Minister of Trade and Transport
- 1948–53MDP Politburo member and Deputy General Secretary; Finance Minister: drove economic Stalinization
- 1953–56.07Interior Minister and Deputy Premier; July 1956: MDP First Secretary
- 1956–80Resigned Oct 25, fled to USSR; returned 1960, expelled 1962, died in seclusion
Related historical events
- 1956.02The Twentieth Party Congress and the Secret SpeechRákosi's successor in summer 1956, First Secretary on the eve of revolutionAppointed to succeed Rákosi in July 1956, but his radio address on the night of 23 October denouncing the demonstrators turned a peaceful protest into an armed uprising.
- 1956The Hungarian RevolutionRákosi's successor whose speech triggered the uprisingBecame first secretary after Rákosi, but his 23 Oct radio speech denouncing protesters amplified the fury. Dismissed on 25 Oct under Soviet pressure.