Architect of 'goulash communism', enforcer of the 1956 reprisals
"Whoever is not against us is with us" (1961)
Born illegitimate in Fiume (now Rijeka), registered in Italian as Giovanni Giuseppe Czermanek, and took his mother Borbála Csermanek's surname. He began a typewriter-mechanic apprenticeship in 1927 and qualified as a journeyman in 1929. Joining the illegal KIMSZ and party in 1931, he did underground work and served prison terms. As Interior Minister (1948–50) he backed the Stalinist line and was involved in László Rajk's purge; arrested in 1951, sentenced to life in 1952 and released in 1954. First Secretary from 25 October 1956, he crossed to the Soviet side on 1 November, accepted the intervention, proclaimed a new government at Szolnok on the 4th and approved Imre Nagy's execution; hundreds were executed and tens of thousands imprisoned. In 1961 he launched 'whoever is not against us is with us', opening amnesty and reform. He resigned in 1988 and died in Budapest in 1989.
Career timeline
- 1931Joined illegal KPV and Communist youth league; underground work
- 1933–34Arrested, two-year term; met Rákosi in Szeged maximum-security prison
- 1942–44KPV CC member and secretary; co-founded antifascist Hungarian Front
- 1948–50Interior Minister — involved in Rajk's arrest; later demoted
- 1951–54Arrested as 'Titoist,' life sentence; freed July 1954
- 1956.10–11Minister in Nagy cabinet → negotiated with USSR, formed new government
- 1956–88MSZMP General Secretary — de facto leader of Hungary for 32 years
- 1956–58, 61–65Prime Minister (two terms) — reform, amnesty, 'goulash communism'
A party leader who pushed market reform within socialism
In the 1989 Moscow talks, he defined the party’s aim as “democratic socialism, self-government, parliamentary democracy, and economic democracy.”
Rezső Nyers was a Hungarian economist and socialist-bloc reform politician who sought to combine social control with greater efficiency by reshaping the planned economy. After leading the 1968 New Economic Mechanism, he lost influence as orthodox forces halted the reforms, but returned to the center of politics during the transition of 1989. Elected chairman of the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party in June 1989, he led its four-member collective presidency and became the founding chairman of the Hungarian Socialist Party in October. His career captures the tension of trying to democratize socialism and introduce market mechanisms as the ruling party dissolved into a multiparty order.
Career timeline
- 1940Joined the Social Democratic Party of Hungary
- 1956Minister of Food Industry
- 1960–1962Minister of Finance
- 1968Architect of the New Economic Mechanism reform
- 1974–1981Director and later scientific adviser, Institute of Economics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
- 1987–1988Chairman of the parliamentary Reform Committee; Minister of State
- 1989Chairman of the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party; founding chairman of the Hungarian Socialist Party
Hungary's last old-guard party chief, caught between reform and retreat and overtaken by both
"If not, anarchy, chaos and — let there be no illusion — white terror will prevail" (29 Nov 1988)
Born to a working-class family in Miskolc, he joined the party at 14 and climbed steadily through the agitprop and regional apparatus to succeed János Kádár as General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party in May 1988. Championing 'model change' (gradual reform within the communist framework), he soon revealed his limits: his November 1988 speech warning of 'white terror' showed a leader who misread the tempo of transformation entirely. The following year he was sidelined by the radical reform faction of Miklós Németh; after the party reconstituted as the Hungarian Socialist Party, he led its rump hardline successor but failed to win any seat in the 1990 election.
Career timeline
- 1945Joined Hungarian Communist Party at age 14
- 1954–56Head of Agitprop, Borsod county party committee
- 1974–79Head of HSWP Central Committee Agitprop Department
- 1984–87First Secretary, Budapest Party Committee
- 1985–89Member, HSWP Politburo
- 1987.6–1988.11Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister)
- 1988.5–1989.10HSWP General Secretary, succeeded Kádár
- 1989.12–1990Acting chairman of refounded HSWP; lost 1990 election
