The reformist Politburo member who called 1956 a 'popular uprising' and dismantled his own party's orthodoxy
In West Berlin he said the East German 'anti-fascist protective rampart' was a 'disgrace' that had to come down.
A reformist member of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (MSZMP) Politburo and the ideological patron of the reformers. On 28 January 1989 he told radio listeners that the 1956 Hungarian Revolution was a 'popular uprising,' demolishing the party's foundational lie; in May that year, in West Berlin, he called the Berlin Wall a 'disgrace.' Together with Otto von Habsburg he sponsored the Pan-European Picnic in August 1989, opening the first crack in the Iron Curtain, and later stood as the Socialist Party's presidential candidate but was defeated.
Activities and affiliations
- 1965–1982 Ideology and propaganda · Hungary
- 1976–1990 Government and administration · Hungary
Career Timeline
- 1950Joined the Hungarian Working People's Party
- 1957–1969Agitprop head and secretary, Bács-Kiskun County committee
- 1976–1980Minister of Culture
- 1980–1982Minister of Education
- 1982–1988Secretary-General, Patriotic People's Front
- 1988–1989MSZMP Politburo member and Minister of State
- 1989.01Declared the 1956 Revolution a 'popular uprising'
- 1990MSZP Deputy President and presidential candidate; defeated
Related historical events
The National Round Table and the political transition
From June to September 1989, Pozsgay led the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party (MSZMP) delegation in the National Round Table negotiations with opposition organizations. The talks established a legal framework for the peaceful transition from one-party rule to a multiparty parliamentary democracy. At the second plenary session on 21 June, speaking for the MSZMP, Pozsgay said it accepted free elections expressing citizens’ will through competition among parties. The negotiations involved 1,302 representatives and experts from three sides. The constitutional changes they recommended removed the clause assigning a leading role to the Marxist-Leninist party of the working class and introduced a multiparty system. The talks ended on 18 September; under the amended constitution, Hungary was proclaimed a republic rather than a people’s republic on 23 October.