Central Workers' Council of Greater Budapest
대부다페스트 중앙노동자평의회
A body formed on 14 November 1956, after Soviet troops had crushed the Hungarian Revolution, by delegates of the Budapest factory workers' councils. It claimed the right to negotiate with the Kádár government in the name of the workers of all Budapest plants and to order strikes and the resumption of work. Declaring that it would defend the means of production as social property, it demanded Imre Nagy's return, the withdrawal of Soviet troops, an end to the one-party system and free elections. Through general strikes it acted for a time as a real counter-power, but in December its leaders were arrested and the government ordered its dissolution.
In depth
The workers' council movement
During the 1956 revolution workers' councils sprang up in Hungarian factories, replacing the organisations directed from above by the Hungarian Working People's Party. The first was formed on 24 October at the United Incandescent Lamp works in Újpest, Budapest. When Soviet troops launched their general assault on 4 November the councils took part in armed resistance, and working-class districts such as Csepel resisted strongly. After the suppression, when other forms of resistance had become impossible, the councils took on a political role. According to Sándor Rácz, a district meeting on 8 November agreed that "until now we did not interfere in politics because we trusted Imre Nagy" but that the councils now had to play an active role.
The resolution of 14 November
On the proposal of Sándor Bali, the Central Workers' Council of Greater Budapest was formed on 14 November "on the basis of an initiative from below". Its founding resolution declared that it stood strictly on the principles of socialism, regarded the units of production as social property and was ready to fight to defend them. It demanded that Imre Nagy, who enjoyed the people's trust, head the government; that members of the State Protection Authority (ÁVH) not be taken into the new security forces; that Soviet troops be withdrawn as soon as possible; that the one-party system be abolished and only parties standing on the ground of socialism be allowed; and that free elections be held within a short time and all parties withdrawn from the factories. Until it received an answer it would run only the plants needed to supply the population. From 16 November its chairman was Sándor Rácz of the Beloiannisz factory.
Confrontation with the Kádár government
The council was a very awkward opponent for Kádár's Revolutionary Worker-Peasant Government: its very existence showed that power stood apart from the workers, and where councils existed the communist party organisations could not re-form. It called a 48-hour general strike and demanded Nagy's release; according to Rácz, Antal Apró offered it three ministerial posts, which it refused. The founding of a National Workers' Council on 21 November was prevented with tanks. On 11 December Kádár invited Rácz and Bali to Parliament for talks and had them arrested, and the government dissolved the council. In August 1957 the Politburo of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party decided to abolish all workers' councils. In 1958 Rácz was sentenced to life imprisonment and Bali to twelve years; both were freed in the 1963 amnesty. The councils' political role has been compared with that of Polish Solidarity.