Hungarian Working People's Party
헝가리 노동인민당
The ruling party of Hungary from 1948 to 1956 (Magyar Dolgozók Pártja, MDP), formed when the Hungarian Communist Party absorbed the Social Democrats. Under Mátyás Rákosi it built one-party rule and Stalinist industrialization and collectivization. Rebuked by the Soviet leadership in June 1953, it abolished the post of general secretary, separated party leadership from the premiership and adopted Imre Nagy's New Course, but the struggle between Rákosi and Nagy lasted until 1956. During the 1956 revolution it was reorganized as the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party.
In depth
A merged party and one-party rule
The Hungarian Working People's Party was formed in 1948 by merging the Hungarian Communist Party (MKP) and the Social Democratic Party (MSZDP). The merger came under heavy pressure from the Communists and the Soviet Union and was almost entirely on Communist terms; the few independent-minded Social Democrats who had survived the salami tactics were soon pushed out, leaving the MDP essentially the Communist Party under a new name. Other legal parties remained coalition partners until late 1949, completely subordinate to it.
Real power was concentrated in very few hands. The Central Leadership resolution of June 1953 itself admitted that the leadership had been "clique-like and concentrated into the hands of just four comrades—Comrades Rákosi, Gerő, Farkas and Révai." The party had expropriated the functions of the state, turning the Council of Ministers into a projection of the party leadership, and the posts of general secretary and prime minister were united in Rákosi.
June 1953: the rebuke from Moscow
After Stalin's death the Soviet leadership summoned eight Hungarian leaders, Rákosi among them, to the Kremlin on 13–16 June 1953 and condemned forced industrialization, collectivization, mass repression and Rákosi's personal concentration of power. On 27–28 June the Central Leadership accordingly abolished the title of general secretary, created a smaller Political Committee with the Secretariat subordinate to it, and separated the posts of party leader and prime minister. Mihály Farkas and József Révai were among those dropped from the new Political Committee; Rákosi stayed on as first secretary and Imre Nagy became prime minister. The resolution was not published; at Moscow's request the new direction was announced in Parliament on 4 July as Nagy's government programme.
The new Political Committee and Secretariat, however, were filled mainly with young cadres whom Rákosi and Gerő had promoted in 1951–3. After Beria's fall Rákosi used the Political Committee to slow the New Course, and the dual structure of Nagy heading the government and Rákosi holding the party lasted until Nagy's fall in 1955.
Dissolution
After Rákosi the party was led for three months in 1956 by Ernő Gerő. During the revolution a circle of communists around János Kádár and Imre Nagy reorganized it as the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (MSZMP).