Chapter 2 - Resurrection: The Emergence of 1919 and the Counterrevolution after 1956

Summary

Having succeeded the suppression of the revolution in October 1956, the first time that the new Communist regime evoked the events of 1919 was likely in the 21 November issue of the Népszabadság (People's freedom), the party's official daily. That day the editors published a letter, which had allegedly been sent to the government by an old worker. The author of this letter first gives an account of his life spent within the labour movement since 1917. The worker writes about his sufferings and privation during the previous regime, then recalls the happy years following the end of the war. The author then condemns the pre-1956 Communist leadership for distancing itself from the workers and their real life. He concludes that although the behaviour of the party elite contributed to the outburst of the rightful discontent in late October 1956, this was very soon appropriated by the ‘bloody counterrevolution’. However, considering the fact that the worker's memories reflect the ideal Communist interpretation of history as well as the official depiction of the revolt in 1956 taking shape at that time, it is very probable that the ‘old worker’ is an editorial invention. ‘He’ creates a remarkable historical parallel when he reminds his comrades of the peril: ‘Remember the bloody and cruel counterrevolution of 1919. Remember how many thousands and thousands of our innocent fellow workers and comrades met their death as martyrs, how many widows and orphans mourned their breadwinners and over many years how madly we were persecuted.