Who was Imre Nagy?
Imre Nagy was born on 6 July 1896 in Kaposvár to a peasant family. Captured on the Russian front in the First World War, he joined the Bolsheviks in 1918 and lived in the Soviet Union from 1930. Back in Hungary at the end of 1944, he directed the 1945 land reform. After Stalin's death he became prime minister in 1953 but was removed in 1955 and expelled from the party. During the October 1956 uprising he returned as prime minister. Soviet forces crushed the revolt in early November, and he was executed in June 1958 after a secret trial.
Political views
- Directed the 1945 land reform as agriculture minister, which made him very popular with peasants.Source: encyclopedia.com
- As prime minister in 1953 he let peasants leave cooperatives, ended deportations, gave farmers tax relief and easier credit, and announced political liberalization.Source: encyclopedia.com
- Considered giving Hungary neutral status on the Austrian pattern in 1955, after Rakosi had him discredited and removed from office.Source: newworldencyclopedia.org
- On 27 October 1956 called the uprising a broad democratic mass movement and formed a government that included non-communists.Source: newworldencyclopedia.org
- His government abolished the ÁVH and the one-party system, and editorials stressed a neutral, multiparty social democracy.Source: newworldencyclopedia.org
- On 1 November 1956 the cabinet declared neutrality, withdrew from the Warsaw Pact and appealed to UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld.Source: newworldencyclopedia.org
- Broadcast at 5:20 on 4 November that Soviet forces were attacking Budapest and that the government remained at its post.Source: newworldencyclopedia.org
Legacy
Admirers in Hungary see Nagy as a martyr of the 1956 revolution who chose to side with the people rather than repress them, and he was reburied with full honors after the communist system fell. His land reform and New Course also won him lasting respect among peasants. Critics note he was a loyal party reformer for decades and had lived in the Soviet Union since 1930, and one reference work says he had only modest political skills. He was lured out of the Yugoslav embassy, taken to Romania, secretly tried and executed in June 1958 with Pal Maleter and Miklos Gimes, and the bodies were placed in unmarked graves.