1956 1.11: Gone But Nagy Forgotten

When Diplomacy Fails Podcast

Zack Twamley

19th Century, 20th Century, International Relations, Politics, Thirty Years' War, Korean War, 18th Century, First World War, Phd, 17th Century, European History, History, War

4.8 • 773 Ratings

🗓️ 15 February 2024

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

1956 Episode 1.11 looks at what happened when Moscow decided it’d be a good idea to force Rakosi, the avowed Stalinist, to share power with Imre Nagy, his opposite in almost every respect.

Rakosi wished to maintain the status quo even as his favourite weapons like the secret police were taken away, yet Nagy recognised and appreciated from an early stage that much would have to change. Hungary couldn’t continue on in the manner of a repressed, unhappy vassal, especially if Moscow wished to guarantee the support of all Hungarian people. Nagy proposed limited reforms, but after 1953 it began to become apparent that with Stalin gone and Pandora’s Box opened, it was immensely difficult to keep that box closed.

Every concession granted to the Hungarians provoked calls for greater concessions – every bit of freedom given permitted Hungarians to become braver and more willing to question the apparatus which held them low. Every time Nagy said yes, the Hungarian people seemed to say more, and Rakosi tattled on him to the Soviet leadership. Since this Soviet leadership was undergoing great changes of its own at this stage – as Khrushchev attempted to manoeuvre his way past his rivals – the signals from Moscow were not always clear. Yet after a year it became largely certain that Nagy was on borrowed time.

As we’ll discover in this episode though, while Nagy hadn't done enough to ensure he remained in power, he had done enough to ensure that the Hungarian people did not forget him once he was removed. In a sea of sycophants, the courageous but otherwise bland Nagy stood out, and soon it was his name and his principles, regardless of his political persuasions, that positioned Nagy atop another pole – that of the public affections. As we’ll come to appreciate, this position was to be both a blessing and a fatal curse for Imre Nagy...

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome History Friends patrons all to episode 1.11 of 1956.
0:29.4	Last time we saw how Matt Yash Rakoshi, otherwise known as asshead, watched his bubble burst as the death of Stalin punctured the carefully pumped balloon
0:39.0	of the wise leader, guiding his fortunate people to enlightenment.
0:43.2	With the image severely tarnished and Rakushi forced to share power with the courageous,
0:47.8	but otherwise unremarkable Imre Naj, the stage looked set in 1953 for a great transformation in the People's Republic
0:56.7	of Hungary, even before the famous de-Stalinization speech, so altered matters three years later.
1:03.3	In this episode, we run through those interim years and explain what was tried, what worked
1:08.6	and what didn't, and then see how, just as Rakushi began to believe he had a handle on things again, the old status quo was shattered by the secret speech.
1:17.7	It's a fascinating story, history friend, and I'm very happy to have you with me for it, so let's get into it as we go to summer 1956.
1:32.4	Thank you. Get into it as we go to summer, 1956. I'm Ray Naj, as ever, had an important job to do.
1:36.8	One would be justified in asking why Moscow decided the time was right in 1953, to pluck
1:42.6	Naj out of the semi-retirement he had grown accustomed to,
1:46.5	and to plunk him atop Hungary's greasy pole, balancing unsteadily with Rakhushy's monopolization
1:52.4	on power. Well, to begin with, Imre Nage wasn't a Jew, which struck the Kremlin leaders
1:58.5	as something of a breath of fresh air for Hungary,
2:01.3	yet this latent anti-Semitism wasn't the only motivating factor.
2:05.6	Nodge had a reputation as an honest man, as the historian Victor Sebastian noted,
2:10.6	and he could be relied upon this to follow through with the destalinization reforms in Hungary
2:15.3	before such an approach became official policy from
2:18.4	1956. Yet because Najd demonstrated an independent mindset in the past, particularly in regard for
2:26.0	pushing for handing land to the peasantry instead of just collectivising everything, he couldn't
2:31.6	be totally trusted to sycophantically tow the line at every
	...

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