1956 – Martyred PM Imre Nagy hero of ‘progressive left’, say Socialists

Budapest, October 23 (MTI) – Hungary’s right wants to re-write the history of 1956, the leader of the opposition Socialist party said at commemorations of the anti-Soviet uprising on Sunday.

Hungary’s “progressive left” looks upon Imre Nagy as their “biggest hero”, Gyula Molnár said. The notions of 1956 on ending oppression, creating freedom of speech and press and stopping Russian influence on Hungarian domestic policies are again timely, Molnar said at an event held on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the October 23 revolution by the Imre Nagy memorial house in Budapest.

Imre Nagy, a former communist prime minister, had the courage to take Hungary onto the path of freedom and democracy, Molnár said. The most important message of the martyred prime minister was that “a dictatorship should not be reformed, but changed,” he said. One of the “most beautiful messages of 1956 was that then a real national bloc was created, uniting people for freedom and democracy”, he said. In contrast, today 3.2 million voters are being declared the “new national bloc”, which means that ruling Fidesz is the “party of the new minority”, he added referring to the turnout at Hungary’s recent referendum on migrant quotas. The majority in Hungary today wants freedom of the press and adequate health-care services and education for all, while helping those in need and creating jobs with sufficient income to live on, Molnár said.