Hungarian Working People's Party

The Hungarian Working People's Party (Template:Langx, Template:IPA, abbr. MDP) was the ruling communist party of Hungary from 1948 to 1956.

It was formed by a merger of the Hungarian Communist Party (MKP) and the Social Democratic Party of Hungary (MSZDP).<ref>Neubauer, John, and Borbála Zsuzsanna Török. The Exile and Return of Writers from East-Central Europe: A Compendium. New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2009. p. 140</ref> Ostensibly a union of equals, the merger had actually occurred as a result of massive pressure brought to bear on the Social Democrats by both the Hungarian Communists, as well as the Soviet Union. The few independent-minded Social Democrats who had not been sidelined by Communist salami tactics were pushed out in short order after the merger, leaving the party as essentially the MKP under a new name.

Other minor legal Hungarian political parties were allowed to continue as independent coalition parties until late 1949 but were completely subservient to the MDP.

Its leader was Mátyás Rákosi until 1956, then Ernő Gerő in the same year for three months, and eventually János Kádár until the party's dissolution.

During the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, the party was reorganized into the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (MSZMP) by a circle of communists around Kádár and Imre Nagy. The new government of Nagy declared to assess the uprising not as counter-revolutionary but as a "great, national and democratic event" and to dissolve State Security Police (ÁVH). Hungary's declaration to become neutral and to exit the Warsaw Pact caused the second Soviet intervention on 4 November 1956. After 8 November 1956, the MSZMP, under Kádár's leadership, fully supported the Soviet Union.

File:Mkp-sdunificationcongress.jpg

Unification congress poster

Leaders of the Hungarian Working People's Party

General/First Secretaries

Template:Abbr	Portrait	Name Template:Small	Term of office			Position(s)
			Took office	Left office	Duration
rowspan=2 style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 1		Mátyás Rákosi Template:Small	12 June 1948	18 July 1956	Template:Ayd	General Secretary
First Secretary (from 28 June 1953)
	style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 2		Ernő Gerő Template:Small	18 July 1956	25 October 1956	Template:Ayd
	style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 3		János Kádár Template:Small	25 October 1956	31 October 1956	Template:Ayd

Chairman

Template:Abbr	Portrait	Name Template:Small	Term of office			Position(s)
			Took office	Left office	Duration
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 1		Árpád Szakasits Template:Small	12 June 1948	24 April 1950	Template:Ayd	Also President (1948–1949) and Chairman of the Presidential Council (1949–1950)

Electoral history

National Assembly elections

Election	Party leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Position	Government
1949	Mátyás Rákosi	Template:Small		Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 285	Template:Increase 1st	Template:Yes2
1953				Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 79	Template:Steady 1st	Template:Yes2

See also

• History of Hungary
• Politics of Hungary
• List of political parties in Hungary
• Eastern Bloc politics