View source for Hungarian Working People's Party

{{Short description|Ruling party of Hungary from 1948 to 1956}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2009}}
{{Infobox political party
| leader1_title    = First leader
| leader1_name     = [[Mátyás Rákosi]]
| leader2_title    = Last leader
| leader2_name     = [[János Kádár]]
| name             = Hungarian Working People's Party
| native_name      = {{Nobold|{{Lang|hu|Magyar Dolgozók Pártja}}}}
| colorcode        = {{party color|Hungarian Working People's Party}}
| logo             = Logo of the Hungarian Working People's Party.svg
| foundation       = 12 June 1948
| dissolution      = 31 October 1956
| merger           = [[Hungarian Communist Party|MKP]]<br />[[Social Democratic Party of Hungary|MSZDP]]
| successor        = [[Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party|MSZMP]]
| youth_wing       = [[Union of Working Youth]]
| ideology         = {{ubl|[[Communism]]|[[Marxism–Leninism]]{{efn|The party was committed to Marxism–Leninism throughout its existence, with [[Stalinism]] exerted as the dominant form of Marxism–Leninism [[Hungarian revolution of 1956|until 18 July 1956]].}}}}
| international    = [[Cominform]] (1948–1956)
| country          = Hungary
| newspaper        = ''[[Szabad Nép]]''
| national         = [[Patriotic People's Front]]
| flag             = Flag of the Hungarian Working People's Party.svg
| footnotes        = {{notelist}}
}}

The '''Hungarian Working People's Party''' ({{Langx|hu|Magyar Dolgozók Pártja}}, {{IPA|hu|ˈmɒɟɒr ˈdolɡozoːk ˈpaːrcɒ|pron}}, abbr. '''MDP''') was the ruling [[communist party]] of [[Hungarian People's Republic|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. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=j2PmEIYMsHUC 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 Protection Authority|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|thumb|right|Unification congress poster|200px]]

==Leaders of the Hungarian Working People's Party==

===General/First Secretaries===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan=2| {{Abbr|No.|Number}}
! rowspan=2| Portrait
! rowspan=2| Name<br />{{small|(Birth–Death)}}
! colspan=3| Term of office
! rowspan=2| Position(s)
|-
! Took office
! Left office
! Duration
|-
! rowspan=2 style="background:{{party color|Hungarian Working People's Party}}; color:white;"| 1
| rowspan=2| [[File:Rákosi Mátyás portré (cropped).jpg|80px]]
| rowspan=2| [[Mátyás Rákosi]]<br />{{small|(1892–1971)}}
| rowspan=2| 12 June 1948
| rowspan=2| 18 July 1956
| rowspan=2| {{ayd|1948|6|12|1956|7|18}}
| General Secretary
|-
| rowspan=3| First Secretary (from 28 June 1953)
|-
! style="background:{{party color|Hungarian Working People's Party}}; color:white;"| 2
| [[File:Enro Gero (Hongarije), Bestanddeelnr 914-2279 (cropped).jpg|80px]]
| [[Ernő Gerő]]<br />{{small|(1898–1980)}}
| 18 July 1956
| 25 October 1956
| {{ayd|1956|7|18|1956|10|25}}
|-
! style="background:{{party color|Hungarian Working People's Party}}; color:white;"| 3
| [[File:János Kádár (fototeca.iiccr.ro).jpg|80px]]
| [[János Kádár]]<br />{{small|(1912–1989)}}
| 25 October 1956
| 31 October 1956
| {{ayd|1956|10|25|1956|10|31}}
|}

===Chairman===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan=2| {{Abbr|No.|Number}}
! rowspan=2| Portrait
! rowspan=2| Name<br />{{small|(Birth–Death)}}
! colspan=3| Term of office
! rowspan=2| Position(s)
|-
! Took office
! Left office
! Duration
|-
! style="background:{{party color|Hungarian Working People's Party}}; color:white;"| 1
| [[File:Szakasits Árpád 1949.jpg|80px]] 
| [[Árpád Szakasits]]<br />{{small|(1888–1965)}}
| 12 June 1948
| 24 April 1950
| {{ayd|1948|6|12|1950|4|24}}
| Also [[President of Hungary|President]] (1948–1949) and Chairman of the [[Presidential Council of the Hungarian People's Republic|Presidential Council]] (1949–1950) 
|}

==Electoral history==

===National Assembly elections===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
!Election
!Party leader
!Votes
!%
!Seats
!+/–
!Position
!Government
|-
|[[1949 Hungarian parliamentary election|1949]]
|rowspan=2|[[Mátyás Rákosi]]
|colspan=2 rowspan=2|{{Small|as part of [[Patriotic People's Front]]}}
|{{Composition bar|285|402|hex={{party color|Hungarian Working People's Party}}}}
|{{increase}} 285
|{{increase}} 1st
|{{yes2|In government}}
|-
|[[1953 Hungarian parliamentary election|1953]]
|{{Composition bar|206|298|hex={{party color|Hungarian Working People's Party}}}}
|{{decrease}} 79
|{{steady}} 1st
|{{yes2|Sole legal party}}
|}

==See also==
* [[History of Hungary]]
* [[Politics of Hungary]]
* [[List of political parties in Hungary]]
* [[Eastern Bloc politics]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Eastern Bloc parties}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1948 establishments in Hungary]]
[[Category:1956 disestablishments in Hungary]]
[[Category:Communist parties in Hungary]]
[[Category:Defunct political parties in Hungary]]
[[Category:Eastern Bloc]]
[[Category:Hungarian People's Republic]]
[[Category:Hungarian Revolution of 1956]]
[[Category:Parties of one-party systems]]
[[Category:Political parties disestablished in 1956]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1948]]
[[Category:Formerly ruling communist parties]]
[[Category:Social Democratic Party of Hungary]]