Soviet troops cross the Hungarian border from Romania at dawn. The intervention is led by Colonel-General Lelyushenko. The proclamation by the Soviet-sponsored ‘Hungarian Revolutionary Workers’ and Peasants’ Government’ <Kádár government> is broadcast by Uzhgorod (Uzhkhorod, Ungvár) Radio.
4.15 a.m.: The Soviet troops launch a general attack. Guards Major-General K. Grebennik attacks Budapest with five divisions. Imre Nagy does not issue an order to resist.
5.20 a.m.: A short statement appealing for assistance, by Imre Nagy, is broadcast for the first time. It is repeated several times, in English, French, German, Russian, Czech and Polish as well.
6–8 a.m.: Members of the Nagy government take refuge in the Yugoslav Embassy. Mindszenty is given asylum in the US Embassy. István Bibó is the only member of the Hungarian government remaining in the Parliament building. The Soviets occupy the Defence and Interior ministries and surround Parliament.
7–8 a.m.: National-guard units in the Jutadomb area (20th District) force the Soviet convoy carrying the captured Hungarian negotiators to turn back. Eventually, Maléter and his associates have to be taken from Tököl to Mátyásföld (16th District) by helicopter.
7.57 a.m.: The appeal by the Writers’ Union for assistance is broadcast in Hungarian, English, German and Russian.
The national guard puts up resistance to the attack in Széna tér (2nd District), at the Royal Hotel (6th District), in Blaha Lujza tér (8th District), Garai utca (7th District), Thököly út (14th District), Budaörsi út (11th District), Kispest (19th District), Pestlőrinc (Pestszentlőrinc, 18th District), Soroksár and Pesterzsébet (20th District), Tűzoltó utca (9th District) and Nagyvárad tér (8th and 9th districts), at the Southern Railway Station (1st District) and in Csepel (21st District). The Corvin köz group fight heavy battles in Üllői út, Práter utca and Kisfaludy utca (8th District). The Soviets and the national guard suffer heavy casualties. Several hundred Hungarian citizens are deported to the Soviet Union.
The Soviets occupy Békéscsaba, Debrecen, Győr, Kecskemét, Miskolc, Pécs, Székesfehérvár, Szolnok and Szombathely, after meeting varying degrees of resistance. They surround Dorog, Esztergom, Oroszlány and Tatabánya.
János Kádár and Ferenc Münnich are flown from Moscow to Szolnok by military plane.
In New York, a meeting of the UN Security Council is called in response to the news of the Soviet intervention.
The Soviets occupy the Radio building. Resistance continues in Thököly út (14th District), Zalka Máté tér (Liget tér, 10th District), around Lehel út (13th District), and in the 2nd, 3rd, 9th, 13th and 21st districts. A Soviet attack on Corvin köz begins at 1 p.m.
There is fighting in Komló, Pécs and Veszprém. The Rákóczi free radio station begins broadcasting from Dunapentele (Sztálinváros, Dunaújváros). The Soviets enter Tatabánya.
The puppet Hungarian Revolutionary Workers’ and Peasants’ Government <Kádár government> in Szolnok appeals for help from the other socialist countries. The Soviet Union sends a message offering help.
Several thousand people in Cracow protest against the Soviet intervention.
The Soviets break the resistance in Széna tér (2nd District), Gellérthegy (1st and 11th districts) and Óbuda (3rd District). Almost 300 members of the Corvin köz group set out towards the Austrian border. The strength of the Hungarian resistance decreases sharply, but the rebels in Móricz Zsigmond körtér (11th District), Thököly út (14th District) and Corvin köz defend their positions. Several hundred resisters in the Buda Castle district, armed with heavy weapons, also fight on. A Soviet plane is shot down over Csepel (21st District). The Soviets, at negotiations held at the Kossuth Academy, demand unconditional surrender, which the national guards refuse to accept.
Soviet troops in the Mecsek Hills attack the rearguard of the national guards retreating to Vágot-puszta.
The Soviet convoy carrying Kádár leaves from Szolnok for Budapest in the late evening.
The Soviet armoured cars carrying Kádár and several members of his government arrive at Parliament. The Kádár government takes the oath of office in the afternoon (However, the lawful Nagy government has not resigned.) The Kádár government restores the state administration applying before October 23. The operation of the revolutionary soldiers’ councils is banned and the revolutionary committees are deprived of their right to act. November 7 is declared a working day, although it is the anniversary of the Russian Revolution of 1917. The requirement to teach Russian in schools is lifted. The ÁVH is disbanded.
Some 300 national guards in the Buda Castle district retreat into the National Archives building. The Soviets attack them with tanks and heavy artillery.
Communists among the rebels of Tűzoltó utca (9th District) hang out the Hungarian and Red flags for November 7. The Soviets attack with increased force. Resistance continues in Pesthidegkút (2nd District), Baross tér (7th and 8th districts), the 20th District and Csepel (21st District).
Some 300–350 insurrectionists in the Mecsek Hills establish the Vágot-puszta Camp. A strike committee forms at the Sopianae Engineering Works in Pécs.
An attack on Dunapentele (Sztálinváros, Dunaújváros) is launched after a 25–30-minute bombardment. The Soviets use heavy artillery against the Hungarian anti-aircraft batteries. The defences collapse in the late afternoon and the Soviets take the town.
Resistance ceases at the Schmidt Mansion in Óbuda (3rd District), in Kőbánya (10th District) and in Thököly út (14th District). Soviet tanks enter Csepel (21st District).
The Soviets occupy the uranium mines at Kővágószőllős, outside Pécs.
Soviet and Hungarian soldiers engage the rebels defending the customs house at Hegyeshalom. After a short exchange of fire, the outnumbered rebels retreat into Austria.
In New York, the 2nd Special Session of the UN General Assembly continues its debate on the Hungarian question.
The Presidential Council declares the Hungarian Revolutionary Workers’ and Peasants’ Government <Kádár government> to be the highest body of state administration. It also legalizes the Kossuth coat of arms (the Hungarian coat of arms without a crown, introduced in 1849), which had reappeared during the revolution.
Organization of the National Defence Force begins. An Officer’s Declaration is published, requiring unconditional support for the Kádár government. Officers refusing to sign it are dismissed.
Sporadic fighting continues in Széna tér (2nd District) and Vajdahunyad utca (8th District). The Soviets launch a general offensive to recapture Csepel (21st District), with fighter planes and heavy artillery keeping up a steady bombardment.
Rebels from Budapest and Dunapentele (Sztálinváros, Dunaújváros) march through Baja, heading for Yugoslavia.
Soviet artillery bombards the headquarters of the rebels in the Mecsek Hills.
Soviet armoured troops at Tarján fire on a convoy of rebels fleeing from Budapest towards Austria. The Soviets enter Oroszlány. Béla Király and remnants of the national guard prepare to defend themselves at Nagykovácsi.
The Soviets inform Kádár that Imre Nagy and his associates, who have taken refuge in the Yugoslav Embassy, may not leave for Yugoslavia.
The 2nd Special Session of the UN General Assembly passes a further resolution on the situation in Hungary.
The Kádár government announces pay rises of 8–15 per cent and abolishes the tax on childless adults. The First Special Forces Officers Regiment began operating.
Imre Nagy informs Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Ranković in a letter that he is not willing to resign as Hungarian prime minister.
There is sporadic fighting in Budapest.
A government commissioner is appointed to head the Hungarian Red Cross. The International Red Cross resumes aid shipments.
Polish journalists posted in Budapest are expelled.
The Soviet attack forces the Mecsek rebels to fall back to Kisújbánya in the Eastern Mecsek Hills.
Members of the Békés County Revolutionary Council are arrested, which provokes a strike in the Békéscsaba factories. The national guard in Sátoraljaújhely lays down its arms. Soviet forces enter Dorog and Esztergom. The Soviets attack the national-guard units commanded by Béla Király at Nagykovácsi. After resisting for a short time, the rebels retreat westward.
The Kádár government accepts UN aid. A Swiss initiative calls for a conference of the four great powers and India.
The Yugoslav government confirms the right of Imre Nagy and his associates to asylum.
The Provisional Executive Committee of the HSWP hears a report from Kádár on his activity during the revolution. On the same day, he delivers his first radio address since November 4.
The Mecsek rebels consolidate at Kisújbánya. Delegates of the factories and mines in Baranya County endorse a statement condemning the Kádár government and demanding the withdrawal of the Soviet forces.
Tito, in a speech in Pula, describes the events in Hungary as counter-revolutionary and justifies the Soviet intervention by pointing to a danger that socialism would fall. On the other hand, he explains the Yugoslav leadership’s endorsement of the intervention by the force of circumstances.
The Kádár government describes the UN resolutions on Hungary as interference in the country’s internal affairs. The official gazette publishes a decree by the Presidential Council dismissing the Nagy government and recognizing the composition of the Kádár government. The presiding committee of the Writers’ Union addresses an appeal to the nation. The Újpest Revolutionary Workers’ Council calls for the establishment of a central workers’ council. Representatives of the Budapest factories are summoned to a meeting on the following day. The national committee of the students’ federation Mefesz begins to operate in the headquarters of Szot, the trade-union movement, in Dózsa György út (6th District).
The rebels hiding in the Mecsek Hills are attacked by the Soviets. Their numbers have dwindled to about 200. There are sporadic skirmishes in the Sátoraljaújhely district. The workers’ councils in Miskolc and Győr and the iron-industry workers’ council in Mosonmagyaróvár call for a Soviet withdrawal, free and secret elections, and recognition of the Nagy government and the workers’ councils.
The 11th UN General Assembly places the Hungarian question on its agenda. (The debate begins on January 9, 1957.)
The Kádár government issues an order in which it permits the workers’ councils to operate. The underground Hungarian Democratic Independence Movement (MDFM) is established. Soviet troops in Budapest prevent the formation of central workers’ council.
The Soviets capture several rebels in the Mecsek Hills. The strike in Békés County continues after several members of the county revolutionary committee are arrested. Workers’ councils form in the Oroszlány and Tatabánya collieries. Rebels blow up the railway line between Dorog and Leányvár.
The Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council (KMT) is established at a rally at the United Incandescent Lamp Factory (Egyesült Izzó). A KMT delegation negotiates with leaders of the Kádár government in Parliament on the same evening.
The workers’ council at the Ózd waggon works is re-elected. The workers’ councils at the Dorog and Tatabánya Colliery Trust affiliate to the KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council>. The Soviets occupy Salgótarján.
US President Eisenhower also refers briefly to the Hungarian question at a press conference, saying the US would do nothing that would encourage the Hungarians to fight on.
The KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> elects Sándor Rácz as its chairman. Further talks between the KMT and the Kádár government take place in Parliament overnight. The Hungarian Democratic Independence Movement issues its ‘Ten Commandments for Hungarian Rebirth’ and launches an illegal paper, Október Huszonharmadika (October 23). The Csepel workers’ council calls for a return to work.
The Mecsek rebels return to Vágot-puszta. Security-force detachments are sent to the nearby villages of Máza, Szászvár and Magyaregregy. Soviet troops are ordered to Pécsvárad. Further arrests are made in Győr. A mass meeting called in Salgótarján decides on a partial return to work. The oil-industry workers’ councils decide to resume production.
A Polish party and government delegation travels to Moscow. The Soviets make important concessions to the Polish demands for greater freedom from Moscow’s tutelage. The two sides issue a joint declaration of support for the Hungarian Revolutionary Workers’ and Peasants’ Government.
Kádár, at a secret meeting at Leányfalu, agrees to the Soviet request that the Imre Nagy group should be deported to Romania. A Czechoslovak delegation negotiating in Budapest promises to deliver to Hungary goods worth 90 million Czechoslovak crowns. István Angyal, leader of the Tűzoltó utca rebels, is arrested. A strike of journalists begins in Budapest. The KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> issues an appeal for a return to work, while reserving the right to strike. Meanwhile the KMT delegation has further negotiations with Kádár.
The Mecsek rebels start out westward, managing to break through the Soviet encirclement unobserved. Workers’-council delegates in Pécs vote to go back to work. For the second time, the Soviets occupy Salgótarján, so that the Revolutionary Workers’ and Peasants’ Government <Kádár government> can take power. The factories in Karcag hold a two-day strike to protest against the deportations.
The UN secretary-general appoints a Committee of Three to investigate the Hungarian situation.
Kádár calls on the Yugoslavs to hand over Imre Nagy and his associates to the new government. The central HSWP daily Népszabadság (People’s Freedom) appears despite the journalists’ strike. Establishment of the Kádárite Workers’ Militia begins.
An assembly of workers at the Salgótarján steel plant decides to stay out on strike.
The Yugoslav leadership insists on the guarantee given to Nagy and his group, but has no objection to them leaving for Romania. The KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> delegation negotiates with K. Grebennik, the Soviet commander of Budapest. The Kádár government issues a statement denying that there are mass arrests and deportations. According to an article in the Népszabadság, all the demands of the popular uprising on October 23 will be met.
A workers’ council is elected at the Nógrád Colliery Trust.
The Kádár government reaches agreement with the International Red Cross and the Hungarian Red Cross about the distribution of aid consignments.
The leaders of the students’ union at the Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca (Kolozsvár), Romania, are arrested.
Imre Nagy and his associates announce that they do not want to leave the country. The KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> issues a call for the establishment of a national workers’ council. Work resumes at most factories.
The Writers’ Union receives a visit from a Soviet delegation.
Organizations still loyal to the revolution—the KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council>, Peasants’ Association, National Union of Hungarian Journalists (Muosz), Revolutionary Committee of the Hungarian Intelligentsia, Hungarian Union of Fine and Applied Artists, Hungarian Musicians’ Union and Writers’ Union—address a letter to the Indian prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. They call on him to intervene on Hungary’s behalf. János Szabó, commander of the Széna tér rebels, is arrested. The KGB seizes the films that have recorded the events of the revolution and sends them to Moscow.
A new workers’ council is elected at the Alföld Cannery in Kecskemét. Workers’ councils in Baja and Pécs decide to remain on strike.
Some of those deported to the Soviet Union are handed over to the Hungarian authorities.
Pravda, the central daily paper of the CPSU, commenting on Tito’s speech in Pula, accuses the Yugoslav president of intervening in Hungary’s internal affairs.
The UN General Assembly again debates the Hungarian question on November 19 and 20.
Officers who have not signed the Officer’s Declaration (about a quarter of them) are discharged. An East German delegation has talks in Budapest about providing assistance to the country.
A miners’ delegation from Pécs has talks in Tatabánya and Oroszlány with the coal-miners’ workers’ council and then travels to Budapest for talks with the KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> and the government. The Tatabánya workers’ council, after consultations with the Pécs, Komló and Central Transdanubian workers’ councils, draws up demands to present to the Kádár government. The armed resistance in the Mecsek Hills ends.
The Kádár government gives a written guarantee to Yugoslavia that Imre Nagy and his associates will not be prosecuted.
Delegations from the Borsod, Dorog, Pécs and Tatabánya miners have talks in Parliament. There is an unsuccessful attempt to form a national workers’ council: the National Sports Hall, where the rally was to be held, is surrounded by Soviet armoured tanks. The KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> calls a 48-hour protest strike. In the afternoon, the KMT negotiates with the government. Major-General Grebennik, talking to Western journalists, describes the deportations as abuses committed by certain officers. The Revolutionary Council of the Hungarian Intelligentsia is established.
The workers at the Baja factories go back to work. The founding meeting of the Nógrád County Workers’ Council begins in Salgótarján. Work resumes in the Transdanubian oil enterprises.
After a three-day debate, the UN General Assembly passes several resolutions on the Hungarian question. Three minutes’ silence is observed in Switzerland to commemorate the Hungarian independence struggle.
Imre Nagy and his associates leave the Yugoslav Embassy in a Soviet military bus, after receiving assurances of safe conduct from the Yugoslavs. However, the undertakings are immediately broken when they are taken to the KGB headquarters in Mátyásföld (16th District). They are flown to Romania the next day.
Nehru sends a message to Kádár suggesting that Hungary should receive the UN secretary-general and a group of UN observers. The KMT delegation has talks with Kádár at night. Electricity consumption has to be restricted in Pécs due to the shortage of coal.
The survivors of the Mecsek rebel force cross the Hungarian-Yugoslav border near Barcs at dawn. The Yugoslavs disarm them and send them to the Koprivnica (Kapronca) refugee camp. The workers’ councils in Gyula decide to continue striking.
The Yugoslavs make a diplomatic protest against the abduction of the Imre Nagy group.
The Kádár government recognizes the KMT as a negotiating partner. The KMT calls for a return to work. After an appeal by the Revolutionary Council of the Hungarian Intelligentsia and the KMT to commemorate the revolution, traffic in Budapest stops between 2 and 3 p.m. and the city is plunged into silence.
A delegation from the communist-led World Federation of Trade Unions has talks in Budapest.
Delegates of the Komló, Mohács, Pécs and Szigetvár workers’ councils, meeting at Pécsbányatelep, establish the Baranya County Central Workers’ Council.
Imre Nagy, his associates and their families are taken from Bucharest Airport to Snagov.
An official Hungarian communiqué is issued on the departure of Imre Nagy and his group. The staff of the party daily Népszabadság goes on strike. Government commissioners are appointed for the larger factories.
The strike continues in Komárom and Nógrád counties.
Poland sends Hungary aid worth 100 million zlotys.
The Yugoslav press gives prominence to the Nagy group’s deportation.
Talks between the KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> leaders and government members in Parliament break off after a violent altercation. J.N. Koshla, the Indian ambassador in Prague, arrives in Budapest. He remains in Hungary until December 7.
Local trade-union elections are held under the supervision of the Győr-Sopron County workers’ councils.
The KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> passes a resolution demanding that the Kádár government make a statement on the fate of Imre Nagy and his associates, and issue a permit for the publication of the KMT newspaper. János Kádár deals at length with the question of Imre Nagy in a radio address. (After that, no further information is given on the matter until June 17, 1958.) Ambassador Koshla has talks with Kádár on bringing in UN observers. The workers’ council in Tatabánya calls for the introduction of two-shift working.
The KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> issues a protest against Kádár’s radio address the previous evening. In the evening, a KMT delegation led by Sándor Rácz has talks with Kádár in Parliament. The Kádár government appeals to the peasantry, trying to win them over with promises. The Writers’ Union sends a letter to the diplomatic missions in Budapest protesting against the deportation of Georg Lukács. Recruitment of a battalion of security-force officers begins in Debrecen. The workers’ councils of the Transdanubian Oil-Industry Enterprises, meeting in Nagykanizsa, call upon the branches on the Great Plain and in Budapest to establish workers’ councils. They also appoint a permanent delegate to the KMT.
Sándor Rácz reports on the negotiations with the government at a combined meeting of the KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> and the Budapest district workers’ councils. The Revolutionary Council of the Hungarian Intelligentsia passes a resolution supporting the revolution’s objectives.
Ferenc Münnich, in a statement, promises a review of the activity of the ÁVH. (No general inquiry is ever held.)
An appeal launching a movement called ‘Budapest Beautiful Again’ is issued by the HSWP-controlled Revolutionary Young Workers’ Association (Fisz).
The strike continues at the Tatabánya and Dorog collieries.
The All-University Revolutionary Committee and the Central Workers’ Council of the Csepel Iron and Metal Works are established. More than 300 miners at Pécsbányatelep go on strike. The factories in Lábatlan call for the establishment of a workers’ council covering all the factories in the Danube-side area. KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> delegates negotiate with the county workers’ council in Salgótarján.
Polish daily papers publish the diaries of their Budapest correspondents in several parts. West Germany <East and West Germany> sends Hungary food and medical aid worth 10 million marks.
The Soviets call upon Kádár to begin reprisals, naming six or eight revolutionaries whom they consider should be executed immediately.
The KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> issues a call for readers to boycott the HSWP newspapers until the KMT receives a press permit. The public-supplies commissioner lifts the ban on alcohol sales.
The revolutionary committee in Oroszlány dissolves. Kádár has talks with representatives of the workers’ council in Tatabánya and makes the resumption of work a condition for further talks. The county workers’ council in Salgótarján wants to send a delegation to Kádár, but the meeting is broken up by members of the security forces.
Leaflets and fly-posters appear at the Lomonosov University in Moscow, demanding accurate information on the events in Hungary.
The first issue of the emigré newspaper Nemzetőr (National Guard) appears in Vienna. Kádár, briefing the Yugoslav government, describes the case of Imre Nagy as an internal affair of Hungary’s. The KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> issues a call against the strikes. A decree is published granting a general pardon to all those who have emigrated illegally since October 23. A security-force regiment of 2000 is formed under the Ministry of the Interior.
The town council and workers’ council of Baja hold a joint meeting. The strike by the miners of Pécsbányatelep ends without result. The striking miners in Tatabánya demand that the security forces be disarmed. Only one of two delegations from Salgótarján is admitted into the Parliament building. Its members repeat their demands of November 30 and say that the strike will continue. The workers’ councils of the factories in Balassagyarmat try to halt production at the bakery, but they are prevented from doing so by members of the security forces.
A three-day meeting of the Provisional Executive Committee of the HSWP begins. The events of October are described there as a counter-revolution. The Indian ambassador in Moscow spends December 2–7 in Budapest. He has talks with Kádár, who rejects his proposals for progress. A battalion of the Interior Ministry security-force regiment is sent to the Western border.
The county workers’ council in Salgótarján decides to continue striking. It calls upon the Soviets to take over the public administration in Nógrád County, rather than the vengeful security forces.
In Moscow, 150 students of the Lomonosov University are expelled. Students from the Baltic republics are sent home and lectures and events to do with Marxist-Leninist philosophy are suspended until the end of the year.
The Romanian foreign minister announces to the UN General Assembly that Imre Nagy and his group are receiving political asylum in Romania.
Several thousand women march to Hősök tere (Heroes’ Square, 14th District), where they place flowers on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and display the flag of the revolution. There is also a demonstration in Szabadság tér (5th District), outside the US Embassy.
A district central workers’ council is formed in Orosháza and subscribes to the KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> demands. The Danube-Side Central Workers’ Council is established in Dorog. The workers’ councils at factories in Esztergom, Lábatlan, Nyergesújfalu and Tokod affiliate. The workers’ council and the management of the Nógrád Colliery Trust reach agreement on a resumption of work.
A government order dissolving the revolutionary committees is published.
About 12 noon: Several hundred women march towards Március 15. tér (5th District) to lay flowers on the statue of poet Sándor Petőfi, who died fighting against Russian intervention forces in the 1848–9 war of independence. The demonstration ends when the Soviets intervene. Demonstrators at several university hostels prevent students from being deported. The security forces disperse another demonstration in the afternoon in Szabadság tér (5th District). About 200 members of the intelligentsia and of workers’ councils are arrested in the evening. The first volume of the ‘White Book’ (The Counter-revolutionary Forces in the October events in Hungary) appears.
The workers’ council of Nógrád County calls on the miners to return to work.
The UN General Assembly passes a resolution on sending UN observers to Hungary.
The Central Committee of the Czechoslovak Communist Party announces that proceedings have started in 674 cases linked with the events in Hungary.
A KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> memorandum states that its negotiations with the government have ended unsuccessfully because of the government’s inflexibility. The KMT protests against the successive arrests of leaders of the workers’ councils. It calls a national meeting for December 9 to establish a national workers’ council. (In the event this is held on December 8.)
The government organizes communist rallies in several places in Budapest. Workers returning from work attack communists carrying red flags in Népköztársaság útja (Andrássy út, 6th District) and along the Nagykörút (grand boulevard). Crowds hurling stones at the demonstrators are dispersed by security forces and the Soviets. Gunfire is exchanged near November 7. tér (Oktogon, 6th District), and security men fire into a crowd of workers by the Western Railway Station. A crowd of counter-demonstrators that gathers in the afternoon in Baross tér (7th and 8th districts) is also dispersed by security men and the Soviets.
There are demonstrations in Békéscsaba, Gyula, Sarkad and Tatabánya. A strike breaks out in Békéscsaba the next day to protest against the arrests. The collieries in Nógrád County go on strike after workers’ leaders in the county are arrested. The Danube-Side Central Workers’ Council meets in Esztergom.
The 9th Session of Unesco adopts a resolution on assisting with the repair of schools in Hungary.
The KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> holds a meeting. A letter is sent to the Soviet prime minister proposing direct relations between the KMT and the Soviet government. Kádár receives Yugoslav Ambassador Dalibor Soldatić and holds out prospects of settling the affair of Imre Nagy and his associates peacefully. The security forces disperse a demonstration in Baross tér (7th and 8th districts), near the Eastern Railway Station.
The authorities prevent the establishment of a central workers’ council in Baja. Demonstrations take place in Pécs, Esztergom and Berettyóújfalu, and at Orosháza, Dévaványa, Battonya, Mezőkovácsháza, Gyulavári, Doboz and Sarkad, all in Békés County. A communist demonstration is advertised for the next day in Salgótarján.
The 14th Summer Olympics in Melbourne close. Many of the Hungarian contestants remain abroad.
A Bács-Kiskun County workers’ council is established in Kecskemét. The Soviets disperse another demonstration in Battonya. The strike and protests in Tatabánya continue due to the arrests. An armed guard is set up on one housing estate in the town to obstruct the raids by the security forces.
A delegation from the Nógrád County Workers’ Council sets out for Budapest to attend a KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> meeting. In Salgótarján, the Soviets and the security forces open fire on a crowd of demonstrators. The massacre, which lasts for 8–10 minutes, leaves 52 dead and about 150 wounded. On hearing news of the shooting, the KMT calls a 48-hour strike. The railway bridge over the Zagyva river at Pásztó is blown up to obstruct the deportations.
The government outlaws the workers’ councils, including the KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council>. The workers’-council delegates assembled at the headquarters of the building trades union in Budapest are arrested. KMT representatives personally deliver the call for a strike to the major centres in the provinces.
György Marosán delivers a speech before 1200–1500 communists in Pécs, after which there is a pro-government demonstration in Széchenyi tér, the city’s main square. Protests take place at Dévaványa, Szeghalom and Vésztő in Békés County, and in Miskolc. A meeting in Oroszlány votes to return to work. Arrests continue in Salgótarján. Two leaders of the national guard at the steel works there are brutally murdered by security men. The Nógrád County Provisional Executive Committee of the HSWP holds a meeting of almost 120 county activists.
The Soviets open fire during a demonstration in Miskolc. The Szinva Bridge collapses under the fleeing crowd and several people are killed. The workers’ council at the Lenin Foundry in Miskolc bans organization by the HSWP at the works. The strike continues in Győr. A 48-hour strike is called in Eger. Demonstrations and wreath-laying ceremonies are held in several places. The security forces, with Soviet assistance, attack the miners’ quarter in Tatabánya late in the evening. The local guard ceases its resistance after several hours. Three people die in the fighting.
The 48-hour strike called by the KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> begins, halting production, rail traffic and public transport throughout the country. In response, the Kádár government declares a state of emergency and orders the disarming of factory guards.
The KMT <Greater Budapest Central Workers’ Council> leaders, Sándor Bali and Sándor Rácz, are arrested at the Parliament building, where they have arrived for negotiations. The Central Workers’ Council of the Csepel Iron and Metal Works comes out against the strike again, but all the factories stop work nonetheless. A start is made to reinstalling the ‘Iron Curtain’ along the Western border. The government commissioner for public supplies reintroduces the ban on alcohol sales.
The Hungarian UN delegation walks out of the General Assembly because of attacks made on the Kádár government. The president of the International League of Red Cross Societies pays a visit to Budapest.
Most factories in Baja, Debrecen and Kecskemét join the strike. Arrests begin in Baja. There are further demonstrations in Eger and Zalaegerszeg.
The internment camps are reopened. The security forces disperse a demonstration in Bosnyák tér (14th District). Demonstrations are held in Gyoma and Kecskemét. Security men in Eger fire on demonstrators, killing eight and wounding 27.
The UN General Assembly passes a further resolution condemning the Soviet intervention in Hungary.