1956 Hungarian Revolution

Árpád Göncz was a Hungarian writer, translator, and liberal politician, who served as President of Hungary from 1990 to 2000.Charles Gati is Senior Research Professor of European and Eurasian Studies at Johns Hopkins University. His previous positions have included teaching Central and Eastern European as well as Russian politics and foreign policy at Union College and Columbia University.  Malcolm Byrne is Director of Research at the National Security Archive where he coordinates a program involving Russian and East European scholars in documentary research, conference preparation and publications relating to the Cold War.Csaba Békés is Founding Director of the Cold War History Research Center, Budapest, Hungary. He is Professor of History, Corvinus University of Budapest, Institute of International Studies. János M. Rainer is Historian, Director of the Institute for the History of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution (1999-2011), professor at Eszterházy Károly College, Eger.

• Preface by Árpád Göncz Foreword by Charles Gati Introductory Essay: Forty Years On by Timothy Garton Ash Editors’ Introduction and Acknowledgements Acronyms and Abbreviations Chronology of Events PART ONE HUNGARY BEFORE THE REVOLUTION Introduction Document No. 1: Notes of Meeting between CPSU CC Presidium and HWP Political Committee Delegation in Moscow, June 13 and 16, 1953 Document No. 2: “Resolution of the Central Committee of the Hungarian Worker’s Party concerning the Mistakes Committed in the Policy and Practice of the Party, and the Tasks Necessary to Correct These Mistakes,” June 28, 1953 Document No. 3: NSC 174, “United States Policy toward the Soviet Satellites in Eastern Europe,” December 11, 1953 Document No. 4: Notes of Discussion between the CPSU CC Presidium and a HWP Leadership Delegation in Moscow, May 5, 1954 Document No. 5: Notes of Discussions between the CPSU CC Presidium and a HWP Leadership Delegation in Moscow, January 12, 1955 Document No. 6: Dispatch 1086, “Balloons to Hungary,” March 24, 1955 Document No. 7: National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) 12-56, “Probable Developments in the European Satellites,” January 10, 1956 Document No. 8: Study Prepared for U.S. Army Intelligence, “Hungary: Resistance Activities and Potentials,” January 1956 Document No. 9: Soviet Foreign Ministry Notes on Current Issues in Soviet Global Policy, January 4, 1956 Document No. 10: British Foreign Office Minutes concerning Developments in Eastern Europe, June 5, 1956 Document No. 11: Memorandum from Kliment Voroshilov to the CPSU CC Presidium regarding His Meeting with Mátyás Rákosi, June 26, 1956 Document No. 12: NSC 5608, “U.S. Policy toward the Soviet Satellites in Eastern Europe” (Excerpts), July 6, 1956 Document No. 13: Minutes of 290th NSC Meeting, July 12, 1956 Document No. 14: Nikita Khrushchev’s Letter to Mátyás Rákosi and other Socialist Leaders, July 13, 1956 Document No. 15: Report from Anastas Mikoyan on the Situation in the Hungarian Workers’ Party, July 14, 1956 Document No. 16: Memorandum from J.G. Ward to the British Foreign Office, “British Policy towards the Satellites,” July 17, 1956 Document No. 17: National Security Council Report NSC 5608/1, “U.S. Policy toward the Soviet Satellites in Eastern Europe,” July 18, 1956 Document No. 18: Letter from Erno Gero to Josip Broz Tito, July 19, 1956 Document No. 19: Report from Ambassador Yurii Andropov on Deteriorating Conditions in Hungary, August 29, 1956 Document No. 20: North Atlantic Council Document C-M(56)110, “The Thaw in Eastern Europe,” September 24, 1956 Document No. 21: Record of Conversation between Yurii Andropov and Erno Gero, October 12, 1956 Document No. 22: Memorandum from the British Foreign Office to the British NATO Delegation, October 16, 1956 Document No. 23: Working Notes from the Session of the CPSU CC Presidium, October 20, 1956 Document No. 24: The “Sixteen Points” Prepared by Hungarian Students, October 22–23, 1956 PART TWO FROM DEMONSTRATIONS TO REVOLUTION Introduction Document No. 25: Working Notes from the Session of the CPSU CC Presidium, October 23, 1956 Document No. 26: Situation Report from Anastas Mikoyan and Mikhail Suslov in Budapest to the CPSU CC Presidium, October 24, 1956 Document No. 27: Jan Svoboda’s Notes on the CPSU CC Presidium Meeting with Satellite Leaders, October 24, 1956 Document No. 28: Memorandum of Conversation between John Foster Dulles and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge, October 24, 1956 Document No. 29: Minutes of Czechoslovak (CPCz) Politburo Meeting, October 24, 1956 Document No. 30: Notes on the 38th Meeting of the Special Committee on Soviet and Related Problems, Washington, October 25, 1956 Document No. 31: Memorandum from Thomas Brimelow to the British Foreign Office News Department, October 25, 1956 Document No. 32: Situation Report from Anastas Mikoyan to CPSU CC Presidium, October 26, 1956 Document No. 33: Report from Anastas ....

"One cannot stop reading. It is a sad story of hopeless struggle, of reckless Soviet actions, of the passivity of the west, and of the death of thousands of Hungarians. Nevertheless, it is also the tale of a heroic struggle that fatally wounded the Soviet empire and undermined the communist regimes, leading to victory in the long run."