Exactly seventy years have passed since one of the most significant crimes of communism: the bloody suppression of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Despite this historical milestone, calls for communism are being heard in recent protest camps in Lisbon and Porto. Some participants have openly advocated for violence to overthrow what they term "bourgeois democracy," raising questions about a collective loss of memory regarding the true nature of communist regimes.
On October 4, 1956, more than 2,000 Soviet tanks breached Hungary's defenses and entered Budapest with the intent of crushing a popular movement that had erupted two weeks prior. This uprising had forced the communist regime to retreat and accept demands from students and hundreds of thousands of citizens filling the streets. Twelve years before the events in Prague, Budapest experienced a bloody dawn, forcing Hungary to submit once again to Moscow's will. While European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently honored the heroes of those days during a speech in the Hungarian Parliament, the memory of what communism represented appears to have faded from many minds.
In the camps in Lisbon and Porto, numerous individuals have directly appealed for a communist revolution. Among them are figures like Priscila Valadão, a Brazilian coordinator of the Lisbon demonstration who identifies as a Marxist-Leninist and displays a hammer and sickle tattoo on her shoulder. Critics argue that this phenomenon is not solely the responsibility of individual protesters but also reflects failures within cultural and educational systems that seem to overlook the tragedy of the communist experience in the 20th century. The argument points to existing authoritarian regimes in North Korea, Cuba, and China as evidence of what these ideologies entail.
The Hungarian revolt was a spontaneous uprising occurring after opposition organizations had been dismantled. Workers lived in miserable conditions, waking at 4:30 AM for factory shifts that began with mandatory readings from the official party newspaper. These factories often produced no consumer goods, replicating Stalinist industrialization models, while workers endured indoctrination sessions lasting until 10 PM. With little food and brutal repression, the situation exploded on October 23 when students organized a demonstration following signs of political opening after Stalin's death and the denunciation of his crimes.
The protest grew rapidly, with estimates ranging from 200,000 to over half a million people gathering in front of the Parliament. A symbolic moment occurred when protesters removed the communist seal from the center of the Hungarian flag, creating a banner with a hole in the white stripe that became the movement's symbol. The situation escalated when demonstrators attempted to reach the radio station to broadcast their demands, resulting in shootings and deaths. The government was replaced by Imre Nagy, who sought a model of socialism independent of Russian control.
In response, the Soviet Union deployed 150,000 troops and 2,500 tanks into Budapest. The intervention resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and forced 200,000 Hungarians to flee across the border, primarily to Austria. This event coincided with the Suez Crisis, leaving Hungary without international support as it was crushed by the regime. János Kádár subsequently took power, leading a government that remained in place until the fall of the Berlin Wall. The contrast between this historical reality and current slogans calling for worker revolutions highlights a troubling disconnect in contemporary political discourse.
Sources: Observador.