Hungary for Change

How the Declaration of Independence Inspired the Hungarian Revolution of 1956

Tibor Arany was assembling thermometer parts at the Laboratory Equipment Factory, as
he did every Thursday afternoon, when he heard a gunshot—then a cry. Arany had heard that
sound before, and he knew what it meant—years of compulsive military service had taught him
to quickly perceive the sounds of war. Without thinking twice, he dropped the machine parts and
rushed to Corvin Square. He arrived in the square just in time to see two Russian T-34 tanks
towering towards Kilián Barracks with one aim: to squash the tide of revolution. The tanks came
to a halt just in front of the barracks, their caterpillar treads precariously perched atop a curb.
Immediately, the tanks began indiscriminately firing at the rebels’ barracks. Arany, forced to act,
leaped into the street and began hurling loose road construction equipment at the enemy tanks.
Tibor’s comrades, inspired by his bravery, started shooting rounds of glowing bullets at the
enormous tanks. Soon enough, the tanks began spewing large black clouds of smoke high into
the air. The tanks stopped firing. Eventually, the emergency exit door opened, and a shaking hand
emerged, waiving a white flag.

What could compel Tibor Arany, a man no older than twenty-five, to pursue such a
daring act of bravery? In the words of Harvard history professor David Armitage, “sovereignty is
contagious.” The flame of liberty is too strong to be snuffed out, and the sound of freedom too
loud to be ignored. For Tibor Arany and millions of his compatriots in the Hungarian Revolution
of 1956, the evident beauty of the free ideals expressed by Thomas Jefferson in America’s
Declaration of Independence was enough to compel even the starkest acts of bravery. The
Declaration oozes with the aromatic scent of liberty and justice for all, a promise that many
around the world do not enjoy. In 1944, systematic oppression arrived at the borders of Hungary
in the form of Soviet Red Army tanks. For forty years, the people of Hungary would remain
enslaved behind the communist curtain of false hope. Yet, despite the repression and abuse, a
true dawn of hope persistently guided the Hungarian people. They believed that the Declaration’s
promise of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” could one day become a reality for
them too. In 1956, nearly three thousand Hungarians died endeavoring to make that dream a
reality.

Although Hungary would remain shackled behind the Iron Curtain for another thirty
years, the sacrifice that those men and women made was not in vain. They dared to believe in the
Declaration’s dream and inspired others to make it a reality.

The repression of Hungary was not primarily militaristic; the Hungarian people were
besieged by a Stalinist political philosophy that heralded complete government control and
jeered at the idea of individual liberties. For seven brutal years, Mátyás Rákosi, the self-declared
disciple of Stalin, served as a de facto dictator of the country. During his rule, Rákosi
plummeted Hungary’s economy and rooted out civil liberties, all while rewarding loyal subjects
and quashing dissent. While Hungary did experience a brief liberalization under the reformer
Nagy Imre, even he remained loyal to a communist party fundamentally incompatible with the
Hungarian people’s desire for Jeffersonian independence. For years, the people of Hungary
suffered in relative silence.

One hundred and thirty years earlier, Thomas Jefferson, the mind behind America’s
Declaration of Independence, wrote that he hoped American Independence would “be to the
world… the signal of arousing men to burst the chains… and to assume the blessings and
security of self-government.” For the people of Hungary, it did just that. On October 23, 1956,
amidst growing disapproval across the Soviet Union, several thousand university students
gathered in Budapest to protest the repressive communist regime. The demonstrations began
with a reading of what would become known as the “sixteen points,” in which the Hungarian
students declared that Hungary was theirs, and did not belong to Soviet Invaders. Just as the
American founders had done almost two hundred years earlier, these students declared the
fundamental truth that they are endowed with rights simply by nature of the imago dei. By the
end of the day, the crowd of two hundred thousand protestors marched towards a radio
broadcasting station to declare their independence. The protestors raised truncated flags that
had once borne the communist emblem, symbolizing a new hope of revolution. Unfortunately,
the revolution was not without resistance. The State Protection Authority, or Soviet Secret
Police, acted quickly to resist the growing mass of rebels. Surprisingly, the rebels outmanned the
occupying force. As a newspaper report from the time read, “For three incredible days in
Hungary last week, the flames of liberty and revenge against tyranny rose high. It almost seemed
as if they could go on burning.”

Unfortunately, they did not keep burning. The government in Moscow, fearing they were
losing control, ordered Operation Whirlwind. Over one thousand tanks entered the city to
brutally repress the rebellion. In those few weeks, roughly three thousand Hungarian men,
women, and children lost their lives.

On paper, the Hungarian revolution of 1956 was a failure, and those thousands of rebels
perished in vain. In theory, Tibor Arany’s daring act of bravery was all for nothing. Yet, is that
truly the case? Hungary was a country repressed by ideas—Stalinist ones. Soon enough, it would
be a nation liberated by equally powerful ideas—Jeffersonian ones. The men and women who
sacrificed their lives in the Hungarian revolution of 1956 showed the world that the ideas of the
Declaration of Independence did not cease in the 1700s, and they are worth fighting and even
dying for. The revolution demonstrated that those ideas are indeed contagious. Although the
Hungarian Revolution did not result in the Soviet Union’s immediate collapse, it constituted the first rip in the Iron Curtain, a rip made possible by revolutionary ideas of a centuries-old
American document called the “Declaration of Independence.”

Jonathan Paul from Aristos Academy authored this article as part of VOC’s Student Essay Contest.