Happy Communism...the Hungarian Experience

For the whole story about my Christmas break, check here.

On day two in Budapest, Anna and I went on a 3 hour walking tour covering the communist history of Hungary.  At first, I wasn't too excited about it because I've learned about communism in every other former Soviet country I've been to, but Hungary experienced an entirely different type of communism for the majority of it's time as a USSR satelite state.

In 1956, Hungarians staged a major uprising against the communist rulers.  It didn't last long and ended in a bloodbath, but it was the first resistance the Soviets faced since it helped liberate Europe from the Nazis.  And, it showed Moscow that Hungarians weren't happy with the current state of affairs and were merely pretending to be content because they had to.

Post-uprising, Hungarians were subject to a few months of intense persecution for the uprising.  The Soviets switched out the major leadership in Hungary and János Kádár became the Secretary General of the Hungarian Communist Party.  Thousands of citizens were arrested, questioned, imprisoned, and executed. 

After this harsh retribution for the uprising, Kádár quickly changed the tune of Soviet rule in Hungary.  Unlike other Soviet occupied countries I've visited, Hungary had access to various Western luxuries like blue jeans, music (even rock'n'roll), and movies like James Bond.  Although, the James Bond movies were dubbed like all other movies.  This takes care of the somewhat problematic scenes where Bond calls people "Communist bastards", instead the Hungarians heard, "Chinese pirates."

Apparently, when visitors came from other communist countries, they were surprised by how westernized Hungary was.  However, these treats came with a price.  Hungarians couldn't mention the 1956 revolution or complain about the government system.   As long as they continued to be "happy" with their government, then the western goodies would continue to come across the border.  Our tour guide dubbed this "Happy Communism" because the Hungarians were bribed into submission instead of killed and beaten.