Mátyás Rákosi (; born Mátyás Rosenfeld; 9 March 1892Gábor Murányi Mátyás Rákosi, Encyclopedia.com; accessed 22 July 2020. – 5 February 1971Matyas Rakosi – History of 1956, rev.hu; accessed 22 July 2020.) was a Hungarian communist politician who was the de facto leader of Hungary from 1947 to 1956. Bertényi Iván. Gyapai Gábor: Magyarország rövid története (Maecenas, 2001).Matyas Rakosi profile, Britannica Online Encyclopedia; accessed 22 July 2020. He served first as General Secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party ( 1945 –48) and later holding the same post with the Hungarian Working People's Party ( 1948 –56). But after Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's famous "Secret Speech" in early 1956 denouncing the crimes of Stalin, Rákosi found his position fatally compromised. Large numbers of people within the Party and society at large began to speak out against him and call for his resignation, as information about the Party's past abuses came to light. Rákosi was finally forced to resign in July 1956 and leave for the Soviet Union, replaced by his second-in-command Ernő Gerő. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 occurred barely three months later as a result of the abuses of Rákosi's system, and his former rival Imre Nagy would become a dominant figure in the Revolution. Soviet troops ultimately crushed the uprising and installed a new Communist government under János Kádár.
Mátyás Rákosi (; born Mátyás Rosenfeld; 9 March 1892Gábor Murányi Mátyás Rákosi, Encyclopedia.com; accessed 22 July 2020. – 5 February 1971Matyas Rakosi – History of 1956, rev.hu; accessed 22 July 2020.) was a Hungarian communist politician who was the de facto leader of Hungary from 1947 to 1956. Bertényi Iván. Gyapai Gábor: Magyarország rövid története (Maecenas, 2001).Matyas Rakosi profile, Britannica Online Encyclopedia; accessed 22 July 2020. He served first as General Secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party from 1945 to 1948 and then as General Secretary (later renamed First Secretary) of the Hungarian Working People's Party from 1948 to 1956. However, after Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's famous "Secret Speech" in early 1956 denouncing the crimes of Stalin, Rákosi found his position fatally compromised. Large numbers of people within the Party and society at large began to speak out against him and call for his resignation, as information about the Party's past abuses came to light. Rákosi was finally forced to resign in July 1956 and leave for the Soviet Union, replaced by his second-in-command Ernő Gerő. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 occurred barely three months later as a result of the abuses of Rákosi's system, and his former rival Imre Nagy would become a dominant figure in the Revolution. Soviet troops ultimately crushed the uprising and installed a new Communist government under János Kádár.
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