| Leader1 Title: | First leader |
| Leader1 Name: | Mátyás Rákosi |
| Leader2 Title: | Last leader |
| Leader2 Name: | János Kádár |
| Hungarian Working People's Party | |
| Foundation: | 12 June 1948 |
| Dissolution: | 31 October 1956 |
| Merger: | MKP MSZDP |
| Successor: | MSZMP |
| Position: | Far-left |
| International: | Cominform (1948-1956) |
| Country: | Hungary |
| Newspaper: | Szabad Nép |
| National: | Patriotic People's Front |
| Flag: | Flag of the Hungarian Working People's Party.svg |
The Hungarian Working People's Party (abbr. MDP) was the ruling communist party of Hungary from 1948 to 1956.
It was formed by a merger of the Hungarian Communist Party (MKP) and the Social Democratic Party of Hungary (MSZDP).[1] Ostensibly a union of equals, the merger had actually occurred as a result of massive pressure brought to bear on the Social Democrats by both the Hungarian Communists, as well as the Soviet Union. The few independent-minded Social Democrats who had not been sidelined by Communist salami tactics were pushed out in short order after the merger, leaving the party as essentially the MKP under a new name.
Other minor legal Hungarian political parties were allowed to continue as independent coalition parties until late 1949 but were completely subservient to the MDP.
Its leader was Mátyás Rákosi until 1956, then Ernő Gerő in the same year for three months, and eventually János Kádár until the party's dissolution.
During the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, the party was reorganized into the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (MSZMP) by a circle of communists around Kádár and Imre Nagy. The new government of Nagy declared to assess the uprising not as counter-revolutionary but as a "great, national and democratic event" and to dissolve State Security Police (ÁVH). Hungary's declaration to become neutral and to exit the Warsaw Pact caused the second Soviet intervention on 4 November 1956. After 8 November 1956, the MSZMP, under Kádár's leadership, fully supported the Soviet Union.
| Picture | Name (Birth–Death) | Term of Office | Position(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mátyás Rákosi (1892–1971) | 12 June 1948 | 18 July 1956 | General Secretary | |
| First Secretary (from 28 June 1953) | |||||
| 2 | Ernő Gerő (1898–1980) | 18 July 1956 | 25 October 1956 | ||
| 3 | János Kádár (1912–1989) | 25 October 1956 | 31 October 1956 | ||
| Election | Party leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Position | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | Mátyás Rákosi | 285 | 1st | ||||
| 1953 | 79 | 1st |