Mátyás Rákosi

(1892 - 1971)

Mátyás Rákosi 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. He is regarded as having been the de facto leader of Hungary from 1947 to 1956.

An ardent Stalinist, Rákosi was forced to resign his posts in July 1956, after Nikita Khrushchev's "secret speech" at the Soviet Communist Party's 20th Congress. He then left Hungary and lived out the rest of his life in exile in the Soviet Union.

WORKS
Report to the Second Congress of the Hungarian Working People's Party, February 25, 1951
Speech at the Introduction of the Budget for 1953 in the National Assembly, December 15, 1952
Hungary's Economic Policy, July 11, 1953
Speech at the Meeting of the Budapest Party Activists of the Hungarian Working People's Party, July 11, 1953
Matyas Rakosi reports on work and future tasks of the Party on behalf of the Central Committee, May 1954