After the Soviet intervention of 1956, Moscow appointed Janos Kadar as the new leader of Hungary. Many thousands of Hungarians were arrested. Eventually, 26,000 of these were brought before the Hungarian courts, 22,000 were sentenced, 13,000 imprisoned, and 229 executed. Approximately 200,000 fled Hungary as refugees. Sporadic armed resistance and strikes by workers' councils continued until mid-1957, causing substantial economic disruption, but that couldn't stop the slow consolidation of Kadar's power. After 1956 Kadar reorganised the Communist Party, and purged its membership and leadership from Stalinists. In 1962, the 8th Congress of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party declared the period of "consolidation of socialism" after 1956 to be over and that the "foundations for the establishment of a socialist society" had been achieved which enabled a general amnesty of most people sentenced in connection with 1956. The party, under János Kádár, gradually curbed some of the excesses of the secret police and repealed most of the restrictions on speech and movement enacted in the 50s. In their place, The party, under János Kádár introduced a relatively liberal cultural and economic course aimed at overcoming the post-1956 hostility toward the Kádár government. In a few years Hungary became the "the happiest barrack in the socialist camp".

• published: 01 May 2015
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