The USSR and the Uprising of 1956 in Hungary.

The Hungarian protest was a harbinger of events in Eastern Europe: in 1968 in Czechoslovakia, in 1980-81 in Poland, and in the late 1980s in other countries of the region. After World War II these states, as well as Hungary, experienced the construction of the Soviet model of socialism. The first attempts to adapt socialism to local conditions were suppressed by the USSR, resulting in an outbreak of popular protest. Soviet researchers assessed the events of 1956 in Hungary as a counterrevolutionary uprising fueled by internal reactionary forces with the support of aggressive imperialistic powers. The goal of these powers was perceived to be the weakening and forced retreat of socialist forces, and hence the introduction of a rift within the ranks of socialist states. After the collapse of the socialist system in the late 1980s, the archives opened their doors and researchers gained access to the Soviets' deep scientific analytical work on the Hungarian popular uprising. The authors of the present article attempt to show the degree of Soviet interference in the internal affairs of Hungary in the 1950s, which was one of the reasons for the revolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]