1198 Ch. 29 • Democracy and the Collapse of Communism

Border guards cut down the Hungarian “Iron Curtain.”

greatly encouraged opposition groups. But with the economy floundering
under declining productivity and rampaging inflation, liberal Communists
ousted longtime leader Janos Kadar from power, intent on reforming Hun­
gary. Opposition groups, with the memory of Soviet intervention in 1956
still looming large, hesitated to call the legitimacy of the Communist regime
into question.
In the summer of 1989, the Hungarian opposition formed an “Opposition
Round Table” and negotiated with the government. Candidates of the Demo­
cratic Forum won free elections. Faced with continuing popular mobiliza­
tion, the Communist leadership decided to try to outbid the Hungarian
liberals by initiating reforms. In May 1989, the government ordered the
removal of barbed wire that defined the border with Austria. In June, the
Communist Party itself admitted that the 1956 trial and execution of reform
leaders had been illegal. The former premier Imre Nagy, who had been exe­
cuted after the 1956 insurrection, was reburied with national honors. The
Hungarian Communist Party changed its name to the Hungarian Socialist
Party. It espoused democratic principles and encouraged the development of
opposition parties, accepting a new constitution proclaimed later that year.
The transition from communism to multiparty parliamentary rule in Hun­
gary was therefore peaceful, with the Hungarian Democratic Forum leading
a subsequent coalition government.