Mátyás Rákosi

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Mátyás Rákosi (born March 14, 1892 as Mátyás Rosenfeld – February 5, 1971) was a Hungarian politician and the leader of Hungary from 1945 to 1956 through his post as General Secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party.

Rákosi was born in Ada, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Serbia). The sixth son of a Jewish grocer, he later repudiated religion. He served in the Austro-Hungarian Army during the First World War and was captured on the Eastern Front. Returned to Hungary, he participated in the government of Béla Kun; after its fall he fled, eventually to the Soviet Union. After returning to Hungary in 1924 he was imprisoned, and was released to the Soviet Union in 1940, in exchange for the Hungarian revolutionary banners captured by the Russian troops at Világos in 1849^{[citation needed]}. In the Soviet Union, he became leader of the Comintern. He returned to Hungary with the Red Army.

When the communist government was installed in Hungary Rákosi was appointed General Secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party. In 1948, the Communists forced the Social Democrats to merge with them to form the Hungarian Workers Party. At this point, Rákosi dropped all pretense of democratic government, and Hungary became an outright Communist dictatorship^[1].

Rákosi described himself as "Stalin's best Hungarian disciple" and "Stalin's best pupil." He also invented the term "salami tactics", which related to his tactic of eliminating the opposition slice by slice. At the height of his rule, he developed a strong cult of personality around himself.

Rákosi imposed totalitarian rule on Hungary – arresting, jailing and killing both real and imagined foes in various waves of Stalin-inspired political purges – as the country went into decline. In August 1952 he also became prime minister of Hungary, but on June 13, 1953, to appease the Soviet Politburo, he was forced to give up the office to Imre Nagy, yet retained the office of General Secretary. Rákosi was then removed as General Secretary of the Party under pressure from the Soviet Politburo in June 1956 (shortly after Nikita Khrushchev's Secret Speech), and was replaced by Ernő Gerő. To remove him from the Hungarian political scene, the Soviet Politburo forced Rakosi to move to the Soviet Union in 1956, with the official story being that he was "seeking medical attention." He spent the rest of his life in Republic of Kirghizia, USSR. Shortly before his death, in 1970, Rakosi was finally granted permission to return to Hungary if he promised not to engage in any political activities. He refused the deal, and remained in the USSR where he died in Gorky in 1971.

After his death, his body was returned to Hungary for burial in Budapest.

Preceded by —	General Secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party 1945–1956	Succeeded by Ernő Gerő
Preceded by Zoltán Tildy	Prime Minister of Hungary 1946	Succeeded by Ferenc Nagy
Preceded by István Dobi	Prime Minister of Hungary 1952–1953	Succeeded by Imre Nagy