“Independence and freedom mean practically the same thing in Hungary in view of the fact that when the Hungarian people stood up for their independence, they always fought for their freedom too, and fought for freedom while also fighting for independence”, Government Spokesperson Zoltán Kovács said at an event in London to mark the anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.

The Government Spokesperson, who gave a speech at the Church House Westminster conference centre in the presence of representatives of London’s Hungarian community and British public figures, said: “Hungary has always had to fight against foreign enemies, and this is also what happened in 1956”.

At the time, many tried to interpret the situation by saying that the Soviet occupation and belonging to the community of communist countries was Hungary’s natural state, “but we all knew this wasn’t true”, Mr. Kovács said in his commemorative speech.

According to the Spokesperson, Marxist explanations of history generally came to the conclusion that in historical retrospective Hungary’s failed revolutions were futile, because they remained incomplete. But deep in their hearts and souls every Hungarian generation knew that Hungary’s revolutions had always been successful and had always achieved results, and this was also the case in 1956.

Many have attempted to interpret those thirteen days. Many have interpreted 1956 as simply an attempt to correct the socialist-communist revolution that had gone astray, but this is clearly a lie.  Others attributed the organisation of the revolution to foreign agents and foreign powers such as the United States, “but we all know that this is also a lie”.

Others still labelled 1956 a counter-revolution, and some still do today, which is disgraceful, the Government Spokesperson stressed at the event in London.

According to Mr. Kovács, in reality every one of Hungary’s revolutions has been a national and patriotic revolution, and in those days in October 1956 the desire for a life of freedom broke to the surface with elemental force.

The Spokesperson quoted the words of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, according to which “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same”.

“The true heroes of 1956 cannot be sorted into social classes, they weren’t intellectuals, factory workers or peasants; Hungary fought for its independence and freedom as a single nation”, Mr. Kovács emphasised in his speech at the event in London to mark the anniversary of the Revolution.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)