''For Freedom and Truth'' was the last

proclamation A proclamation (Lat. ''proclamare'', to make public by announcement) is an official declaration issued by a person of authority to make certain announcements known. Proclamations are currently used within the governing framework of some nations ...

of the Hungarian National Government written on 4 November 1956 in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, during the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

, by Minister of State

István Bibó István Bibó (7 August 1911, Budapest – 10 May 1979, Budapest) was a Hungarian lawyer, civil servant, politician and political theorist. Life During the Hungarian Revolution he acted as the Minister of State for the Hungarian National G ...

in the parliament building as the author, and the only person and representative of the government remaining in the parliament, awaited arrest by

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

military forces.

History

The Soviet army attacked the dawn of 4 November 1956 and Imre Nagy visited the Soviet embassy for negotiations but did not return. In the morning

Zoltán Tildy Zoltán Tildy (; 18 November 1889 – 3 August 1961), was an influential leader of Hungary, who served as prime minister from 1945 to 1946 and president from 1946 until 1948 in the post-war period before the seizure of power by Soviet-backed com ...

together with István Szabó and

held a meeting in the parliament, but when the Soviet troops reached and surrounded the building Zoltán Tildy went to negotiate with them and reached an agreement: the Soviets could occupy the building after all civilians left safely and Zoltán Tildy would leave as well. The proclamation's author, István Bibó, was the only cabinet minister who remained at his post in the parliament building and thus considered himself the only representative of the Hungarian government at the time.

The proclamation

The proclamation claimed that the Hungarian government did not seek to pursue an anti-Soviet policy, and denounced accusations that the revolution was orchestrated by fascists. It proposed that the Hungarian government would have been able to limit

mob rule Mob rule or ochlocracy ( el, ὀχλοκρατία, translit=okhlokratía; la, ochlocratia) is the rule of government by a mob or mass of people and the intimidation of legitimate authorities. Insofar as it represents a pejorative for majori ...

and said that the intervention of a foreign army was the major cause of tensions. István Bibó called the

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Urali ...

to not recognise the Soviet military or the Soviet

puppet government A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government, is a state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside power and subject to its orders.Compare: Puppet states have nominal sover ...

as legal authority, and to resist them with passive civil disobedience, but not a

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. The author had been in the government for only one day and claimed that the reason he did not call for armed resistance was that he was not aware of the military situation. The author called the world

great power A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power in ...

s and the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

to protect the freedom of the Hungarian nation in accordance with the

United Nations Charter The Charter of the United Nations (UN) is the foundational treaty of the UN, an intergovernmental organization. It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the UN system, including its six principal organs: the ...

. The proclamation declared Minister of State Anna Kéthly to be the only authorised representative of the Hungarian government abroad.

References

{{Authority control Hungarian Revolution of 1956 1956 documents