Hungary in '56

Abstract “The more time the events leave for thoughtful men to reflect and suffering mankind to unite, the more perfectly the product which the present contains in its womb will appear into the world.” But in the second half of 1956 there was little time in Hungary to reflect and unite. We came too late, “we came too late all the time,” as the poet writes. In 1956 the leadership had gotten into a state characterized not only by the fact that “it was no longer capable of leading with the old methods,” but it had simply become incapable of self-renewal and starting over on a clean page.