Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party

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Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party Magyar Szocialista Munkáspárt
General Secretary	János Kádár (first) Rezső Nyers (last)
Founded	31 October 1956
Dissolved	7 October 1989
Preceded by	Hungarian Working People's Party
Succeeded by	Hungarian Socialist Party Hungarian Communist Workers' Party
Headquarters	Budapest, Hungarian People's Republic
Newspaper	Népszabadság
Youth wing	Hungarian Young Communist League
Armed wing	Hungarian People's Army Workers' Militia
Ideology	Communism Marxism–Leninism Kádárism
National affiliation	Patriotic People's Front
Colors	Red
Election symbol
Politics of Hungary Political parties Elections

The Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (Hungarian: Magyar Szocialista Munkáspárt, MSZMP) was the ruling Marxist–Leninist^[1] party of the Hungarian People's Republic between 1956 and 1989. It was organised from elements of the Hungarian Working People's Party during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, with János Kádár as general secretary. The party also controlled its armed forces, the Hungarian People's Army.

Like all other Eastern Bloc parties, the MSZMP was organized on the basis of democratic centralism, a principle conceived by Vladimir Lenin that entails democratic and open discussion of issues within the party followed by the requirement of total unity in upholding the agreed policies. The highest body within the MSZMP was the party Congress, which convened every five years. When the Congress was not in session, the Central Committee of the MSZMP was the highest body. Because the Central Committee met twice a year, most day-to-day duties and responsibilities were vested in the Politburo. The party leader was the de facto chairman of the Politburo and a de facto chief executive of Hungary. At various points he served as the prime minister in addition to being party leader.