János Kádár Proclaims General Amnesty

Following the revolution, the Kádár government used brutal means to restore the dictatorship. However, in the interests of preserving political stability, the government took care to ensure modest growth in the standard of living, with which it sought to win support. Most of the people convicted of having taken part in the revolution were released, and in exchange the United Nations took the question of Hungary off the agenda, thus bringing an end to the country’s foreign policy isolation.