1912-1989. Hungarian Communist leader, in
power 1956-88, after suppressing the national
rising. As Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party
(HSWP) leader and prime minister 1956-58 and
1961-65, Kadar introduced a series of
market-socialist economic reforms, while
retaining cordial political relations with
the USSR. Kadar was a mechanic before joining
the outlawed Communist Party and working as
an underground resistance organizer in World
War II. After the war he was elected to the
National Assembly, served as minister for
internal affairs 1948-50, and became a
prominent member of the Hungarian Workers'
Party (HSP). Imprisoned 1951-53 for deviation
from Stalinism, Kadar was rehabilitated 1955,
becoming party leader in Budapest, and in Nov
1956, at the height of the Hungarian national
rising, he was appointed head of the new
HSWP. With the help of Soviet troops, he
suppressed the revolt. He was ousted as party
general secretary May 1988, and forced into
retirement May 1989.