NID: HUNGARY: REFORMERS TAKE OVER PARTY LEADERSHIP

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe: A 30-Year Legacy
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06826744
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 26, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 10, 2019
• Publication Date: June 26, 1989

Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826744
L/815
HUNGARY: Reformers Take Over Party Leadership
The capture of the Communist party's leading positions this weekend
by members of the party's reform wing ensures that Hungary will
continue moving toward political pluralism. New party chairman
Rerso Nyers, an advocate of market-style economic reforms and '
democratic political change, will chair a new four-member presidium
that will serve as the party's highest policymaking body. Other
presidium members are radical reformer Imre Pozsgay, Nyers'
protege and Premier, Miklos Nemeth, and General Secretary Grosz.
Nyers will also head talks with the opposition on transition to a
multiparty system.
Comment: Nyers now is unquestionably the most influential member
of the Central Committee and the party's real leader. Although Grosz
retains the title of General Secretary, that post has lost much of its
former importance and probably will involve only day-to-day
administration of party affairs. This arrangement probably will
maintain party unity until the party congress on 7 October, but the
popular Pozsgay�whom the party will nominate as president�
probably will continue trying to set the agenda for rapid change. The
2hanges almost certainly guarantee that the still relatively orthodox
apparatus will not be able to control the congress and obstruct the
reform process.
NR Record
6
TiPSjet
TCS 2847/8
26 June 1989
Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826744