Három MEFESZ a 20. századi magyar történelemben

The Association of Hungarian University and College Students (AHUCS, MEFESZ) was founded on 16 October 1956 at the University of Szeged. In the Hungarian history of the second half of the 20th century, the acronym ‘MEFESZ’ appeared three times (1945: Alliance of Hungarian University and College Associations AHUCA, MEFESZ; 1948: Unified Organization of Hungarian University and College Students, AOHUCS, MEFESZ and 1956: AHUCS, MEFESZ). In all three cases, the organisations were actors in the field of youth and education. The short history and existence of the three MEFESZ has many lessons to teach us. Although the three organisations’ names were identically abbreviated, the full form of their names differed, and so did their aims and roles. In this paper, we show that the 1956 MEFESZ is not a successor of the two earlier organisations, MEFESZ in the period of ‘tentative democracy’ (1945–1948) and in the first period of communist dictatorship (1948–1950). The 1956 MEFESZ – the focus of our study – was a new grassroot initiative and became the precursor of the revolution in the same year. In its aims, organisational structure and political programme, it was grounded in democratic principles. The political demands of the programme of the MEFESZ that had been adopted on 20th October 1956 became the demands of the revolution on 23rd October. An analysis of the basic and operational principles of the 1956 MEFESZ and the elements of its political programme show that its ‘organisational personality’ and its world of values represented the trans-historical social democratic values of universities: freedom of opinion, thought and expression, autonomy, solidarity, subsidiarity, self-government and the participation of young people in decision-making.