Hungarian party leadership embraced multiparty liberalization before the 1989 collapse.

Evidence

In Hungary, radical change was also seen as inevitable. By 1988, one of the Hungarian party leaders had already argued that “no progress is possible without a transformation of the entire structure of socialism,” and the first of these moves would be the separation of party and state. The Hungarian party also had the benefit of mutual support between party and opposition reformists as a result of the party’s liberal policies. By February 1989, even the party’s ruling elite acknowledged that the party had to “face up to a new situation, in which participation in policy-making depended not only on the party.” A month later, the Hungarian Central Committee admitted the necessity of a multiparty system and other political liberalization. — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 358

Categorization

• QUESTION: The Hungarian leadership’s early self-reform appears endogenous — the party dismantled its own monopoly before being forced. Worth comparing to whether survival followed from renouncing the threat/identity rather than refinding it.
• XREF: connects to: Forced exit from power in 1989 was needed to compel communist party reform — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 112; Hungarian party relaxed ideology and adopted internal pluralism after 1956 — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 313; Hungarian party tolerated constructive opposition and real contested elections internally — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 314 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Forced exit from power in 1989 was needed to compel communist party reform #expands (0.75) — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 112