Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party

Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party Magyar Szocialista Munkáspárt
First leader	János Kádár
Last leader	Rezső Nyers
Founded	31 October 1956
Dissolved	7 October 1989
Succeeded by	Hungarian Socialist Party, Hungarian Workers' Party
Headquarters	Budapest, Hungarian People's Republic
Newspaper	Népszabadság
Ideology	Communism Marxism–Leninism Kádárism Socialism
Political position	Far-left
Political parties

The Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (Hungarian: Magyar Szocialista Munkáspárt, MSZMP) was the ruling Marxist–Leninist party of the Hungarian People's Republic between 1956 and 1989.

The party had the same role as the ruling parties in other socialist countries: it ensured the control of a small elite through a large, hierarchical party structure that reached workplaces and had strong influence at the local level. The party had total power to choose parliament members and government officials, controlled the justice system, and its leaders made the final decisions on all levels of national and local politics. In short, the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party was the main group carrying out the orders and guidelines from the Soviet Union's Communist Party in a country occupied and controlled by the Soviets. Until 1989, it was the only legal political party in the country, controlling the government and lawmaking. Starting other parties was banned, and political opposition was suppressed and persecuted.

During Hungary's transition to democracy, the party didn’t completely disappear but transformed and split into two parts: the hardliners formed the Hungarian Workers' Party, while those supporting democratization created the Hungarian Socialist Party, with the latter being the legal successor to the original party.