Volume 1, Edition 15
‘Toronto Tuesday‘ is a weekly photo feature about random stuff (landmarks, people, culture, seasons, etc.) in the city.
Memorial to Hungarian Revolution of 1956
The 1956 Hungarian Revolution was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the Stalinist government of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956. As the protests gained momentum all across the country, the communist government fell. USSR sent troops to crush the protesters and took over the government in a military action that resulted in 3,200 deaths and 200,000 refugees.
Hungarian Freedom Fight Memorial
Anti-communist Western governments were quick to glorify the struggle and term it as the beginning of end of Soviet era. The Soviets on the other hand cultivated the perception that communism was both irreversible and monolithic.
Information board
I live close to the east European neighborhood and this memorial is located on the waterfront trail south of Queensway-Queen St. W junction.
Memorial. I don’t know what that ugly gray box is doing there.
The memorial was erected in 1966 and reads “Freedom for Hungary, Freedom for all.” I like the abstractness of the sculpture. Click the images for a bigger view.
I think the monument was simply a political statement about Canada’s stance during the cold war. I also think that the message appeals to people’s emotions (manipulation?) rather than a factual description – e.g. use of phrases like ‘men, women, children’, ‘worldwide’ etc.
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Hmm…surprised that Canada should have a memorial for the Hungarian Revolution!
Hi Mahendra,
Oh there is a huge East European community in Toronto, especially close to this park. And I think this sculpture is a huge political statement regarding Canada’s cold war stance.
Thanks for another interesting post!! quite a sculpture, I think the box might have something to do with electrical, does it light up? anyways they should have done a better job of hiding it.
Thanks Bob, I’m guessing its some electricity stuff too, and to ascertain that I’ll have to check the place out after dark.
Same question as Mahendra – In Canada? Well…I am assuming people moved during that time!
Yeah, there is a huge Hungarian (or east european) diaspora here.
Ok, I didnt even know about this, would you write some more on the subject?
Hi Trisha,
There is really nothing more to the monument. Maybe I’ll check it out on some night to see if its decorated.
If you are curious about the revolution, there is always wikipedia!
Good to see thi local feature, I mean I hardly ever write about Delhi.
Thanks Mridula. I’m trying to write a local story atleast once a week.
Interesting! I have never seen it in Toronto… or I just didn’t pay attention. It sounds a bit anti-communist… well, cold war era I guess. Come to think of it, I don’t know much about Canada’s position during the cold war, even if I can guess.
Hi Zhu, its not a very popular touristic attraction, its kinda lost in the middle of a big park on one side of the city so nobody knows about it really.
Canada was staunchly anti communist during the cold war.
I agree the sculpture had lot of political significance, esp the way the write the message ‘men, women and children…’ its just playing on people’s emotions.
“communism was both irreversible and monolithic”…isn’t it what we think of capitalism as well?
although the current crisis should de-legitimate it a bit, right? 
retrospectively there are many other instances of resistance to the communist power and domination: equally famous ones are the Czechs’ with their Prague Spring of 1968 when they declared autonomy from the Soviet influence and were immediately occupied by the Russian military forces. It’s also interesting to see how workers themselves turned against what should be a workers’ communist leadership structure: in Poland there’s the electrician Lech Walesa that started a workers’ strike in its factory that ended up in the “Solidarity” national movement. In Romania there are the car factory workers of Brasov who in 1987 started their own strike which unfortunately ended up in bloody repression. But again there are many resistances to capitalist global formations…:)
PD: puku, kiss!
Hi Oana,
Welcome welcome! And thanks for the long informative comment!
I agree, for a long time capitalism was also projected as ‘irreversible and monolithic’… maybe in communist China or Cuba they will erect a monument to mark the ‘Socialization’ of USA. But who knows!
It was interesting to read about protests and revolts in other parts of eastern European erstwhile Soviet places as well. I think it is a natural and expected reaction since extreme communism is not sustainable and I wonder if pure capitalism is either. It’s indeed a delicate task for a government to adopt policies that keep economic progress AND people’s happiness into consideration. I don’t like Chinese model of super high growth with little freedom to people for example…
i heard a PSA recently abt a memorial abt canadian martyrs..will send u the link if i find it..
ah, please do.
Anticommunist? Did the Hungarian freedom fighters wanted capitalism and the rule of the free market? Did they wanted a return to capitalist/fascist Hungary?
No, the 1956 revolution was a workers uprising. Workers councils took over. Those councils are the key element in a socialist society. Hungary between 1948 and 1990 was not communist and not socialist! It was a mixture of nationalism, stalinism and militarism. This monument to the freedom fighters is made by western bourgeoisie democrats, who don’t know the difference between stalinism and marxism. For them all 1956 freedom fighters were die-hard anticommunists who all hated Karl Marx!
I don’t think the Hungarian workers rose up because they were anticommunists. They rose up because they knew Hungarian was not a workers state! The western world called Hungary ”a communist state”. The stalinists called it a ”socialist republic”. But the workers knew that Hungary was neither of them.