became the informal government of the country. The Social Democrats experienced a rapid decline in influence during this period, remaining outside of the resistance movement for the entirety of the occupation. The party was weakened to the point that several failed attempts were made to merge it into the DKP. Post-war legalization After the liberation of Denmark on 5 May 1945, the first communist minister was inducted into the new liberation government when Alfred Jensen was made Minister of Traffic. Aksel Larsen was also made a minister without portfolio. The government was roughly evenly split between members of the old national unity government and members of the Danish Freedom Council and other resistance groups. In the first post-liberation parliamentary election, the DKP massively increased its votes to obtain 12.5% of the vote (255,236 votes) and 18 seats, although it was not inducted into the new post-election Venstre-led government. The party was the primary force against Denmark's participation in NATO in the late 1940s. While the party was unsuccessful in that effort, the movement successfully forced the Danish government to refuse permission to place NATO air fields in Denmark. Cold War era Officially, the DKP's political line did not conflict with that of the CPSU, but pre-war factional tensions continued in the party in the post-war period. Factional tensions peaked with the Soviet suppression of the Hungarian revolution of 1956, which caused massive backlash against the DKP, and sparked a split within the party. DKP chairman Aksel Larsen had been the leader of the revisionist camp in the party from 1956 onwards, but suffered a rout at the 20th Congress of the DKP in 1958. Larsen was expelled for his statements against Soviet involvement in the Hungarian revolution, and he formed a new party, the Socialist People's Party (SF), which advocated socialism independent of the Soviet Union. Larsen was replaced by Knud Jespersen, a hardline pro-Soviet communist, positioning the DKP as a staunch supporter of the Soviet Union. By 1960, the DKP's membership had fallen significantly to 5,000. The first post-split parliamentary election was held that same year, and the DKP lost parliamentary representation for the first time since the liberation of Denmark, falling to 1.1% of the vote. The Socialist People's Party achieved 6.1% of the vote and 11 seats. The party achieved a resurgence following the 24th Congress of the DKP in 1973, which focused on demanding Denmark's withdrawal