system, advocated by a growing faction of radical reformers in the party. Leader of Hungary Grósz remained prime minister until 24 November 1988, when he was succeeded by Miklós Németh, a representative of the radical reformer faction. As 1989 wore on, Grósz was increasingly sidelined by the radical reformers within the party, including Németh, Rezső Nyers, Gyula Horn and Imre Pozsgay. He tried to slow down, stop or reverse the radical changes advocated by his adversaries that were aimed at establishing a liberal political system and market economy in Hungary. He opposed the rehabilitation of the executed Imre Nagy, Prime Minister during the 1956 revolution. In order to prevent Nagy's political rehabilitation, Grósz gave a speech before the Central Committee of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party on 1 September 1989, where he provided some information on the former prime minister's alleged NKVD ties, however the committee decided not to publish the charges. Grósz's fate was sealed when he agreed to meet with Romanian leader Nicolae Ceaușescu to discuss what to do with a large number of ethnic Hungarians who had fled Romania. Many of Grósz' party colleagues thought he trusted Ceaușescu too much. He lost a good deal of authority as a result, and his standing never really recovered. On 26 June 1989, he became a member of a four-man collective presidency of the MSZMP, chaired by Nyers. Although Grósz retained his post as general secretary, Nyers now outranked him–and thus replaced him as the de facto leader of Hungary. However, he opposed the radical reformers' drive to reorganize the party as a social democratic party. He remained general secretary until 7 October, when the party reorganized itself as the Hungarian Socialist Party. Later life The communist ("hardline") faction, led by Grósz, was defeated at the congress and broke away in December 1989 as a new Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, with Grósz as its first acting chairman (later renamed Workers' Party and the 'Communist Workers' Party'). The party failed to win parliamentary representation in the first multiparty election in the newly formed Republic of Hungary. These elections took place on 25 March and 8 April 1990. On 7 January 1996, he died of kidney cancer at age 65 in Gödöllő, Hungary. Notes External links Address of Karoly Grosz before the National Press Club (USA), 1988 1930 births 1996 deaths People from Miskolc Members of the Hungarian Working People's Party Members