It grew to become a major voice of dissension against the Communist regime in Hungary during the 1950s and had a significant role in sparking the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
By 1955, most of the high-ranking members of the Union were non-communists and decided to use the Irodalmi Újság as a means to call for reforms in the Hungarian government.
The flash point was reached as a delegation attempting to broadcast their demands was detained and the crowd grew increasingly unruly as rumors spread that the protesters had been shot.
Police cars were set ablaze, guns were seized from military depots and distributed to the masses and symbols of the communist regime were vandalized.
[5] During the night of 23 October, Hungarian Working People's Party Secretary Ernő Gerő requested Soviet military intervention "to suppress a demonstration that was reaching an ever greater and unprecedented scale.