Personnel wore distinctive slate gray fatigues and "Lenin cap," and armed with spare weapons sourced from the Hungarian People's Army.

[1] The commanders of the organization were: The Workers' Militia was never deployed but served as a visible deterrent to opponents of the "soft dictatorship" of Kádár and the MSZMP, both real and perceived.

The organisation was largely unpopular with the Hungarian public, and even distrusted by the MSZMP's leadership to the point that its personnel were initially equipped with weapons but no ammunition.

Day-to-day activities of the Workers' Militia mainly consisted of civil work such as building flood defences and enforcing cordon sanitaires.

On 8 May 1985, the Central Committee of the MSZMP relinquished its direct control of the Workers' Militia, and on June 15, a Council of Ministers took over the supervision and controla.