Balazs Nagy papers

This material is held atSenate House Library Archives, University of London

  • Reference
    • GB 96 MS1225
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1936 - 2015
  • Name of Creator
  • Language of Material
    • English French Hungarian Russian German Italian Spanish
  • Physical Description
    • 52 boxes

Scope and Content

Papers of Balazs Nagy (also known as Michel Varga). Subjects include: Hungarian uprising, 1956; Workers Aid to Bosnia, c1992-c1998; Tuzla miners, c1993-c2003; Petofi Circle, c1957-2007; Workers Revolutionary Party, c1976-c1995; Trotskyism in Eastern Europe (1960s-1970s), France, Namibia, South Africa; League of Hungarian Revolutionary Socialists; Imre Nagy Trust; International Communist Organisation (OCI); Socialist Labour League; the Fourth International / International League for the Reconstruction of the Fourth International; Workers International to Rebuild the Fourth International, 1990-c2014; Combat International, c1972-1988; Liga Internacionalista de los Trabajadores, c1974-1997, Ninth Congress of the Fourth International, 1984; Correspondents include Albert Camus, Bill Hunter, Dot Gibson, Bob Archer, Cliff Slaughter, Pierre Broue, Radoslav Pavlovic. Trotskyist periodicals and pamphlets including Workers International Internal Bulletin, 1990s-c2003; Quatrieme Internationale, 1938; Workers International Journal, 2014-2015. Also includes memoirs from 1944 onwards.

Administrative / Biographical History

Balazs Nagy was one of three secretaries of the Petofi Circle, formed in April 1956 by Hungarian intellectuals. He escaped over the border to Austria after the Russian invasion of Hungary, and became an exile in France. Nagy himself claimed to have had only a minor role in the Hungarian uprising of 1956. Instead he insisted that his true significance lay in his activities after 1963 as a "re-organiser" for Trotskyism in Eastern Europe. Nagy took the pseudonym Michel Varga for some of his writings. Nagy was involved in a number of schisms within the Trotskyist movement. He set up the International League for the Reconstruction of the Fourth International in 1973 but was expelled after a dispute in 1984. He later became Secretary of Workers International to Rebuild Fourth International.

Arrangement

The original order of the collection has been preserved.

Access Information

Open for research although at least 24 hours advance notice should be given. Some files have closure periods because of data protection legislation.