Protesting, Destroying Symbols, Lynching, Onlooking, and Rallying

The paper discusses the activities, the behaviour, and the function of the crowd of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Based on contemporary documents, the study shows the characteristics of the mass movements of the 1956 Revolution. The main question is how the crowd, already explored theoretically by social psychology and other sciences, functioned in different settings: what types of gatherings and demonstrations emerged, how the local context and the social composition of the crowd influenced its behaviour, and how this was perceived by bystanders.