The MCSZDP held its inaugural meeting on 1 October 1989 with 90 members under the leadership of writer and journalist Pál Farkas, also President of the Cultural Association of Hungarian Gypsies and editor-in-chief of the Cigány Újság from 1986 to 1993. The party claimed itself as a sister party to the Hungarian Social Democratic Party (MSZDP). In its programme, called "Romani people, Europe with Us!", the MCSZDP emphasized the legal and economic integration of the Romani people and also fought against ethnic discrimination.
