Caesar 15 - Factionalism in the Hungarian Communist Party

8/4/2019 Caesar 15 - Factionalism in the Hungarian Communist Party

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28 Januarv 1957

CURRENT INTELLIGENCE STUDY

FACTIONALISM IN THE HUNGARIAN WORKERS (COMMUNIST) PARTY(1945-1956)

Office of Current IntelligenceCENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY HR70-14(U)


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Sino-Soviet StaffOffice of Current IntelligenceReference Title: Caesar VI-B-57B

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CURRENT INTELLIGENCE STUDYFactionalism in the Hungarian Workers (Communist) Party

(1945-1956)

T h i s study is a working paper. It attemplsto discoverand analyze the major cliques, factions and alignments inthe Hungarian Workers (Communist) party since 1945 in termsof changing Soviet policy demands and the resultant con-flict of interest with the needs of local leaders and thecountry as aawhole. It is circulated to analysts of Sovietaffairs as a contribution to current interpretation ofSoviet policy. It I s also designed in part to meet theIAC requirement of 27 December 1955 for studies of faction-alism in the Satellite Communist parties.

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CAESAR V I - B - 5 7 2 ~

TABLF, OF CONTENTS

SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iINTRODUCTION: THE HUNGARIAN COMMUNIST PARTY P R I C R T O 1945

The Bela Kun Revolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Comintern Leaders of t h e Hungar i an Par ty . . . . . . . . Hungar ian Nat iv is t Communists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S h i f t of S o v i e t T a c t i c s t o t h e "Uni tedt t and "Popular"Front . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "Front" T a ct ic s i n Hungary (1936-41) . . . . . . . . . . l lPopu la r F ron t" Tac t i cs : Hungari ans i n t h e Span i sh. C i v i l War (1936-39) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Moscow Direction of t h e H u ng ar ia n P a r t y i n WorldWar I1 (1940-45). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -11Pa r t y Ac t i v i t i e s i n Hungary du r in g World War 11. . . . 13Format ion of t h e Hungarian Independence Fr on t (1944) . -1 4The P a r t i s a n s in R a k o s i ' s C a l c u l a t i o n s . . . . . . . . 16FORMATION OF THE HUNGARIAN WORKERS PARTYThe Muscovite Leadership of t h e P a r ty . . . . . . . . . la .E le m en ts i n t h e Party. .# . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

COERCION OF NATIVIST ELEMENTS I N THES PARTYThe Experiment with " N a t i o n a l Communism" (1945-48) . . 25The Condemnation of National Communism (1949). . . . . '27Es t a b l i sh m e n t of " D i c t a t o r sh i p of t h e Pro l e t a r i a t " . . 2 SD e s t r u c t i o n of Na ti on al Communist Elem ents in t h eP a r t y ( 1 9 4 9 ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2S

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=Advancement of Modera te Na t i on a l i s t s (1948-51) . . . . -31E l i m i n a t i o n of M o d e r a t e N a t i o n a l i s t s . . . , . . . . . .32

TEE STALINIST PARTY (1951-53)Role of t h e Rakosi-Gero Cl i que . . . . . . . . . . . .34I n c r e a se d P r e s su r e o n t h e R a k os i L e a d e r s h i p(Spring-Summer 1952). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -35Rakos i Asserts h i s Leadersh ip (Autumn 1952) . . . . . . .35Cha.nges in t h e R e l a t i v e P o s i t io n s o f Top P a r t yLeader s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36The "Anti-Zionistrf Purge. . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . .37, Removal of Z O P t a n Vas as P l a n n i n g Chief . . . . . . . .38Al le ge d Ra.kosi-Gero R1va.lry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 p

THE N E W COURSE: PHASE 1Immediate Consequences of S t a l i n ' s D ea th . . . . . . . -40I n d i c a t i o n s of V a .c i l l a t i o n and Lack of D i r e c t i v e s . . . -40P r e l u d e t o t h e Announcement of t h e N e w Course , . . . . -42The N e w Course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 2Announcement of t h e N e w Course . . . . . . . , . . . . .43Ftakosi's 11 July Pronouncement . . . . . . . . . . . . .45D o c t r i n a i r e Opposition t o New Course EconomicP o l i c i e s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45S t r e n g t h e n i n g C o l l e c t i v e Leadership. . . . . . . . . . .46Repercuss ions of t h e F a l l of Ber ia . . . . . . . . . . .46

THE NEW COURSE: NAGY ASSERTS HIS LEADERSHIP (May-November 1954)The Th i rd Pa r t y Congress (23-30 May) . . . . . . . . . .48Emergence of a Nagy Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49


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Party Dissension over-the ole of the PatrioticPeoples Front . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5.LThe "Test of Strength" (1-3 October) . . . . . . . . . .s1Patriotic Peoples Front. . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . -5 3Release of Victims of Stalinist Oppression" , . . . . .,53Status of Affairs, Autumn 1954 . . . . . . . , . . . . ..54

RAKOSI'S RETURN TO W W E R (December 1954-January 1956)Rakosi Takes Over. . . . . . . . . . . . . . , , . . . . . S 6Condemnation of the Nagy Policies (March). . . . . . . .5?Party Condemnation of Nagy (April) . . . . . . . . . . 1:58Increasing Emphasis on Hard Doinestlc Policj .es. (June) . .69The Yugoslav Issue . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . , .G1Appearance of Revolutionary Elements: The WritersRevolt (September-November) . . . . . . . . . . . .62Counter-Offensive of the Party (November-December) . . ..63(22 February-24 October 1956)DISINTEGRATION OF THE HUNGARIAN WORKERS PARTYEffects of the Twentieth soviet. arty, .. , :. .> . , . . . .65Dissension in the Central Committee. . . . . . . . . . .66Stalinists, Liberals and Moderates . . . . . . . . . . . 6 6 The Kremlin's Dilemma. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 7

: .. . Growing Strength of t,he nti-Rakosi Opposition . . . . ..68Continued Vacillation of the Kremlin . . . . . . . . . . 7 0 Rakosi Reverts to Harsh Tactics. . . . . . . . . . . . ..71The Fall of Rakosi . . . . . . . . . . . . , , . . . . . 7.2Cero as Party Chief. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72


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The Gem0 P o l i c i e s . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73The "Moderate Nation alist'* Po si ti on . . . . . . . . . . .74Demands of the N a g y Faction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 5The Yugoslav Factor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76The Eve of the Revolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77The Pol i sh Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75Nagy and Kadar Take Over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78

DESTRUCTION OF T86 HUNGARIAN WORKERS PARTYOSTLUDB:I n i t i a l Co-operation of Liberals and Moderates i nPncreasingly Revolutionary C h a r a c t e r of the N a g y

Support of the Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80Government. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80

The Woderates**Sabotage th e Revolution. . . . . . . . .81Pate'of N a g y and h i s Adherents . . . . . . . , . . . . .82Fate of t he S t a l i n i s t s . . . . . . . . . . . . '. . . . .8 2The Hungarian S o c i a l i s t Workers Party. . . . . . . . . .83

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.FACTIONALISM I N THE HUNGARIAN WORKERS '![COMMUNIT) PARTY(1945-1956)

The Hungarian Workers (Communist) Party from i t s i n c e p t i o nin 1918 f i g ur e d i n S o v i et p o li c y a s an i n s t r u m e n t of p e n e t r a t i o nand , a f t e r 1944, dominat ion i n Hungary . A t t h e h e i g h t o f i t spower i t numbered a lmost one mil l i on members and , under t h e le ade r-s h i p of Matyas Rakosi, HPnngary'8 ' ' l i t t l e S t a P i n , " h e l d c o n t r o lo v e r e v e r y a s p e c t of Hungarian l i f e , The p a r t y w as s h a t t e r e d a st h e r e s u l t of a se r i e s of Sov i e t po l ic y moves cu lm ina t ing in t h ede -Sta l in iza t ion p ronouncemen ts of Khrushchev and Mikoyan a t t h e20t h con gre ss of t h e So vie t Communist Pa r t y , These measuress p l i t t h e p ar t y i n t o h o s t i l e f a c t i o n s rand p r e c i p i t a t e d d i s s e n s i o ni n t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n from t o p t o bottom. The v i r t u a l d e s t r u c ti o nof t h e p a r t y was completed by t h e So v ie t armed reco nques t ofHungary in November 1956,mission imposed on t h e p a r t y r e q u i r e d t h a t i t be headed by indi-v i d u a l s c o mp l et e ly loyal t o t h e K re m lin, To s e c u r e s u ch a t o pcommand, Moscow in p a s t y ea r s b u i l t * u p a c o r p s of c a r e f u l l yt r a i n e d H u n g a r i a n e m i g r k , in large number Jewish , chosen fo rs u p pl e n e ss , t e n a c i t y , i n t e l l i g e n c e a nd l a c k of n a t i o n a l s e n t i -ments. A t t h e close of World War PI t h i s group of "Muscovites,"l e d by Matyas Rakosi, re tu rn ed w i t h S o v i e t armies t o r u l e H un ga ryin t h e i n t e r e s t s o f t h e K rem lin, using any t a c t i c s which appearedn e c e s s a r y f o r t h e p u r po s e w i t h i n t h e g e n e r a l fram ew ork of S o v i e tpo l i c i es . H e e n l i s t e d t h e s u pp or t of op t imis t s a n d o p p o r t u n i s t swho b e l i ev e d t h a t t h e w e l f ar e of t h e c o u nt r y and t h e i r own ad-vancement might be g a in ed by c o l l a b o r a t i o n w i th Moscow and ar e a s o n a b l e degree of s o c i a l i z a t i o n of the Hungarian economy andsoc ia l s t r u c t u r e . In t h e c o u rs e of year@, Rakosi b u i l t up BCv e l l - i n t e g r a t e d h i e r a r c h y of o f f i c i a l s , c ho se n from n a t i v i s tCommunis t s and co l labora to r s , c lo se ly t i e d t o h i m s e l f p e r s o n a l l y ,but t ressed by an e f f e c t i v e s e c u r i t y police s t r u c t u r e and sus-Hungary. The se ' i n d iv i d u a l s were g i v e n careful t r a i n i n g t o f i tthem f o r t h e i r f u n ct i o n of r u l i n g Hungary i n t h e i n t e r e s t s oft h e K r e m l i z i .

In vi o le nt l y ant i-Communiot and ant i -S ovi e t Hungary , t h e

, t a i n ed i n t h e Past a n a l y s i s by t h e p r e s e n c e of S o v i e t t r o o p s i n

A t each major Sov i e t po l icy change , the Hungar ian pa r tyl e a d e r s h i p w as r e q u i r e d t o implement Moscow-dictated d i r e c t i v e sw hich o f t e n r a n c o u n t e r t o H un gar ia n n a t i o n a l i n t e r e s t s , re-qu i r ed t h e demotion or d e s t r u c t i o n of i n d i v i d u a l s in h ig h


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p o s i t i o n s and evoked t h e bi'*trL; hatred of t h e Hungar ian people .T h i s s i t u a t i o n c o n fr o nt e d t h e H un ga ri an leaders w i t h a d i r e c tc o n f l i c t of i n t e r e s t s . A t va r i ou s moments , c e r t a i n Communis ts. r e fu s e d t o a b i d e by t h e K r e m l i n d e c i s i o n s and c h o se t h e i n t e r -es t s of Hungary.es t s was p layed down ' fn accordance wi t h a f o r m u l a p e r m i t t i n g aTi u n g a r i a n r oa d , t o so ct a li sm. ' ' The r e v e r s a l of t h i s t o l e r a t i o nof " na ti o n a l Communism" f ol lo w in g . t h e break b e t w e e n S t a l i n andT i t o l e d t o t h e f a l l of le ad in g Hungar ian Communists, not abl yL a s z l o Rajk. But t h e d e a t h of Ra j k w a s only t h e f i r s t s t e p i ns t amping out s m ou ld er in g H un ga ri an r e s i s t a n c e t o r u t h l e s s S o v i e t -i z a t i o n now imposed on t h e c o u n t r y u n d e r t h e l e a d e r s h i p af Rakosiand h i s Muscov i t e co l l eagues Gero, Revai and Farkas. High-rank-ing So c i a l Democra ts who had j o i n e d t h e p a r t y soon p r o v e d u n r e l i -a b l e (1950) a n d d i s t i n g u b h e d l o c a l Communists--notably JanosKadar--who had a t t e mpe d t o c o - o p e r a t e f o l l o w i n g t h e d e a t h ofRajk a l s o were imprisoned. As a r e s u l t . o f these purges, a l l op-p o s i t i o n e l e m e n ts i n H ungary were e i t h e r in p r i s o n or t e r r i f i edi n t o s i l e n c e . The purged e lements were replaced by young "hard"Communists provided w i t h i n t e n s i v e S o v i e t i n d o c t r i n a t i o n .

ID the e a r l y years of Communist ru l e , t h e c o n f l i c t of i n t e r -

Major blows were d e a l t t o t h e Muscov i te l e ad er s by t h e' *Zion i s t " purges of 1952-53 and the concurrent economic cr i s i st h a t l e d t o r ep lacement s in $he H u n ga r ia n p l a n n i n g a p p a r a t u s .Although Rakosi managed t h e s e matters w i t h groat s k i l l , t h ep u r g e s p o i n t e d u p t h e predominant ly Jewish c h r r a c t e r of t h e p a r t yl e a d e r s h ip i n a c o u n t r y where an t i -Semi t i sm was l a t e n t , andemphasized t h e d i s a s t r o u s e f f e c t s of acceleratod i n d u s t r i a l i z a -t i o n and c o l l e c t i v i z a t i o n on t h e Hungar ian economy.in t h e summer of 1953 brought new p e r s o n a l i t i e s t o t h e f o r e andi n s t i t u t e d l i b e r a l i z e d p o l i c i e s in a g r i c u l t u r e and i n d u s t r y at't h e e x pe n se o f d o c t r i n a i r e Comm unists who had p r o f i t e d frome a r l i e r e co nom ic p o l i c i e s . V i o l e n t o p p o s i t i o n from'these ele-ments was silenced by' Rakosi, a p p a r e n t l y on MOSCOW'S o r d e r s ,a nd t h e new p o l i c i e s e n f o rc e d . During t h e summer of 1954, Nagyemerged a s a genuine leader backed by t h e m a j o r i ty of t h e c e n t r a lcommittee.popular ' suppor t and h i s encouragement of u n r e s t r a i n e d cr i t ic ismof regime po l i c i es drove Rakosi t o seek t h e s u p p o r t of t h e Krem-lin a g a i n s t Ilagy. M ea nw hile , t h e l i b e r a t i o n of Janos Kadar ando ther impr i soned Communis t s u t r eng thened par ty moderate forces

The proc lamat ion of t h e N e w Course w i t h Imre Nagy a s premSer

But Nagy's r e s o r t t o e x t r a p a r t y mechanisms t o gain

' a g a i n s t t h e f o r m e r l e a d e r sh i p .


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In l a t e November Rakosi r e t u r n e d t o Hungary, a f t e r t w Omonths i n MOSCOW, t o l a y down a d o c t r in a i r e l i n e on p o l i t i c - a 1and economic issues and , following t h e d em o tion of Malenkw int h e Sovie t Union, t o demote Nagy and h i s adheren ts . The pa r t yleade rsh ip however , w as unab le t o force Nagy--sustained by al a rge f a c t i o n in t h e ce n t ra l committee -- ln to submiss ion and heth e r e f o r e r e m a in e d the r a l l y i n g p o i n t fo r t h e r a p i d l y g ro wi ngopp osi t io n . The Rakosi-Gero c l i q u e renewed i t s emphasis oni n d u s t r i a l i z a ? i o n and c o l l e c t i v i z a t i o n , in connec t ion w i t b p lan -n i n g for t h e Second Five-Year P la n d u e t o b e g in i n 1956, anda t t e m p te d t o coerce i t s c r i t i c s i n t o aubmiss ion . The g roup wasg r e a t l y r e s t r a i n e d , how ever, by t h e Kr e ml i n' s c u r r e n t a t t em p tt o p r e s e n t an appea rance of m od er at io n, p a r t i c u l a r l y i n i t sr e l a t i o n s w i th T i t o of Yugoslavia . These a p p a r e n t l y l i b e r a lSo v ie t p o l i c i e s , how ever, s t im u la t e d t h e H u ng ar ia n o p p o s i t i o ni n t o m ou nt in g demands for .a "thawsc i n Hungary.

by a la rge f a c t i o n in t h e p a r t y c e n t r a l committee resorted t oo pe n d e f i a n c e of R a ko s i ( t h e s o - c a l l ed Writers' Revol t ) . Thep a r t y l e a d e r sh i p was fo rced t o resor t t o coerc ive measu res t os i l e n c e i t s oppo nent s. They found i t n e ce s sa r y t o t a k e t h elong-de layed ac t ion of e x p e l l i n g Imre Nagy from th e par t y as ameans of q u i e t i n g cr i t i c i sm i n t h e c e n t r a l committee.

In t h e autumn of 1955, Hungarian w r i t e r s apparen t ly backed

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The extreme de- St aP ini zat ion pronouncements of Khrushchevand Mikoyan a t t h e 20 th congress of the Sovie t Communis t Par tyd e a l t a d r a s t i c blow t o t h e Rakosi regime and encouraged his. o pp o ne n ts i n t o renew ed e f f o r t s t o oust h i m a n d i n s t i t u t e liberalized p o l i c i e s . From t h i s po i n t . forward , Rakooi was mainta inedIn power only by the K re ml in w hich a p p a r e n t l y b e l i e v e d t h a t h i sexper ienced hand V I S needed t o c o n t r o l t h e d an ge ro us f a c t i o n a l -i s m i n t h e Hungar ian pa r ty and con ta in Hungar iaa nationalfsm en-couraged by t h e Krem l inv s woo ing of T i t o . Y e t t h e r e t e n t i o n ofRakosi c o n t r a r y t o announced Sov i e t de -S ta l in i za t ion measu resd r o v e t h e Hu ng ar ia n o p p o s i t i o n i n t o a f r e n z y . A t meet ings a tthe P e t o f i Club, r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s of e a e r y sector of Hungarianl i f e - - i n c lu d in g army o f f i c e r s a nd former pa r t i s an and undergroundfighte rs--dem anded t h e removmP of Rakosi. Rakosi sought inv a i n t o conv ince his opponents t h a t h e w a s g e n ui n e ly c a r r y i n go u t t h e correct S o v i e t l i n e .

The mounting f u r y of t h e o p p o s i t i o n , r e a c h in g a. climax a tt h e 27 June mee t ing of t h e P e t o f i Club--and Raliost's d e c i s i o nt o use har sh measu res t o bring h i s o p po n en t s i n t o l in e -- f or c edt h e K re ml in t o make a decis ion .in mid-July , chal lenged Rakost's p r o p o s a l s a n d was r e p o r t e d l ys u s t a i n e d by Khrusbcheo. On 18 July , R ak os i r es i gn ed a s f i r s ts e c r e t a r y of the Hungarian Workers Pa r t y , g iv ing a s h i s r ea so ns e r i o u s v i o l a t i o n s of the " c u l t of p e r s o n a l i t y . v s

Mikogsn ar r ived i n B ud ap es t

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A t t h i s p o i n t , t h e Kremlin might have res tored u n i t y t o t h eHungar i an par ty by t a k i n g t h e bold c o u r s e of r e h a b i l i t a t i n g ImreNagy and promoting Kadar t o t h e h e ad of t h e p a r t y .Mikoyan approved t h e s u b s t i t u t i o n of Gero f o r R a k o si . T h i s moveappeared t o t h r e a t e n a r e t u r n t o t h e p o l i c i e s of a c c e l e r a t e d i n -d u s t r i a l i z a t i o n and f or ce d c o l l e c t i v i z a t i o n , a .lt ho ug h Gerosk e t c h e d o u t more moderate po l i c i es . Al though Kadar and th eformer S o ci al Democrat Marosan were e l e v a t e d to t h e p o l i t i c a lcommittee, d o c t r i n a i r e e l e m e nt s ma i nt a in e d t h e i r a sc en da nc y.

Oppos i t ion elements from t h e pro-Nagy and pro-Kadar f a c t i o n sof t h e p a r t y were encouraged by t h e s e maneuvers t o b a r g a i n w i t ht h e r eg im e. I n d i c a t i o n s t h a t t h e K re ml in I t s e l f w as v a c i l l a t i n gbetween a crackdown on P o l i s h n a t i o n a l i s t s a.nd c o n t i n u e d e nc ou r-agement of t h e "thawvt a l s o sp u r r e d t h e H u ng a ri a ns t o t a k e a ,b o l d e r c o u r se . On t h e other hand , Gero ' s con t inued stress on

I n s t e a d ,

d o c t r i n a i r e c o n s i d e ra t i o n s k e pt h i s o p p o n e n t s a l i v e t o t h ep o s s i b i l i t y of a r e t u r n t o har sh measures- -a p o s s i b i l i t y mademore r e a l by i nc re as in g symptoms of a t o ug h or S o v i e t p o l i c y to -ward Yugosl avia. These va ry in g developments combined t o maket h e three months pr ior t o t h e October r e v o l u t i o n a per iod inwhich hope and fear combined t o produce r e ck le ss da r in g amongHungar ians.. The c r i s i s came i n e a r l y October--when Gero and Kadar wereb o t h o u t of t h e coun t ry .Nagy a .dherents i n conne ct ion w i t h t h e r e b u r i a l of Laszlo RajkIn t h e n a t i o n a l c e me te ry on 6 October t u rn e d i n t o a n a t i o n a l i s tm a n i f e s t a t i o n w i t h d i s t i n c t a n t i- S o v i e t i m p l i c a t i o n s di rec teda g a i n st t h e Gero regime.na t ion encouraged by P o l i s h d e f i a n c e of t h e Kremlin reached a %c l i m a x In t h e 23 October demonStra t ion staged b y s t u d e n t s . Whent h e s e d e m o n s tr a t io n s t ur n ed i n t o r i o t s l e a d i n g t o t h e full-scalef i g h t i n g b et we en AVH t r o o p s a nd t h e r i o t e r s (24 O c t o b e r ) , S o v i e tt r o o p s i n t e r v e n e d . The re vo lu t io n had begun.

m a i n t a i n c o n t r o l of e v en t s. T he c e n t r a l committee and p o l i t i c a lcommittee w e r e ca l led i n t o s e s s i o n on t h e n i g h t of 23 October .Panicky par ty leaders-presumably Gero--called for S o v i e t a i dunder t h e Wa.rsaw pact. During t h e s t o r m y a l l - n i g h t session, thes e v e n r e m a i n i n g S t a l i n i s t s were r e p l a c e d by t w o moderates andone N a g y i s t , and Na.gy was r e i n s t a l l e d as premier . The fo l lowingd a y (25 October) , Gero was replaced by Ja n o s Kadar. The changei n l e ad e rs h i p c a m e f a r t oo l a t e t o win conf idence f rom the r e -els.

A mammoth demonstration staged by

Mount ing exci tement throughout the

The pa r t y l ea der sh i p made a despera te -bu t va in= -e f fo r t t o

The moderates under Kadar and l i be ra l s l e d by Nagy main-t a i n e d u n i t y for a sh or t per io d. Nagy's endorsement of inc rea s-in g ly anti-Communist a n d ant i -S ovi et noves--culminat ing i n t h ei v


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withdrawal of Hungary from the Warsaw pact and t h e p r o c l a m a t io nof n e u t r a l i t y und er t h e p r o t e c t i o n of t h e UN d r ov e t h e s o - c a l l e d**moderates**o s e e k r e f u g e w i th Sov i e t tr oo ps . The newly formedHungarian S o c i a l i s t W orkers P a r t y became t h e v e h i c l e of t h e d i s -credi ted Kadar pa r ty l eade rsh ip . On 4 November, Kadar announcedthe fo rma t ion o f a new Revolutionary Workers and Peasants Govern-a r y @ *orces in Hungary.as i t exis ted f o r a lm o s t 40 y e a r s .Sov ie t Un ion ,dead , ,o r i n d i s c a r d .l e a v i n g t h e i r s a n c t u a r y i n t h e Y ug os la v embassy were s e i z e d byS o v i e t t r o o p s and a re now being h e l d in Rumania.**moderates**ead a sham pa r ty - - t he H u ng a ri a n S o c i a l i s t WorkersPar ty -an o rgan iza t ion of d i sc red i t ed f u n c t i o n a r i e s f rom t h eRakosi reg ime, c l a imi ng a membership of l e s s than 100,000 andt o t a l l y l a c k i n g i n e nt hu si as m or s e n s e of m is s io n . I t is t h ecreature o f t h e S o v i e t f o r c o s s t a t i o n e d i n X ungary.

. ment and appea led fo r S o v i et a i d t o put down "counterrevolu t ion-These events mark t h e d e a th of t h e Hungarian Communist Pa rt yLeading S t a l i n i s t s a r e - i n , t h eNagy and h i s a s s o c i a t e s a f t e r

The remain ing

28 J a n u a r y 1957

Li .

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CHAPTER ITHE HUNGARIAN CORIMUNIST PARTY

PRIOR TO 1 9 45

1. The Bela Kun RevolutionThe Hungarian Communist Party was founded on 20 November1918 f rom an agg reg a t io n of former p r i s o n e r s of war j u s t re -t u rned f rom Russ i a and a few Hungarian extreme l e f t i s t s nomi-n a l l y b e l on g in g t o t h e S o c i a l Democratic P a r t y .leader was Bela Kun, who had r e c e i v e d e x t e n s i v e B o l s h e v i k in-d o c t r i n a t i o n i n R u s s i a an d r e p o r t e d l y h a d b ee n i n c o n t a c t w i t hLenin. Among h i s l i eu te na nt s were Eugene Varga, Matyas Rakos i

an d a number of i n d i v i d u a l s who s u b s e q u e n t l y f o rm ed t h e "Mus-c o v i t e " c o r p s o f t h e Hungarian Communist Party leadership.S p e c i a l l y t r a i n e d i n t h e Soviet Union, c lose ly re la ted by t h e i rcommon e xp er ie nc es and i n some cases by marr iage , mainly ofJ e w i s h o r i g i n , these Communislsform a c l o s e l y k n i t g r ou p d o n gwhom i t i s d i f f i c u l t t o detec t s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e s . * ' Laterev idence makes clear , however, t h a t some of them were somewhatm o r e n a t i o n a l i s t in o r i e n t a t i o n t h a n o t h e r s ( e . g . I m r e Nagy).

The new par ty ' s

In March 1918 t h i s g roup seized c o n t r o l of t h e Hunga r ianThey b u i l t u p t h e p a r t y member-

.government a s a r e s u l t of t h e v a c i l l a t i n g p o l i c i e s of t h ee x i s t i n g r eg im e in t h e face of the economic and p o l i t i c a lcr is is r e s u l t i n g from WW I .s h i p among t r o o p s d e m o ra l iz e d by t h e defeat a nd d i s i n t e g r a t i o nof t h e Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and unemployed i ndus t r i a lworke rs of extremist . t endenCies They re t a in ed power for lesst h a n six months du r in g which th e attempt t o over throw and* From the viewpoint of l a t e r H un ga ri an h i s t o r y , t h e f o l l o w i n gassociates of Bela Kun are of s p e c i a l importance .(Deputy Commissar of Commerce), Gyorgy Lu kac s (Deputy Commissarf o r Ed uc at io n) , Fe re nc Munnlch (commander of t h e Red g a r r i s o ni n Budapest and a p o l i t i c a l c ommissar i n t h e R e d army), I m r eNagy ( r ep or t e d l y Communist p o l i t i c a l boss in Somogy c o u nt y i nsou the rn Hungary) , Ern0 Gero, Jozsef Revai , Erzsebkt: Anllfics-.addh e r l a t e r husband Andor Berei, L a j o s B ebr i t s , G y u l a and JozsefBajd u, Gyula Hay, I m r e Horsath, Sandor Nogradi (in army) , B e l aan d Z o lt an Sz an to , Andras Szobek, L-Tibor Dery-;and 3aLtan Vas :(afellosr p r i s o n e r of Rakosi i n S i b e r i a ) .and Lasz lo Rudas wrote a c co u n ts o f t h e r e v o l u t i o n .

Matyas Rakosi

B e l a Kun, ~ e l a zan to

Y


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.. .. .

. .. ., .. .

.-

Hungary, where a g r i c u l t u r e p l a y ed a major r o l e , t h i sconcept would l a t e r be ju d g e d a major er ro r by S t a l i n -is t c r i t i c s .b. Matyas Rakosi: Despite Kun's pre-eminence, i t i sc l e a r t h a t t y a s Rakosi q u i c k l y became a k e y f i g u r ei n t h e H un ga ri an s e c t i o n o f the Cominte rn. The sonof a s m a l l Jewish merchant , Rakosi , l i k e Kun, hads e r v e d i n t h e Au st ro -H un ga ri an army u n t i l h i s c ap -t u r e bv t h e R u s s i a ns i n 1 9 15 . T h i s marked t h e deci-s i v e e p i s o de of his career . H e r e c e i v ed i n t e n s i v eCommunist i nd oc t r in a t io n and re t u r ne d t o Hungary t ot a k e a small ro le i n t h e B e l a Kun re vo lu t i on . Int h e e x e r c i s e o f h i s r e p o n s i b i l i t i e s , he demons t ra tedt he enormous ene rgy , d r iv in g w i l l a n d a b s o l u t e l o y a l t yt o t h e K r em li n t h a t q u a l i f i e d him f o r h i s subsequen tl e a d e r s h i p of t h e H un ga ri an p a r t y . H e went back t oR u s s ia i n 1 92 0, r e p o r t e d t o t h e Th ir d Comintern Con-g r e s s on t h e H u ng ar ia n r e v o l u t i o n a n d so on becames e c r e t a r y o f t he . C o min te r n' s Ex e c u t i v e Committee. ,D ur in g h i s l a t e r career, he g a in e d i n c r e a s in g a s c e n d -a ncy o v e r t h e s q u a bb l i ng f a c t i b n s of t h e H u n g a r i a n .pa r t y and ou tp layed h i s Comin te rn - co l lea gue s , hard-d r i v i n g b u t a u s t e r e Ern o Cero and Jozse f Reva i , the" . .i d e o l o g i s t of t h e group. A t some t i m e he becamei d e z t l f i e d with t h e O??GSitiOZ to Eela Kun. Vhen andupon what grounds remain t o be a s c e r t a in e d f r o m e v i -dence n o t p r e s e n t l y a v a i l a b l e .

R a k o s i ' s m a in q u a l i t y , a s i t developed throught h e y e a r s , w a s a s hr ew dne ss an d f l e x i b i l i t y t h a tenab led h i m t o x s e pe op le of a l l c a p a b i l i t i e s i n t h ef u l f i l l m e n t of Sov ie t pu rposes . The most h a t e d mani n Hungary d u r in g t h e post-PTW I1 y e a r s , h e i n s p i r e d' t e r r o r by h i s a b i l i t y t o outmaneuver , con fuse andd i v i d e h i s en em ie s and e f f e c t h i s own ends . There'i s no d ou bt t h a t t h e se q u a l i t i e s of Rakos i eno r -mous ly con t r ibu ted t o t h e e s t a b l i s hm e n t of S o v i e tpower i n Hungary. There is a l s o no d ou bt t h a t t h emethods which he used robbed t h e pa r t y of any r e a lb a s i s . o f p o p ul a r s up p or t i n t h e c o u n t r y , Rakosin e v e r ' w i l l i n g l y s u r re n d er e d o ne i o t a of a c t u a l con-t r o l t o a l o ca l Communist who f o r any reason wha teve rpossessed independen t s t r e ng th i n Hungary . From t h ebeg inn ing , h e r e l i e d on members of h i s own c l i q u e t oconduc t impor tan t l i a i s o n m is s io n s a n d se lec ted mem-bers of mi no ri ty groups--main ly Jewksh--for a c t i v el e a d e r s h i p i n H ungary.Ralrosi was t h e c l o s e c o u n t e r pa r t of S t a l i n .I n a l l t h e s e r e s p e c t s ,

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.. .

.

c . E f f o r t s o f t h e Comintern t o Develop t h e HungarianP a r t y : A t t h e i n s t a n c e o f Bela Kun, t h e Cominternmade a number o f e f f o r t s t o d e v e lo p a s t r o n g Commu-n i s t movement i n Hungary . Succe ss w a s a t b e s tmediocre. Th r e e p e r s o n s were s e n t , o n e a f t e r a n o th e r ,t o a ssum e l e a d e r sh i p o f t h e d i so r g a n i z e d a n d m u t u a l l yh o s t i l e f a c t i o n s of t h e i l l e g a l p a rt y- -E r n0 G ero (1 9 2 2 ) ,Matyas Rakos i (1924) and Zo l t a n Szan to ( abou t 1927) . A l lZBre a r r es t e&. , t s f t e r :brief- p e t i o d s : - o f > . a c t i w i t y . _ In 1928Run himself w a s arrested i n A u s t r i a w h i le s e e k i n g t or e o r g a n i z e on e d i s p e r s e d f a c t i o n o f t h e p a r t y . Oft h e s e a t t e m p t s , t h a t o f Rakosi was m o s t s u c c e s s f u l .In 1924, a f t e r t he Comin te rn had pronounced t h e d i s -s o l u t i o n of t h e H un ga ri an p a r t y- - t he f i r s t of threed i s s o l u t i o n s im posed by Moscow--Rakosi arrived i nHungary, w e l l su pp l i ed wi th money and a i d e s , channe ledthrough Vienna. With him came h i s r i g h t - h a n d m an,Zo l t a n V a s ( n 6 W e i nb e r ge r ). They j o i n e d o ne f a c t i o nof t h e d i s o r g a n i z e d p a r t y a nd o r g a n i z ed t h e f i r s tp a r t y c o n g r e s s , h e l d s e c r e t l y i n V ie nn a i n A ugust1925. On t h e i r r e tu rn t o Hungary bo th were ar res ted ,t r i e d a nd s e n t en c e d t o p r i s o n where th ey remaineklu n t i l 1 940 , . ..

'

3. Hungar ian Nat iv is t Communists

Communism, whi ch may a l s o have profi ted from dimming memoriesof t h e B e l a Kun re vo lu t i on .c r u i t s w a s added t o the i l l e g a l p a r t y from among s tu de n t s i nBudapest and o the r l a r g e c i t i e s a n d among i n d u s t r i a l w o r ke r s.But t h e P a r t y l i n e pr op ou nd ed by Bela Kun remained e s s e n t i a l l yimpotent t o draw o f f r e a l s t r e n g t h fro m t h e two major oppos i -t i o n p a r t i e s t h en a c t i v e i n p a r l ia m e n t -- t h e Social Democrats,power fu l i n t h e g rowing Hungari an work ing c lass a nd t h e I n d e -p en de nt S m a l l ho l d e rs , r e p r e s e n t i n g t h e c a u s e of a g r a r i a n r e f o r m .

The d e p r e s s i o n o f t h e e a r l y t h i r t i e s * g a v e . s o m e m p e t u s * toA smal l c o n t i n g e n t of f i g h t i n g re-

a . La sz l o R a j k: The o u t s t a n d i n g 'H un ga ri an r e c r u i t o fN e i t h e ro m m u n i sm t t h i s p e r i o d w a s Laszlo Rajk .Jewis h no r "Muscovi te" bu t of German or ig in , he wasa p r o d u c t of Communist i n f l u e n c e on B u d a p e s t c o l l e g es t u d e n t s . A p p a r e n t l y possessed of c o n s i d e r a b l e dy-namic charm, he s u cc e ed e d i n c o l l e c t i n g ar ou n d h i m -s e l f a gro up of 'IHungarian" Communists, some of themh i s f e l l o w s t u d e n t s a t Eotvos College.s c h o o l , h e a p p e a r s t o h av e j o i n e d t h e c o n s t r u c t i o nworkers union and become s u f f i c i e n t l y a c t i v e as ano r g a n i z e r t o h a ve b ee n a r r e s t e d by t h e p o l i c e . T h en a t u r e o f h i s a c t i v i t i e s , however, i s comple te ly

Expe l l ed f rom

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obscured a s 2 r e s u l t of r e v i s i o n s of h i s t o r y u n d e r -taken by o f f i c i a l Communist h i s t o r i a n s who f i r s t. s ou gh t t o b u i l d up h i s r e p u t a t i o n and t h e n t o b l a c ke nit c o m p l e t e l y .

b . Communist Labor Leaders: A f e w Communis t pe r sona l i t i e sg a i n e d some s t a t u r e i n t h e labor u n i o n s d u r i n g t h ee a r l y t h i k t i e s . * '. Anlong them,. Janos .Radar. was mosC':i m p o r t a n t i n terms of post-WW XI p o l i t i c s . O f p o s s i b l eYugos lav o r ig in , he came from Fiume t o Budapest w herehe became ac t ive i n t h e s t ee l workers union and, ont h e e v e . o f WW P I , an i n f l u e n t i a l l eader i n t h e under-g r o u n d p a r t y o r g a n i z a t i o n . I t is p r o b a b l e t h a t hega ined h i s a b id in g i n t e r e s t i n s e c u r i t y mat te rs a tt h i s p e r i o d . H e d i d n o t , however, succeed i n a c h i e v i n gt o p p a r t y l e a d e rs h i p .Other porninent Communists a lso were a c t i v e i nlabor union p o l i t i c s , o f t e n a s a l l i e s of l e f t - w i n gS o c i a l Democrats. T he se i n d i v i d u a l s , a f t e r t h e Commu-n i s t t ake-over , wou ld be advanced as g e n u in e r e p r e -s e n t a t i v e s of t h e working c l a s s a n d g i v e n p o s i t i o n sof power i n t h e new government.

4 , S h i f t o f S o v i e t T a c t i c s t o t h e "United" and "Popu1a r" 'FrontThe m aj or s h i f t o f S o v i e t t a c t i c s t o t h e " a n t i - f a s c i s tp e o p l e s f r o n t " l i n e e n u n c i a t e d by D im i tr o v at t h e S e v e n t hComintern congress (1935) had d r a s t i c r e p e r c u s s i o n s on t h eHungari an p a r t y . ' Accord ing t o t h e h i s t o r i a n of t h e p e r i o d ,

G y u l a Kal l a i : " I t w a s t h e h i s t o r i c a l t a sk of t h e Communistp a r t i e s of v a r i o u s c o u n t r i e s t o o u t l i n e a nd p u t i n t o p r a c t i c et h e s e g e n e r a l p r i n c i p l e s i n c o nf o rm i ty w i t h t h e p e c u l i a r c o n d i-t i o n s in t h e i r r e s p e c t i v e c o un t ri e s. ' ' The " l e t t e r of comrade-s h i p " of J a nu a ry 1 93 6 c on ve yi ng t h e new S o v i e t l i n e i n s t r u c t e dlocal l e a d e r s t o abandon th e long- s t and ing concep t of t h e smallc o n s p i r a t o r i a l p a r t y w or kin g f o r immediate world r e v o l u t i o na n d t o i m p l e m e n t t ac t i c s c a l l i n g fo r c r e a t i o n of a "broad\

*unions i n c l u d e t h e f o ll o wi n g:I s t v a n B a t a , Arpad Hazi, I s t v a n Hidas (meta lworker s ) , Karo lyK i s s ( l e a t h e r w o r k e r s ) , I s t v a n K ova cs , I s t v a n K r i s t o f ( l e a t h e r -workers) , Jozsef Xobol (woodworkers) , Jozsef Mekis ( i ronworker s? ) ,Sandor Nogradi ( i ron work er s ) , Gabor P e t e r , Laszlo Piros ( b u t c h -e r s j , , b f i h a l y Zso fi n y e cz ( f o u n dr y workers) .

Oth er Communists o r crypto-Communists conn ecte d w i t h t r a d eAnta1 Apro ( c o n s t r u c t i o n w o r k e r s ) ,

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18/94

The f u l l s t o r y o f t h e c on se qu en ce s of t h e f a l lof B e l a Kun rema ins t o be w r i t t e n . I t s immediatee f f e c t was t o s p l i t o f f " T r o t s k y i t e " f a c t i o n s whoclaimed t o p r es e rv e t h e o r i g i n a l d o c tr i n e, t o s t r e n g t h e na n t i - S o v i e t e l ement s i n t h e p a r t y and t o augment popu-la r r e v u l s i o n a t S o v i e t p o l i c y . T he se d i v i s i v e e f -f e c t s were l a t e r b l u r r e d over by p a r t y h i s t o r i a n s i na n a t t e m p t t o p r e s e r v e the myth o f p a r t y u n i t y ,

Matyas Rakosi was f o r t u n a t e e noug h t o b e i n aH un ga ri an p r i so n d u r i n g t h i s per iod . H e was t h u s. enab led t o e sc a p e t h e consequences of t h e S t a l i n i s tp ur ge s w hi le a c q u i r i n g t h e s t a t u s o f o f f i c i a l m a r ty ro f t h e p a r t y . In t h e m ea ntim e, h i s " he r o i c f o r t i t u d e "was c a r e f u l l y r e co r de d fo r t h e Communist f a i t h f u l byh i s secretary , Zo l t a n V a s .5 . "Front" Tactics i n Hungary (1936-41)

Th e l a t e t h i r t i e s .were the;h&y.dag. of . :u nit ed f r o n t and'popu -l a r f r o n t t a c t i c s i n Hungary. The attempt t o b u i l d a n u n d e r -g r ou n d p a r t y o r g a n i z a t i o n , c om ba t- re ad y f o r t h e ho pe d- fo r s e i z u r eof power, was postponed i n f a v o r o f t h e b r o a d es t F o s s i b l e f r o n tt a c t i c s aimed a t i nf lu e nc i ng l e g a l p a r t i e s t c a d o r s e Communistob je c t iv es . Meanwhile , Communis ts r e b u i l t t h e i r ' basic c e l l sa t t h e lowest l e v e l f o r t h e e v e n t u a l r e a p p e a r a n c e of t h e p a r t y .As Kal la i e x p l a i n s , t h e p a r t y n e ed ed members who were n o t knownt o t h e p o l i c e i n t h e e ve nt o f war,a . Moscow Le a d e r sh i p : I n t h e a b se n c e of a c e n t r a l o rg an -

i z a t i o n i n E un gary, d i r e c t i o n of t h e p a r t y c e l l s w a smai ntai ned from Moscow pro ba bl y v i a Pragu e. Duringt h i s p e r i o d , t o p command a p p e a r s to have been exer -cised by Jozse f Reva i wi th the p o s s i b l e c o n c u r r e n c eof Erno Gero and Mihaly Far kas . The correct t h e o r e t -i ca l l i n e was impar t ed t o Communists i n Hungary by ac l a n d e s t i n e p u b l i c a t i o n , a p p a r e n t ly p r i n t e d i n P ra gu efrom material f u r n i s h e d b y Moscow.Revai , t h e son of a wel l - to-do Jewis h fam i ly anda Communis t i n t e l l ec tua l of some r e p u t a t i o n , w a s t h ea u t h o r of a major work on Marxism which w a s c i r c u l a t e din H ungary p r i o r t o t h e w a r . Gero w a s w e l l knownamong Hungarian Communists as one of the o r i g i n a l

underg round par ty leaders. E n e r g e t i c , a u s t e r e a ndf a n a t i c a l , he r e p o r t e d l y h a d d on e o r g a n i z a t i o n worki n Western European Communist p a r t i e s p r i o r t o h i sp a r t i c i p a t i o n i n t h e S pa ni sh C i v i l War a s t h e Cominternr e p r e s e n t a t i v e . H i s Moscow t r a i n i n g may have in clu de d7


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work a t Eugene V a rg a 's i n s t i t u t e . U n li k e R e va i a ndGero, F a r k a s a p p a r e n t l y w a s n o t a v e t e r a n of t h e 1919r e v o l u t i o n . A Hungarian J e w b o rn i n S l ov a k i a , F a r k a shad come i n t o t h e H un ga ri an p a r t y v i a t h e C ze c ho sl ov akp a r t y . D uri ng t h e e a r l y t h i p k i e s ha waa-*a.CommuniStyou th o rga n ize r i n Wes te rn Europe and , l i k e Gero,p a r t i c i p a t e d i n t h e S p an is h C i v i l War.been t h e p a r t y ' s c o n t a c t man i n P ra gu e du r i n g t h i sper io d . With Rakos i , t h es e three men--Revai, Geroand Fark as-- con st i t uted Yhe to p command of t h e Hungar ianCommunist pa r t y i n t h e WIT I1 and post-war p e r i o d .

H e may have

b. 'YJnited Front" Tac t i c s : The new t a c t i c s imposed onCommunists, ca l l e d for a n e n e r g e t i c a t t e m n t t o n ene-* - -t r a t e t h e Social Democratic P a r t y i n ord'er t o es tab-l i s h a " u n i t e d f r o n t " of workers. While t h e s e t a c t i c sf a i l e d t o win suppor t among reputable Socia l Democrats,t h e y c o n t r i b u t e d t o l a y i n g t h e f o un d at io n for f u t u r eco-opera t ion w i t h l e f t -wing s o c i a l i s t s (no t ab ly ArpadS a a k a s i t s ) a n d t h u s t h e post-war su b v e r s i o n o f t h eSocial Democratic p a rt y . Communists conduc ted as t eady a t t a c k o n " r i g h t wing" s o c i a l i s t l e a d e r s i nan e f f o r t t o d i v i d e t h e w o rk er s from t h e f r l eade rs ,They a g i t a t e d for s t r i k e s . They loudly callec! f o ro p p o s i t i o n t o I I i t l er . T h e i r d i v i s i v e t a c t i c s , how-ever , b rough t a sh a r p counterat tack f r o m S o c i a l Demo-c ra t i c spokesmen who p o i n t e d out t h a t S o v ie t -i n s pi r e dCommunist t a c t i c s i n Germany had l a r ge ly co n t r ibu tedt o t h e v i c t o ry of H i t l e r i n 1933.c . The Debrecen Communist Group: C o m m u n i s t t a c t i c s hadsomewhat g r e a t e r s u c c e s s among i n t e l l e c t u a l s a ndyouth . A group of y o u n g i n t e l l e c t u a l s a t t h e Univer-s i t y of Debrecen responded t o Communist l u r e s a ndi d e n t i f i e d themselves w i t h popular f r o n t t a c t i c saiming a t t h e p e n e t r a ti o n of r a d i c a l a g r a r i a n o rg an -i z a t i o n s . Members of t h i s Communist c e l l , l e d byG y u l a Kal la i , were 6f i r r e p r o a c h a b l e H u n g a r i a n s t o c k ,some of them Pro te s t a n t i n background. They t h u sc o n s t i %u t e d o ne of t h e f e w a u t h e n t i c a l l y H u n g a r i a ne l e m en t s i n t h e p a r t y .* The c o n c er n of these youngmen for-.land :reform i d e a l l y , su i t ed $he party's pro-gram-of a t t e m p t i n g t o galn- .a*. oothold.*..in e f t - w b ga g r a r i a n c i r c l e s .

* Th Debrecen Communist c e l l . i n c l u d e d , bes ide K a l l a i , FerencDonath, Geza Losonczi , S z i l a r d Ujhely and Sandor Zold.8


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d .

e .

Kal l a i himsel f co-operated w i t h t h e s o - c a l l ed " v i l l a g eexp lo re r s " i n fo rming th e "March F ron t " of 1937 andl a t e r worked on th e So ci a l Democratic newspaper(Nepszava) , t h u s p e r s o n a l l y e p i t o m i z i n g t h e " a n t i -f a s c i s t p o p u l a r f r o n t " a p p r oa c h . Kal la i a n d o t h e rmembers of h i s g ro up a p pe a r t o h a ve e s t a b l i s h e d c on-t a c t wi th Rakos i i n p r i s o n , t ho ug h t h e c h a n n e l s arenot known.P e n e t r a t i o n o f t h e N a t i o n a l Pe a s a nt P a r t y :back ing enab led t he " v i l l a a e exDlorers" t o fo rm theCommunistN a t i o n a l P e a sa n t p a r t y a nd -t hu s- l a i d the groundworkf o r p e n e t r a t i o n which e n a b l e d t h e Communists t o u.set h e o r g a n i z a t io n t o u nd er cu t t h e S m a l l h o l d e r s i n thepost-WW I1 p e r io d . C e r t a i n o f t h e a g r a r i a n leaders( P e t e r Veres, Jozsef D a rv a s, F e r e n c E r d e i ) c o l l a b o r a t e dc l os e l y wi th th e Communis ts i n t h e p e r i o d of WW I1 an da f t e r w a r d became for a l l p r a c t i c a l p u r p o se s C om mu nis ts .P e r i o d of th e Nazi -Soviet Pa ct (1939-41) : By 1938,t h e Muscov it e leaders were r e a d y t o r e o r g a n i z e a newp a r t y i n H ung ary . A new c e n t r a l c om mi tt ee w a s formedand the condemnation of cer t a in member s of t h e o l dcommit tee apparen t ly wi thdrawn th e fo l low ing ye ar .By v i r t u e of t h e Naz i-Sov iet non-aggress ion pa c t andthe ensu ing r esumpt ion of d i p l o m a t i c r e l a t i o n s b e t w e e nHungary and the K r e m l i n , t h e Communist par ty gainedmuch g r ea te r f r eedom of ac t i on and even began t o pub-l i s h a l e g a l p e r i o d i c a l ( G o n do l a t ). C om mun istsn e v e r t h e l e s s still were v ie we d w i t h g r e a t s u s p i c i o nby t h e regime: Kal la i s t a t e s t h a t a number of leaderswere arres ted in 1940. T h i s p e r i o d came t o a n e n dw i t h t h e H u ng ar ia n d e c l a r a t i o n of war on t h e S o v i etUnion (27 March 1941) .

Although Communists continued t o a c hi e ve t h e i rg r e a t e s t s u c c e ss among y o u t h and i n t e l l e c t u a l s , t h e i ri d e n t i f i c a t i o n wi th t h e Soviet Union made them ob jec t sof s u s p i c i o n a t t h i s time. As Kal la i p o i n t s o u t ,a f t e r t h e s i g n a t u r e of t h e N a zi -S ov ie t p a c t , i t wasd i f f i c u l t f o r Communists t o con vinc e workers t h a t"Soc ia l i sm and fascism a re inexorable enemies!"M ore ov er , t h e S o v i e t a t t a c k on F i n l a n d b r o u g h t them

. .., ..... 1. . . ., > . . ' . . . . ., . ::..;, , .. .. . , . . _. . ... ..I .. . . . . , . . . . ..: . . ;:". ' . . . ' _ ... . , : . . . . . ..


21/94

g r e a t u n p o p u l a r i t y . I t is d i f f i c u l t t o a vo id t h ec o n c l u s i o n t h a t t h e p a r t y , o n t h e e v e o f t h e H u ng ar ia ne n t r y i n t o t h e w a r , was a n e g l i g i b l e f a c t o r i n Hun-g a r i a n p o l i t i c s a nd im p or t an t o n l y a s a c e n t e r o fs u bv e rs i on s e r v i n g S o v ie t i n t e r e s t s .

6 . "Popu la r F ron t " Tac t i c s : Hungari ans i n t h e S p an i sh C i v i l,War (1936 39).T h s Span i sh C i v i l War c o n s t i t u t e d a specia l t r a i n i n g g r ou ndf o r t h e most en te rp r i s i ng Hungari an Communis ts dur in g t h e l a t et h i r k i h s . . Soviet snpport f o r the SpaniSh'.Republ'ican governmenttook t h e fo rm of sponso r ing th e fo rmakion of a n I n t e r n a t i o n a lB rigade i n c l u d i n g h e er gen ecus Communist and "1 ber a1 ' e l ment sfro m v a r i o u s c o u n t r i e s . Approximately one thousan d Hungar ianv o l u n t e e r s j o i n e d t h e b r i g a de , formed t h e so-cal led "Rakosi

B a t t a l i o n " a nd t h u s a c qu i re d p a r a m i l i t a r y e x p e ri e n ce t h a t w a sof major impor tance du r in g W?V 11. The commander of t h e b r i g a d ew a s Ferenc Munnich, form er o f f i c e r i n t h e Bela Kun army and bynow a Communist of i n t e r n a t i o n a l r e p u t a t i o n . B ot h E rn 0 G eroand Miha ly Farkas r epo r t e d ly were i n v ol v e d i n t h e f i g h t i n g ,Gero a l l e g e d l y a s s p e c i a l r e p r e s en t a t i v e of t h e Comintern.Among th e ou ts ta nd in g leaders o f t h e H un g a ri a ns was t he youngE u d a p e s t y o u t h a n d l a b o r a c t i v i s t , Laszlo R a j k , who performeda n e x c e l l e n t j o b as p o l i t i c a l o f f i c e r of t h e R a ko si B a t t a l i o n .I n F r en c h i n te r n m e nt c am ps, f o l l o w i n g t h e c l o se of h o s t i l -i t i e s , a number o f t h e p a r t i c i p a n t s i n t h e S p an i sh C i v i l Warwere b r o u g h t i n t o close c o n t a c t w i t h r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s o f W es te rnr e l i e f a g e n c i e s , i n c l u d i n g Noel F i e l d , a nd w i t h Yugoslav mem-

bers of t h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l B ri ga d e. D u ri ng t h i s p e r i o d ( 19 39 -4 1 ), t h e s t a g e was se t f o r t h e l a t e r t r a g e d i e s of many Hun-g a r i a n v e t e r a n s . I n t h e se i n t e rn m e n t c am ps , Rajk an d c e r t a i no t h e r H un ga ri an s p a r t i c i p a t e d i n d i s c u s s i o n s of Communisttheory wi th Yugoslav l eaders a nd a p p a r e n t l y f o rm ed p e r so n a lf r i e n d sh i p s w hic h. l a t e r marked them as p o t e n t i a l l y u n r e l i a b l ei n t h e ey e s o f t h e K r e m l i n . *N o t a l l t h e "Spaniards ," as t h e C i v i l War v e t e r a n s werec a l l e d , were i nvo lved i n Western o r Y u go sl av c o n t a c t s w h ic hl a t e r would be j u d g e d t r e a so n a b l e . Some a p p e a r t o have j o i n e d

* The f o l l o w i n g S p an i sh C i v i l War v e t e r a n s w e r e i m p l i c a t e d i nt h e f a l l o f Rajk a nd s u f f e r e d d e a t h o r imprisonment a s a r e s u l t :Sandor Cseresnyes , F r i gye s Major , La sz l o Matyas , La sz loMarschal, Karoly Ra th, Mihaly Szal vay , Andras Tompe, Imre Gayer .10


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, .:

F r e n c h r e s i s t a n c e forces ( e , g . N o g r a d i ) aucl t h u s e s ca p ed t h estigma o f t h e i n t e rnment camps . The a l l e ge d Comintern r ep re -s e n t a t i v e , E r n 0 G e r o, r e t u r n e d i m m e d ia t el y t o t h e S o v i e t Un io na n d t h u s w a s a v a i l a b l e as s e c r e t a r y t o Dimit rov or Manuilsky,t o ac t a s mentor fo r t h e H u ng a ri a n p a r t y d u r i n g t h e r e m a i n i n gy e a r s before t h e advent of war.7 . Moscow Direction of t h e H u n ga ri an P a r t y i n MY I1 (1940-45)

a . Format ion of t h e F o r e i g n Committee of t he Hungar i anThe a d v e n t of WW I1 f r t h e f i r s tommunist Party:I t i m e e n a b l e d a l l e l e m e n t s of t h e "Muscov it e" l e ad er -s h i p t o g a t he r i n MOSCOW a n d f o l l o w i n g t h e H u ng a ri a nd e c l a r a t i o n of war on th e So v i e t Union (27 June 1941)t o i n i t i a t e i n t en s i ve a c t i v i t y f o r H ungary 's " l i be r a -t i o n . " Matyas R a k o s i r e t u r n e d t o Moscow i n September1940 i n exchange for f l a g s c a pt u re d by t h e R u ss i a n si n t h e i r i n v as io n of Hungary (1848). H e immediate ly

t o o k o v e r t o p l e a d e r s h i p of a l l a c t i v i t i e s . TheF o r e i g n Committee of t h e Hungarian Communist Pa rt ywas f orm ed s h o r t l y t h e r e a f t e r . T hu s, e ve n p r i o r t oHungary's e n t r y i n t o t h e war, Communist leaders i nMoscow were p r e p a r i n g a p ro gr am f o r a c t i o n in p o s t -war Hungary.T he se a c t i v i t i e s c e n t e r e d a ro un d t h e C o m in te rn .Rakos i , as a member of t h e C om in te rn, a p p a r e n t l y d i dn o t i n t h e o r y ho ld t h e p o s i t i o n of head of t h e H u n -g a r i a n p a r t y b u t i n p r a c t i c e h e made h im s e lf r es p on - .s i b l e f o r a l l d e t a i l s o f * a c t i o n a nd p ro p ag a nd a . G e ro ,F a r k a s , R e va i a n d Zo l t a n V a s worked c lo s e l y wi th h im.F o l l o w i n g ' t h e d i s s o l u t i o n of t h e Comin te rn (17 May

19431, Gero may have played a somewhat greater r o l ei n d i r e c t i n g pr op ag an da aimed a t Hungary.* There isno e v i d e nc e , how ever, t h a t h e o f f e r e d a n o p p o s i t i o nt o R a ko s i ' s l e a d e ra h i p a t a ny t i m e . I n s t e a d , h ea p p e a r s t o ha ve a c t e d as R a k o s i ' s r i g h t h a n d m a n .

..-*t o t h e Y u go s la vs in 1949, s t a t e s t h a t Gero a t t h i s t i m e s u p e r -vised .propaganda i ssued by t h e N a t i o n a l C o mm itte e f o r F r e e G e r -many.t o o c cu p y4 a v e ry h i g h p o s i t i o n in t h e Communist o r ga n i za t i anwhich con t i nue d t h e work of t h e C or ni nt er n a f t e r i t s d i s s o l u t i o n( D i e R e v o i u t i o n e n t l a e s s t i h r e H i n d e r ) .

Wolfgang Leonhard, an East German p a r t y o f f i c i a l who defectedLeonhard asserts t h a t Gero was b e l i e v e d by t h e Germans

-11


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. I .

b. The Gsa,clth R a d i o : D i r e c t i o n of th e impor tant broad-cas t s t o Hungary emanating from Radio Kossuth--namedf o r t h e n a t i o n a l h e r o of t h e Hungari an r ev o lu t io n of1848--was co nf id ed t o two Hungaria ns who are t h u smarked out a s na t ion a l i s t - o r i e n te d , Ferenc Munnichand Imre Nagy. Munnich enjoyed co ns id er ab le p re s t ig eamong Communists t hro ugh ou t Euro pe as a r e s u l t of h i sl e a d i n g r o l e i n t h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l B ri ga de i n S pa in .Imre Nagy, l i k e th e o t he r Muscovites , had p layed aminor r o l e i n t h e Bela Kun ep i s ode and a f t e rw ard hadworked i n th e i l l e g a l Communis? o r g a n i z a t i o n of asmall pr o vi n ci al town (Kaposvar) p r i o r t o his emigra-t i o n t o t h e Sov iet Union (about 1930). An au th en ti cHungar ian peas ant , possesse d of considerable j o v i a lhumor, Nagy w a s t r a i n e d in S o v i e t a g r i c u l t u r a l eco-nomics at t h e Universi ty of Moscow and reportedly hadr u n a c o l l e c t i v e f arm i n S i b e r i a . : Now he was broughtfo rward t o i s su e p ropaganda whose ta rge t was the Bun-ga r ia n peasant and which s t ro ng ly emphasized th e Com-munist i n t e n t i o n of breaking up l a rg e e s t a t e s andg i v i n g l a n d t o t h e f ar me rs .

I .

. .

Radio communications formed t h e pr in ci pa l linkbetween the Muscovite d i r e c t o r s of t h e Hungar ian pat tyt a r y , i d e o l o g i c a l d i s c u s s i o n s and d i r e c t i o n s for sabo-tage o p e r a t i o n s and t r a i n i n g were i s su e d by t h i smedium.Kossuth and fo r th e f i r s t time acqu i r ed a r e l a t i v e l yl a r g e a u di e nc e i n Hungary.fqdemocracy,f b a s i c " r i g h t s , '' n a t i o n a l i z a t i o n of greati n d u s t r i a l e n t e r p r i s e s and l a n d r e f o rm as t h e f u t u r eprogram of t h e Communists in Hungary.Prom t h e sc an ty and poor e v l d e n c e a v a i l a b l e , it ap-pars that t h e F o re ig n Committee c o n c e n t r a t e d on re-e r u i t i n g l i k e l y c a nd id a te s from th e 65,000 Hungarianp r i s o n e r s c a pt u re d i n t h e fighting around S ta l lngrad .S p a n i sh C i v i l War ve te rane and members of m i n o r i t ygroups s e r v i n g i n l a bo r b a t t a l i o n s were a p a r t i c u l a rtarget f o r t h e r e c r u i t e r s . At two "an t i -Fasc i s t "s c h o o l s , these "vo lun tee r s" were su b j e c t e d t o i n t e n -s i v e i n d o c tr i n a t i o n and t h e n a p m a c h u t e d i n t o c omba tzones or Hungary as couriers o r p a r t i s a n - f i g h t e r s .D i r e c t i o n of t h i s t r a i n i ng was in t h e hatlds of Gero,a s s l s t e d by s u ch fanat ical Communists as Erzsebet A P ~ X C S .

. and t h e i r f o l l o w e r s i n H ungary. A d a i l y pews commen-Rakosi himself spoke f r e q u e n t l y over Radio

These broadcasts emphasized

c. " A n t i - P a sc i s t n I n d o c t r i n a t i o n of P r i s o n e r s of War:

I

I

12

.


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I n a d d i t i o n t o t h e s c h o o l s for r e l a t i v e l y l o w -l e v e l p r i s o n e rs , t h e r e may have been an i n s t i t u t i o nf o r more des i r ab l e r e c r u i t s .s c h o o l s e t up near Moscow a t which Revai, Nagy, t h eVarga- t ra ineEugene Varga h imsel f t a ug h t Hungarians .Reports re fe r t o a

e co no mi st I s t v a n F r i s s a n d p o s s i b l y8 . P a r t y A c t i v i t i e s . i n Hungary during W W IS

a . Leadersh ip of t h e Underground: The whole s t o r y oft h e wartime a c t i v i t i e s of t h e Communists i n Hungaryi s c l o t h e d i n m ys te ry a s a r e s u l t o f t h e e d i t i n g ofh i s t o r i c a l f a c t by S t a l i n i s t h i s t o r i a n s i n t e n t uponb u i l d i n g up o r d e n i g r a t i n g k ey i n d i v i d u a l s i n t h ep a r t y , n o ta b ly La s z lo Rajk. I t is known t h a t t h epa r t y went underground fo l lo wi ng Hungarys declara-t i o n of war o n t h e So vi e t Union . Gyula Kal la i , t h e nl i n k e d v e r y c l o s e l y w i t h l e f t -win g So c ia l Democrat sand Nat iona l Peasan t P a r t y leaders, a p p e a r s t o havee x e r c i se d p u b l i c l e a d e r s h ip of t h e p a r t y . Two i n d i -v i d u a l s who d i e d in prison (Rozsa and Schonherz) wered e s c r ib e d as t o p p a r t y leaders. A group of l aborun io n a c t i v i s t s , i n c l u d i ng s e v e r a l i n d i v i d u a l s whocame t o t h e f o r e a f t e r t h e war (Janos Kadar, GaborPe te r , Is tv an Kovacs, Anta1 Apro) a p p a r e n t l y p l a y e da major ro le . The f u l l and t r u e s t o r y of thesee v e n t s r e ma in s t o be w r i t t e n .

Many of t L e t r i e d l eaders of t h e p a r t y s p e nt t h ewar years i n p r is o n . RaJk was arrested s h o r t l y a f t e rh i s r e t u r n t o t h e c o u n t r y i n t h e a u tu m n of 1941 andremained under de ten t io n u n t i l Oc tobe r 1944 , whenhe was t u r ne d ov er t o m i l i t a r y a u t h o r i t i e s a nd t r a n s -ported t o Germany. Nevertheless, he c o n t in u e d a p-p a r e n t l y t o m a in ta in h i s c o n ne c t fo n w i t h t h e resist-ance dur fng t h i s per iod .mained f ree for a l o n g e r t i m e and k e p t u p l i a i s o nwi th Moscow, and prob ab ly w i t h the Y u g o s l a v p a r t i s a n sas w e l l . Kadar, in p a r t i c u l a r , r e p o r t e d l y vas ar-rested i n 1 9 4 4 w h i l e seeking t o c o n t a c t t h e Yugoslavs .o p e r a t e d w i t h t h e In dep end en ce Movement l e d by Hun-ga ri an s who opposed th e a l i g n m e n t of t h e i r c o u n t r y

C e r t a i n o t h e r leaders re-

b. Fr ont Ta ct ic s : On t h e su rf ac e , Communists co-

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w i t h GG.,.....ny . Kallai put into effect the customaryCommunist tactics of supporting left-wing elementsin legal parties (Social Democrat, Independent Small-holders and National Peasant parties) while attemptingto divide the more radical elements in these partiesfrom their "right-wing" leaders. These tactics ledto a catastrophe for the Communist organization it-self early in 1942. Kallai was responsible forpushing an apparently innocent nationalist celebration,on 15 March, into an anti-regime demonstration whichwas broken up by police. Communist plans for big MayDay demonstrations keyed to the "peace" theme werealso abortive. Police swooped down on party head-quarters and arrested three Central Committee membersof whom two (Rozsa and Schonherz) died in prison.Kallai himself was arrested.on charges of treason butreportedly was acquitted. -. . . . .Civil War veterans--1.e. paramilitary types--intokey points in the labor movement. In the countryside,Communists sought to penetrate and control the non-political Peasants Association, using as their instru-ment the ostensible Smallholder party member, IstvanDobi,the Foreign Section of the party in Moscow by meansof directives broadcast over Radio Kossuth, illegalpublications and personal liaison, often by parachutedrops.

c. Dissolution of the Party: Formation of the "PeaceParty":pressure, local Communists lost heart and in June1943 used the dissolution of the Comintern as anexcuse for dissolving the official party organization.This move was later termed a "most serious error."It may have marked Kallai for eventual punishmentas Itan unreliable cadre."immediately took the place of the disbanded partyunder the name of the "Peace Party."

... . ..:. . -.2 .. . . . .A special effort was made to infiltrate Spanish

These activities were closely supervised by

As a result of steadily increasing police

A new organization almost

9. Formation of the Hungarian Independence Front (1944)a. Re-establishment of the Communist Party: Communistresistance to the Germans was greatly stepped up afterthe German intervention t o coerce the Eorthy govern-ment on 19 March 1944.

Soviet armies to Hungary's borders, howeverPJ id theseactivities gain real impetus. The Communist partyOnly with the approach of

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b.

was re-formed i n September and the Communist youtho r g a n i z a t i o n was c a l l e d i n t o e x i s t e n c e ag a in . Ano f f i c i a l n ew sp ap er e d i t e d by Ferenc Donath a l s o inadei t s appearance . The new party took i t s p l a c e i n t h eHungar ian Independence Fro nt , a l on g w i t h t h e Inde-pendent Sinal lho lders P a rt y , t h e S o c i a l Democrats,and t h e Na ti -onal Peasan t Pa r ty . Wi th in t h e F ron t ,Communists and lef t -w ing S oc ia l Democrats co-o p e r a t e d v e r y c l o s e l y an d , i n f a c t , on 1 0 Octobers ig ned an agreement l ook ing t oward even tua l un ion ofb o t h p a r t i e s .Possible Role of Laszlo Rajk:t h e Hungarian underground i n October 13 44 may h av ebeen exer c i s ed by Laszlo R aj k, a l t h o u gh t i t u l a r leaderGyula Kallai assuined p u b l i c r e s p o n s i b i l i t y . O s t e n s i b lyc o n f i n e d i n M ar gi t- Ko ru t p r i s o n , Rajk a l l e g e d l y s e c u r e da -Qmeasure f l i b e r t y from Horthy s c o u n t e r e s p i o n a g echief who himself belonged t o t h e r e s i s t a n c e . R a j k ,f o r example , i s c r e d i t e d w i t h p r e p ar i n g t h e t e x t oft h e agreement f o r e v e n t u a l u n i o n o f l e f t - w i n g S o c i a lDemocrats and Communists.r e q u i r e d t o a pp ro xi ma te t h e t r u e s t o r y of R a j k ' sac i v i i es ,

A c t u a l l e a d e r s h i p of

Much research would be

C . --he "Western Communists": Somewhat p e r i p h e r a l t o t h ea c t i v i t i e s b ut of l a t e r p o l i t i c a l i m p o r t a n c e were Hung a r i a n Communist a c t i v i t i e s i n S w i tz e r la n d . H e r e ag r o u p of l ef t- w in g s t u d e n t s a n d i n t e l l e c t u a l s l i n k e dwi t h t h e Hunga ri an Independence Fro n t c a r r i e d on re-s i s t a n c e . a c t i v i t i e s geared i n t o t ho se of t h e Yugo-s l a v s . Contemporary sou rces re po r t e d t h a t p a r t i c i -p a n ts i n t h e Bela Kun re vo lu t i on ( t h e Hajdu bro the rs )were connec ted w i t h t h i s group . The i r l o c a l leader ,T ib o r Sz on yi , a ch ie ve d s u f f i c i e n t s t a t u r e i n t h e Corn-m u n i s t p a r t y t o m e ri t a r e l a t i v e l y i n f l u e n t i a l p o si -t i o n ( c h i e f of cadres) i n t h e H u ng ar ia n p a r t y on h i sr e t u r n a t t h e c l o s e of t h e w a r .

8se-

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._ . . . , ..r _._, .~~

. . . . . . ...

d. Resistance Fighters: Rapid organization of resist-ance committees under the aegis of the Front pro-gressed in the Budapest district during the lateautumn of 1944. The official Communist account*states that sabotage units were formed under thedirection of Marton Horvath, a former Social Demo-cratic newspaperman, Gyorgy Palffy, a Hungarianarmy officer and Lajos Feher, a National PeasantParty journalist from Debrecen. Members of theCommunist youth group-workers and intellectuals--

, performed these missions. Similar units were formedin Budapest suburbs. One unit of the auxilliarybattalions of the mobile police, organized fromleftist Jewish elements, sabotaged transport in andout of Budapest.10. The Partisans in Rakosi's Calculations

Rakosi apparently planned to have Hungarian partisansoperating from the Ukraine and Slovakia effect a junctionwith resistance fighters in Hungary. These plans were abortedby the direct German take-over of Hungary on 15 October andthe imposition of a Nazi-style Arrow Cross party dictatorship.Nevertheless, during the next month underground leaders inBudapest continued to make plans for a

* Kovacs and Florian, Champions hongrois de la libertecontre le fascisme (194-

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.. .. . _ .. . .

g e ne r al r i s i n g w h i l e p a r t i s a n forces l e d by Sandor Nogradipressed southward from t h e mountains. Both schemes f a i l e d .The diverse e lements composing t h e Hungarian IndependenceF r o n t were, however, unable t o agree on a date f o r a genera li n s u r r e c t i o n .

I In t h i s s i t u a t i o n , R akos i, i n good S t a l i n i s t fa s h i on ,e x e r t e d himself t o m a i nt a in c o n t r o l of t h e Hungarian resist-ance . H e despatched an emissa ry , I s tv an Kossa , t h rough t h el i n e s t o reimp ose MOSCOW'S l eadersh ip on t h e d i so r g a n i z e dand demor alized Communists i n Budapest .e f f o r t t o reach Budapest but permi t ted t h e underground t obe crushed by t h e Germans and t h e i r Arrow Cross a l l i e s .a f t e r h e a v y f i g h t i n g w a s Budapest taken by Soviet armies t h efo l lowing January . T h i s procedure permi t ted t h e Kremlin t oa v e r t t h e danger of a g e n u i ne l y r e p r e se n t a t i v e go vern me ntbe ing s e t up i n Budapes t. I ns t ea d , t h e S o v i e t leaders f o r c e dr e s i s t a n c e r e p r e s e n ta t i v e s t o come t o Moscow t o n e g o t i a t ea n armist ice and agree t o t h e fo rmat ion o f a hand-pickedP r o v i s i o n a l N a ti o na l Assembly which convened a t Debrecen inDecember under t h e guns of t h e Rus sia n army. T h i s p o l i c yresembles i n i t s g e n e ra l o u t l i n e s S o v i e t p o l i c y t ow ar d t h ePol ish underground, t h e s ac r i f i ce of t h e P o l i s h r e s i s t a n c ef o r c e s und er Gen era l Bor-Komarowski and t h e establishment oft h e Lub lin government under comp lete Russia n domination..

S o v i e t f o r c e s a t Szeged and i n ea s t e r n Hungary made noOnly

The a c t u a l m i l i t a r y i n f lu e n c e of t h e Hungarian p a r t i -sa n s a n d t h e underground r es i s t ance w a s minor.t h e p a r t i s a n an d r e s i s t a n c e l eadersh ip p l a y a k e y p o l i t -i c a l ro l e i n f ou nd in g t h e new CommuniSt regime and imposingt h e Muscovite leadership and Sov ie t a l ignment on t h e Hun-g a r i a n s . In t h e immediate pos twar pe r i od , moreover, p a r t i c -i p a t i o n in r e s is t a nc e a c t i v i t i e s w a s t h e tes t f o r r e l i a -b i l i t y of Communists and Communist collaborators Mich gavet h e p a r t i c i p a n t s i mp or ta nc e f a r o u t of p r op o rt io n t o t h e i rnumbers. *

N e v e r t h e l e s s ,

* p a t i s a n leaders who l a te r gained prominence, beside Nogradi,i n c l u d e d t h e fo ll ow in g: Andor Tompe, Nogradi ' s p o l i t i c a l o f f i -ce r ; G y u l a Uszta, Pal Maleter ( p r o m i n e n t f i g u r e in t h e 1956rev o lu t io n) and I s t va n Dekan in n o r t h e r n T r a n sy l v a n i a ; J a n o sRatulovsaky. and GJozsef-; a&eka$ i n ~soUSSR;.lIYlihaly:.SzaESay,I s tv an Bos tas andsLasz lo ,Cseby i n YugosMvia (Kovacs andFlor ian , Champions Hongrois de U il.&berte4)

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.

CHAPTER I1FORMATION. OF .THE: HUNGARIAN WORKERS,PAFtTY

1. Th e Xuscovi te Leadership of t h e P a r t ya. The Rul ing Cl ique : The ex i l ed Hungarian CommunistIeaders--the so-called "Muscovites1'--accornuanied t h e_ _ -v i c t o r i o u s S o v i e t armies in to Hungary . * The c o n t i n g e n tof Gero, Revai, Farkas'and Imre Nagy reached t h e count ryf i r s t , on t h e h e e l s of S o v i e t t r o o p s a r r i v i n g at Szsged(6 November 194 4). Rak osi hi ms el f came later a n d e n t e r e dt h e r u i n s of Budapest a f t e r i t s c a p t u r e ' b y the S o v i e tarmy. With Zol tan Vas, these men compri se th e six majorMuscovi te leaders .secondary cont ingent of lesser M u sc o v i t e s , f l a n t f - f a sc i s t l ft r a i n e e s a n d p a r t i s a n s .Muscov it es a r r ive d somewhat l a t e r t o take o v e r s p e c i a lass ignment s .

a c t u a l l y t a i n t e d w i th f a s c i sm c o ul d work toward b u l l d -i n g s o c i a l i s m i n Hungary, t h e new l e a d e r s p r o a p t lybegan t o implement a b r o a d " n a t i o n a l f r o n t " programaiming a t bui ld i ng up Communist s t re n g t h and s u b v e r t i n ge x i s t i n g l e g a l p a rt le ss . As Rakosi l a t e r descrEbed theprocess, in a c y n i c a l l y c a n d i d a d d r e s s of 29 February1952, t h e minori t y Communist p a r t y applied a r u t h l e s sprogram of s p l i t t i n g t8e opposition-termed by Rakosi,% l i c i n g salami t f - -whi le taking step after s t ep t o setup a " d i c t a t o r s h i p of t h e p r o l e t a r i a t " c a l l e d t h eHungarian Peop1e.F~Democragy

With the top l e a d e r s came theC e r t a i n o t h e r h i gh - ra n ki n g

Under cover of the d o c t r i n e t h a t a l l classes n o t

On t h e a r r i v a l of t h e t o p Muscovkte leader3 fromThe r e t u f n i n gt h e Soviet Union, t h e local bigwig Communists foundthemselve s pushed in t o the background.

3 The term "Muscovite" is used t o designate i n d i v i d u a l s whos p e n t a l o n g p e r i o d of time i n t b e S o v i e t U ni on -n ot ab ly t h eper iod of WW 11-and who received special t r a i n i n g t o f i t themfor a l e a d i n g r o l e i n the Hungarian p a r t y . S e v e r a l of t h e s ei n d i v i d u a l s are be l i eved t o h o ld S o v i e t c i t i z e n s h i p ( R ak o si ,Gero, F a r k s s a nd o t h e r s ) , a l t ho u g h a p p a r e n t l y Imre Nagy do es no t.

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group of S t a l i n i s t f u n c t i o n a r i e s , i n s t e a d , t o ok o ve rk e y p o s i t i o n s in pa r ty and government fo r themselvesw i t h i n t h e f ramework of t h e P ro vi s i on al Governmentformed a t Debrecen.* Rakosi , as secre tary g e n e r a l ,was t h e und i spu ted leader of t h e p a r t y ; he t o o k -o v e rt h e key government po st o f depu ty premier i n November1945. Gero, Rakosi ' s r ight -hand man, assumed t h eMin i s t ry of T r a d e and Communications, and soon demon-s t r a t e d t h a t h e i n t e nd e d t o r u l e Hungary 's economy ande f f e c t i v e l y ' in t e g r a te i t wi th th e Sov ie t economy.Reva i main ta ined h i s fo rmer r o l e of c h i e f p a r t yt h e o r e t i c i a n . F ar ka s ' s a c t i v i t i e s were more compli-cated. A t f i r s t w orking o n l y as a p a r t y o f f i c i a l , h ewas a p p oi n t ed , i n Ju l y 1945, p o l i t i c a l u n d er se c re ta ryi n c ha rg e of p o l i c e i n t h e M i n is t ry of t h e I n t e r i o r .As par ty second secretary u n de r R a k o si , h e c l e a r l ye x e r c i s e d a d e c i s i ve i n f l u e n c e over s e c u r i t y matters.Zo l t a n Vas., a g en er al t r o u b l e s h o o t e r s p e c i a l i z i n g i neconomic and . f i na nc ia l o pe ra t io ns of a c l a n d e s t i n es o r t , became mayor of Budapest and l a t e r head of t h eSupreme Economic Council. Among t h i s r u l i n g gr.oyp,,Erno Gero c l e a r l y was se co n d o n l y t o R ak o si a nd t osome observers dur ing t h e e a r l y - d a y s of the S o v i e toccupa t ion , h e appeared more . impor tant than Rakosi .

b . "N at io na l i s t ic " Muscovi tes : Among) t h e t op Muscovi t es,Imre Nagy a pp ea rs from the . o u t s e t t o ha ve c o n s t i t u t e da s p e c i a l case. Brought a lon g t o implement t h e landreform which w a s counted on t o w in p e a sa n t sy m p at h i es ,he.was a p p oi n te d m i n i s t e r of agriculture i n t h e Debre-c e n P r o v i s i o n a l G overnment a nd h e l d t h i s , p o s t u n t i lNovember 'l945. In d r a f t in gq the measu res f o r l a nd re-d i s t r i b u t i o n , h e r e l i e d on young local Communists,no ta bl y Pere nc Donath. Nagy ne x t w a s a p po in te d t o t h ec r i t i c a l l y impor tan t pos t of lliinister o f t h e interiori n t h e c a b i n et of P re mi er Z o l t a n f i l d y b u t h e l d t h i sp o s i t i o n only f o u r mo nt hs , su r r e n d e r i n g i t : in February1946 to La sz l o Rajk. C h a r a c t e r i z e d a t t h a t t i m e as a" s t r o n g H u n g a r i a n n a t i o n a l i s t , ' ' Nagy gained some popu-l a r i t y among Communists a l t hou gh he -a pp ea rs t o havebeen regarded by t h e g e n e r a l . p u b l i c as i n d i s t i n g u i s h -a b l e f r o n t h e r u l i n g c l ique . The r easons for h i s re-l inquishment of t h e ministry h av e n e v e r be en c l a r i f i e d ,

* Only one l o c a l Communist rec ei ve d P post in t h e D eb re ce n .Government. Erik Molnar, a very close a s s o c i a t e of Rakosi, tookthe M i n i s t r y of S o c i a l W e l fa re w h i c h +w a s . c e u n t e d ' o a o g i v e t h eC omm unis ts e s s e n t i a l p e r so n n e l i n f o r m a t i o n a n d p r o v i d e the mw i t h a means of awarding or w i t h h o l d h g b e n e f i t s as d e s i r e d .The a l l - i m p o r t a n t M i n i s t r y o f t h e I n t e r i o r w a s mnf id ed t t balong-time Communist collaborator, Ferenc E r d e i , ( N a t i o n a lPeaoant P a r t y .


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. . ......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....- .~, . . . . . . . . - ....

C .

a l t h o u g h s p e c u l a t i o n a t t h a t t i m e a t t r i b u t e d i t t ol a c k of energy o r p o s s i b l y l ack of knowledge of l o c a lc o n d i t i o n s . Nagy w a s demoted t o t h e r e l a t i v e l y innocu-o u s p o s i t i o n of speake r of t h e p a r l i a m e n t . H e never the-l e s s main ta ined h i s p o s t as c h i e f p a r t y exper t on a g r i -c u l t u r a l q u e s t i on s and c o n t i nu e d t o belong t o t h e P o l i t -buro .Se v e r a l o th e r Muscovites prominent i n t h e f i r s ty e a r s of t h e S o v i e t o c cu p a ti o n a p p a r e n t l y were markedby a grea te r degree of Hungarian na t ion a l i sm than wasl a t e r c o n s id e r e d s a f e b y t h e r eg im e or f o r o t h e r un-c l a r i f i e d r e a s o n s were denied the advancement whichth e y c o n s id e r e d t h e y had e a r n e d . I n some cases, t h ere as on s may have been l i nk ed t o t h e f a c t i o n a l q u a r re l so f t h e ' t w e n t i e s o r ' t h i r t i e s (e .g . Ferenc Munnich);

i n o ther s , ambi tious ind iv id ua ls wi th good connec t i onsi n t h e S o v i e t Union (e .g . t h e writer Gyula Hay) werepushed i n t o th e background by r i v a l s more c lo se ly con-nec ted wi th Rakos i . ' S i n c e these i n d i v i d u a l s o bs er v edCommunis t d isc ip l ine , t h e charac te r o r even t h e e x i s t -6me: of t h e i r d i s s e n s io n from t h e r u l i n g c l i q u e d i dn o t come t o l i g h t un t i l many yea r s l a t e r .Sov ie t Support fo r th e Muscov ite Cl iq ue : From t h e f i r s tda y of t h e Communist regime i n Hungary i t w a s apparen tt h a t t h e a u t h o r i t y of t h e r u l i n g c l i q u e r e s t e d on t h ep r e s e n c e of S o v i e t armies and t h e empha t ic a s su ranceof S o v i e t p o l i t i c a l and economic sup po rt i n momentsof c r i s i s .* Any wi thd rawa l of Kremlin endorsement f o r

I

* U n t i l t h e . a u t u m n of 1 9 4 1 t h i s meant t he Sov ie t Element .o f t h eA l l i e d Co nt ro l Commission headed by So vi et Marshal Vo roshilovand h i s deputy (and successo r ) Co lonel Genera l Sv i r i dov . Dur ingt h i s per iod , Rakosi formed close p e r s o n a l t i e s with Vorosh i lovwhich con t inued a f t e r t h e tna r sha l r e tu rned t o Moscow. A f t e r t h ewithdrawal of t h e A l l i e d Cont ro l Comqission, S ov ie t . p o l i t i c a land economic o f f ic i a l s - -n o ta b ly Sov ie t ambassadors beg in n ingwi th Pushkin- -p layed an inc rea s in g ly impor tan t r o l e i n a dv i si ng ,and. s h o r i n g u p - t h e dominant Muscovites. , -. . . . . . .. . . . .. . . ' . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. :,... . . .I. . .- .. . -. . . , :.. : . . .. . , ;. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ . . ._. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ., . ... . ., . .. . . . . . . . . .,;:.,... . , : . : . . . . . , . . . .I. ...-a- . , L .'. ' , * . ' I . ' ' I :. ,. . _ : , . ,. . .. . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _ I , . . _. . . . .I -- . . . .-: . . : ... ..... . ,' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , ,. .. . ' I.~, . . . . . .. . . . . - . . , . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . .


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- . - ,

..

Rakos i p e r so na l l y would place him a t the mercy of i n s u r -g e n t f o r c e s i n t h e p a r t y and t h e c o un t ry a s a whole.W i t h i n c e r t a i n l i m i t s , however , Rakosi c l e a r l y w a saccorded a l a rg e measure of autonomy i n cho osi ng methodsand ind iv idua l s to implement t h e p r e s c r ib e d o v e r - a l lp o l i c i e s i n Hungary.2. E le me nt s i n t h e P a r t y

a . The Nat iv i s t Hard Core: The f i r s t t a s k of t he Muscov i t eswas t o b u i l d a s t ro ng p ar ty mechanism t o c o n t r o l t h ec o un t ry i n t h e i n t e r e s t s of t h e Kremlin. They s t a r t e dalmost f r o m sc ra t ch . They posses sed a s m a l l hard coreof Hungarian m e m b e r s (about 30,000) hardened i n thes c h o o l of i l l e g a l i t y a n d a c c u s t o m e d t o f o l l o w i n g d i -rectives f r o m Moscow. They could count on a s t r o n gy o u t h e le m en t r e c r u i t e d a mong r e s i s t a n c e f i g h t e r s ,f a n a t i c a l Communists r e t u r n i n g f r o m German concent ra t ioncamps mus te red a round th e pa r t y l ead er s . Seve ra l dy-namic leaders who had s pe n t t h e war yea r s i n Hungarywere popular among l o c a l Communists--notably LaszloRajk , Janos Kadar, Gyula K a l l a i , G a b o r Peter and Mar tonHorvath .* Never th eless , popu lar suppor t f o r t h e Com-m u n i s t s w a s so small t h a t t h e i r t o t a l p o p u l a r vote int h e r e l a t i v e l y f r e e e l ec t i o n s of 4 November 1945 waso n l y 797,000 or approximately 16.9 p e r c e n t of t h e t o t a l .

I S p an i sh C i v i l War v e t e r a n s a n d p a r t i s a n s . A number of

. ,b . The Oppor tun i s t s : The b road " f ron t " p o l i c i e s pur suedby Rakos i d ur in g t h e f i r s t y e a r s of S o v i e t o c c u p a t i o nencouraged ind iv idua l s of many types t o j o i n t h e p a r ty .

Many Hungaria ns acc ept ed t h e new regime a s i n e v i t a b l eand gave a measure of g e nu i ne c o -o p e r at i o n i n t h e h op et h a t t h e regime would pursue a r e a so n a b l e c o u r se u n d e rwhich Hungary could make a speedy r ecovery f rom t h ed e v a s t a t i o n of w a r a nd S o v i e t l o o t i n g , a nd resume itsp l a c e as a c e n t e r of c u l t u r a l and economic l i f e in t h e*R a j k t o o k o v e r l e a d e r sh i p of t h e B ud ap es t p a r t y o r g a n i z a t i o nwi t h Kadar as h i s depu ty , pend ing Rajk's appointment as m i n i s t e ro f t h e i n t e r i o r i n March 1946. M arton H or va th , r e s i s t a n c eleader a n d r e p u t e d former Z i o n i s t , became e d i t o r of Szabad N e pand members of t h e De brecen Communist c e l l r e c e i v e d iE@iXantposts : Kal l a i and Losonczi were awarded key propaganda posi-t i ons ; Ferenc Dona th w a s appo in ted t o t h e M i n is t ry of Agr icu l -t u r e ; S a n d o r Zold t o t h e M i n i s t r y of I n t e r i o r a nd S z i l a r d U jh el yt o t h e M i n i s t r y of S o c i a l 'W e l f a r e . O t h e r l o c a l Communists wereprov ided w i t h s ea t s in par l i ament o r j o b s i n t h e p a r t y a p pa r at u s.

In t h e g e n e r a l d i s t r i b u t i o n of r ewards t o f a i t h f u l C om mun ists ,

21


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Danubian basin. Optimists even hoped that this re-covery could be effected with Western financial assist-ance, since it was clear that the war-torn SovietUnion was in no position to furnish adequate economicsupport. Other individuals hastened to:join the partyas a means of continuing their careers in government,the army or business. A large number of peasantscame in as a result of the land reform. One importantsource of recruits was the plethora of low-level andmiddke-level Arrow Cross members proscribed by theother parties. As a result of these tactics, thetotal.party membership rose to 150,000 by May 1945with its major strength concentrated in Budapest.By th e, ti me f the third Communist Party congress,held in September and October 1946, party membershiphad attained almost 653,000.

c. Left-wing Dissidents in the Party: Such extreme "front"tactics aroused the anger of certain party extremistswho had wanted to set up a "Red Budapest" immediatelyand who probably fancied that they might have profitedto a greater degree from the Soviet conquest of Hungary.Certain unidentified older veterans of the 1919 revolu-tion and many youthful fanatics (the 11194511outh group)appear to have become embittered at the tortuous pathfollowed by Rakosi. Extreme left-wing "Trotskyite"elements supported by factory workers also gave troubleand were subjected to arrests in late 1945 and early1946. Such dissension evoked sharp criticism from theMuscovites intent on building up party strength evenat the expense of orthodox theories.

d. Social Democratic Elements: The Hungarian Workers Party:?he Social Democratic Party had long been a major targetof the Communists. Their wide influence over indus-trial workers and in trade unions made.them a dangerouscompetitor, especially in view of the strong pro-Westernorientation of their most reputable leaders.* AsRakosi said in his 1952 speech:in the'ranks of industrial workers were the Social"Our real competitors

* Th Social Democrats received 17.4 percent of the totalvote in the 4 November elections i.e., one half of one percentgreater than the Communists.22


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Democrat ic e lements . . . . T h e i r leaders would have w e l -comed the American or B r i t i s h o c c u p a t i o n of Hungarya n d t h e i r grea t m a j o r i t y ha ted the Sov ie t Un ion ."I n t h i s s i t u a t i o n , t h e Communists s t ep p e d upd i v i s i v e t a c t i c s aimed a t a c h i e v i n g a n e v e n t u a l mergero f t h e t w o p a r t i e s . They f o r c e d t h e f o r ma t i o n of a" l e f t i s t b lo c" i n c l u d i n g bo t h t h e Soc ia l Democrats andt h e N a ti o n a l P e a sa n t P a r t y a s a n i n i t i a l means of gain-i n g c o n t r o l . They p ur ch as ed t h e su p p o rt o f c e r t a i nt r ade u ni on o f f i c i a l s of So c i a l Democrat ic an te cede n t sby t h e g i f t of to p fa ct or y management jo bs . They boundc o l l a b o r a t i n g l e f t - w i n g l e a d e r s so c l o s e l y t o Communistp o l i c i e s t h a t t h ey were i n d i s t i n g u i s h a b l e f r o m p a r t ymembers. By 1948 t h e Communists, on Kreml in o rder s ,were r ea dy t o e f f e c t t h e u n io n of t he two p a r t i e s .Subserv ien t l e f t -winger s - -no tab ly Szakas i t s and

Marosan--split t h e p a r t y and ca jo led t h e ra nk and f i l ei n t o v o t i n g a merger with t h e Communists t o form t h eHungarian Workers Party .The new party now p o sse s se d a membership o f n e a r l yone m i l l i o n . Ostensibly a un i t ed pa r t y , Communistsm a in t ai n ed c o mp le te c o n t r o l o v e r e s s e n t i a l c a d r e a f -f a i r s and soon began t o purge former S o c i a l Democratsof suspec te d loy a l t y . Al though Sz aka s i t s and Marosanwere p ro vi de d w it h h ig h p o s i t i o n s i n t h e u n i t e d p a r t y ,t h e y c l e a r l y were s u b o r d i n a t e t o Rakos i and h i sMuscov it e cohor t s . The e f f e c t of the merger' t h e r e f o r ew a s t o f u r t h e r i n c re a s e u n r e l i a b l e elements i n t h ep a r t y , a l t h o u g h i t su b j e c t e d t hem t o severe Communist

d i s c i p l i n e .e. The Col l abora to r s : C l o s e l y a l l i e d w i t h t h e r u l i n gBuscovitercEique,>headed .by~~RakosS;wie~e~~asggonplf ' , *.c o l l a b o r a t i n g m e m b e r s from t h e nom inal ly non-CommunistNa t iona l Peasan t Par ty and a f e w f i g u r e h e a d s f o r c e dover f rom t h e Independent Smal lhol ders by brass-knucklet a c t i c s of t h e Communists. Such collaborators werei n t e n d e d t o undermine suppor t f rom the m a j o r i t y Small-h o l d e r s ' P a r t y among t h e peasants and bourgeo i s e l ement sby g iv ing an appearance of a genuine democratic b a s i sf o r t h e regime. Among these , the f o r m e r " v i l l a g eexp lo re r sv lFerenc E r d e i and Jozsef Darvas p l a y e d t h emost c o n s i s t e n t l y i m p o r t a n t ' ' f r o n t " roles.

m u t u a l l y h o s t i l e e l e m en t s c o

Caesar 15 - Factionalism in the Hungarian Communist Party

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