1944-1948 1953-1956







Stalinism, 1948-1953


Foreign Policy : In 1948 Hungary became a founding member of COMECON. The country was part of what then was called the Soviet Bloc. Following Tito's break with Stalin in 1948, Hungary sided with the USSR.
Relations with the western powers were poor; a number of western citizens in Hungary were arrested and tried on the charge of espionage.

DomesticPolicy : Matyas Rakosi, secretary general of the Communist Party, was the strongman in Hungary. Under Rakosi, the political police, the notorious AVO, made numerous arrests of persons regarded politically suspect. Among those who were arrested on made-up charges, tried and sentenced was Hungary's Cardinal Mindszenty (who had resisted government policy on education), but also many communists, among them Laszlo Rajk who had served as minister of internal affairs in 1945. The total number of persons detained during the period between 1948 and 1953 is estimated at 200,000.

The Economy : With Hungary becoming a people's republic, the border to Austria was sealed off (Iron Curtain); following Tito's break with Stalin, the border to Yugoslavia similarly was sealed off. Enterprises employing more than 100 employees were nationalized in 1948, the collectivization of farmland was begun, a socialist economy imposed. A first three-year-plan (1947-1949) was succeeded by a five-year-plan 1949-1954. Investment was to increase multifold in order to develop and expand industries. There were difficulties when it came to attracting a workforce for newly created factories. Police was empowered to stop citizens in the streets and ask them about their employment (Britannica BoY 1952).
The economic policy of trying to enforce the collectivization of farmland and rapid industrialization resulted in a severe economic crisis; the production level did not reach the numbers planned for, another problem was the products' often inferior quality, a lack of consumer goods on the market and a drop in incomes.

Cultural History . Hungarian athletes participated in the Summer Olympics in London 1948 and Helsinki 1952. In London, Hungarians took 10 gold, in Helsinki 16 gold, an astonishing accomplishment for a country with a population of then less than 10 million. The legendary Hungarian football team, with Hidegkuti and Puskas, took the gold in 1952.





EXTERNAL
LINKS 		Articles Hungary at the 1952 Summer Olympics, Hungary at the 1948 Summer Olympics, from Wikipedia
The People's Republic, from Hungary : A Short History by C.A. Macartney (1962)
Almost half a century - my lifetime, from Hungary - A Brief History, by Istvan Lazar, 1989/1993
House of Terror, Museum (prison were political prisoners were tortured 1944-1956
Article Jozsef Cardinal Mindszenty, Matyas Rakosi, from Wikipedia
Joseph Mindszenty, Matyas Rakosi, Hungary, from Spartacus Schoolnet
Hungary : The Party System in 1950-1956 and 1957-1962, in : Kenneth Janda, Political Parties : A Cross-National Survey
DOCUMENTS Hungarian Statesmen, from World Statesmen (B. Cahoon)
Historical Population Statistics : Hungary, from Population Statistics (J. Lahmeyer)
Hungarian banknotes 1930ff, from Ron Wise's World Paper Money and from Currency Museum
REFERENCE Peter F. Sugar (ed.), A History of Hungary, Indiana Univ. Press 1990, 432 pp.
Article : Hungary, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1950 pp.349-350, 1951 pp.352-353, 1952 pp.345-346, 1953 p.344 [G]
Article : Hungary, in : Funk & Wagnall's New Standard Encyclopedia Year Book 1952 pp.196-198 [G]


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2000, last revised on September 28th 2007

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