Mátyás Rákosi
This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2020) |
Mátyás Rákosi | |||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Hungary | |||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 14 August 1952 – 4 July 1953 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Chairman of the Presidential Council | István Dobi | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | István Dobi | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Imre Nagy | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister of Hungary | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Acting 14 May 1947 – 31 May 1947 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
President | Zoltán Tildy | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Ferenc Nagy | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Lajos Dinnyés | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Acting 1 February 1946 – 4 February 1946 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
President | Zoltán Tildy | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Zoltán Tildy | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Ferenc Nagy | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Mátyás Rosenfeld 9 March 1892 Hungarian Red Army | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Years of service | 1914–1915 1919 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Rank | Commander of the Red Guard | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Battles/wars | World War I
Revolutions and interventions in Hungary (1918–20) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Mátyás Rákosi (
Rákosi had been involved in left-wing politics since his youth, and in 1919 was a leading
As the
Rákosi was an ardent
However, after
Rákosi lived out the rest of his life in exile in the Soviet Union, denied permission to return home by the Hungarian government, out of fear of mass unrest. He died in Gorky in 1971, and his ashes were returned to Hungary in secret. Rákosi is generally seen as a symbol of tyranny and oppression in Hungary.[8]
Early years
This section needs additional citations for verification. (July 2020) |
Rákosi was born in
Rákosi's paternal grandfather participated in the
Rákosi was a diligent and good student during his childhood.[13] He finished his elementary studies in Sopron, then took his final exam at the High Technical Gymnasium of Szeged in 1910. He then studied external trade at the Eastern Commerce Academy.[14] He won scholarships for a year each in Hamburg (1912) and London (1913).[citation needed]
While still a student in Hungary, he joined the
He served in the
Early career
After returning to Hungary, he participated in the communist movement of Béla Kun and also joined the Party of Communists in Hungary. During the short-lived 133-day Communist rule after the resignation of President Mihály Károlyi, when the Hungarian Soviet Republic was established, Rákosi served as Deputy People's Commissar for Trade from 21 March to 3 April in the Revolutionary Governing Council led by Sándor Garbai. Between 3 April and 24 June 1919, Rákosi was one of the six people's commissars for social production, alongside Jenő Varga, Antal Dovcsák, Gyula Hevesi, József Kelen and Ferenc Bajáki. He was also involved in the Hungarian Red Army's Northern and Eastern military campaigns against the newly formed Czechoslovakia and Romania. At the end of July 1919, he was promoted to Commander of the internal law-enforcement Red Guard for a short time. Following the Soviet Republic's fall, Rákosi fled Hungary on 2 August 1919 via the Austrian border, eventually to the
Leader of Hungary
When the
Initially, Rákosi and the Communists appeared willing to work within the system. From 1947 onwards, however, he and the Communists began pressuring the other parties to exclude those not willing to work with the Communists on the grounds that they were "fascists" or fascist sympathisers. Later on, after the Communists won complete control, it was commonly believed that Rákosi referred to this practice as "
The process began when Smallholder Prime Minister Ferenc Nagy was forced to resign in favour of a more pliant Smallholder, Lajos Dinnyés. By the 1947 elections, the Communists had won a plurality, and had largely emasculated the next-largest non-Communist Party, the Social Democrats.
By October 1947, Rákosi had dropped all pretense of liberal democracy. He gave the non-Communist parties an ultimatum: cooperate with a new, Communist-dominated coalition government or go into exile.[19] By the end of 1947, the opposition parties had largely shunted aside their more courageous members, leaving them in the hands of fellow travellers willing to do the Communists' bidding. In the summer of 1948, the Communists forced the Social Democrats to merge with them to form the Hungarian Working People's Party (MDP). However, the few remaining independent-minded Social Democrats were quickly pushed out in short order, leaving the MDP as an enlarged and renamed MKP.
He also pushed out the Smallholder president, Zoltán Tildy, in favour of Social Democrat-turned-Communist Árpád Szakasits, and forced Dinnyés to resign in favour of the openly pro-Communist István Dobi. A year later, elections took place with a single list of candidates. Although non-Communists nominally still figured, in reality they were fellow travellers.[citation needed]
Rákosi described himself as "Stalin's best Hungarian disciple" and "Stalin's best pupil".[citation needed] At the height of his rule, he developed a strong cult of personality around himself.[citation needed]
Approximately 350,000 officials and intellectuals were purged under his rule, from 1948 to 1956.[20] Rákosi imposed totalitarian rule on Hungary — arresting, jailing and killing both real and imagined foes in various waves of Stalin-inspired political purges. In August 1952, he also became Prime Minister (Chairman of the Council of Ministers).
However, in June 1953, Rákosi and other party leaders were summoned to Moscow, where the Soviet leadership dressed down their Hungarian counterparts for Hungary's lackluster economic performance.
Economic policy
The post-war Hungarian economy suffered from multiple challenges. The most important was the destruction of infrastructure in the war (40% of national wealth, including all bridges, railways, raw materials, machinery, etc.).
The Hungarian National Bank in 1946 estimated the cost of reparations as "between 19 and 22 percent of the annual national income." In spite of this, after the highest historical rate of inflation in world history, a new, stable currency was successfully introduced in August 1946 on the basis of the plans of the Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party. The low production of consumer goods and the backwardness of light industry resulted in frequent shortages, especially in the countryside, leading to discontent. In addition, the huge investments in military sectors after the outbreak of the Korean War further reduced the supply of consumer goods. Due to shortages, forced savings (state bond sales to the population) and below-inflation wage increases were introduced.[citation needed]
Forced retirement
Rákosi was then removed as General Secretary of the Party under pressure from the Soviet Politburo in June 1956 (shortly after Nikita Khrushchev's Secret Speech), and was replaced by his former second-in-command, Ernő Gerő. To remove him from the Hungarian political scene, the Soviet Politburo exiled Rákosi to the Soviet Union later in 1956, with the official story being that he was "seeking medical attention". From 1964 to 1968 he lived in the town of Tokmok in Soviet Kirghizia. Later he was sent to Arzamas and, later still, to Gorky.[23]
In 1970, Rákosi was finally granted permission to return to Hungary if he promised not to engage in political activities. He refused the deal and remained in the USSR where he died in Gorky in 1971. After his death, his ashes were privately returned to Hungary for burial in the Farkasréti Cemetery in Budapest. Only his initials are visible on his gravestone to avoid vandalism.[citation needed]
Footnotes
- ^ a b c Gábor Murányi Archived 24 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Mátyás Rákosi, Encyclopedia.com; accessed 22 July 2020.
- ^ Matyas Rakosi – History of 1956, rev.hu; accessed 22 July 2020.
- ^ Bertényi Iván. Gyapai Gábor: Magyarország rövid története (Maecenas, 2001).
- ^ Matyas Rakosi profile, Britannica Online Encyclopedia; accessed 22 July 2020.
- ^ Hungary: The Revolution of 1956 – Britannica Online Encyclopedia, britannica.com; accessed 22 July 2020.
- ^ Gomori, George (30 November 2006). "Gyorgy Litvan". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
- ^ Mink, András. "Mátyás is Dead, Justice is Here." Blinken Open Society Archives.
- ^ Pünkösti, Árpád: A szerelmes Rákosi Archived 2008-06-12 at the Wayback Machine, In: Forrás, 2003–10
- ^ "Mi lett Rákosi Mátyás családjával?". Múlt-kor történelmi magazin (in Hungarian). 2014-08-05. Retrieved 2024-01-07.
- ^ A Belügyminisztérium 1903. évi 86113. sz. rendelete. Névváltoztatási kimutatások 1903. év 42. oldal 38. sor
- ^ "Rákosi a hatalomért".
- ^ Pünkösti Árpád: Rákosi, Sztálin legjobb tanítványa, mek.oszk.hu; accessed 22 July 2020.
- ^ ELTE Egyetemi Archived 2018-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, leveltar.elte.hu; accessed 22 July 2020 (in Hungarian).
- ^ Propagandafilm forgatókönyve Rákosi Mátyás 60. születésnapjára (MOL M-KS 267. f. 65. cs. 388. ő. e. – Magyar Országos Levéltár MDP Rákosi Mátyás titkári iratai). Géppel írt másodlat; accessed 22 July 2020 (in Hungarian).
- ^ Fernbach, D. 'Introduction', In The Footsteps of Rosa Luxemburg, Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2012; p.16
- ^ a b Mátyás Rákosi
- ^ Stone, Norman (2019). Hungary: A Short History.
- ^ Hungary: a country study. Library of Congress Federal Research Division, December 1989.
- ISBN 1-58544-298-4.
- LCCN 90006426.
- ^ Pető-Szakács: A hazai gazdaság négy évtizedének története 1945–1985. I. köt. Budapest, 1985, KJK
- ISBN 5-89750-083-5.
- ^ Until 28 June 1953, the post was known as General Secretary
- ^ Before 12 June 1948, the party was the Hungarian Communist Party
Sources
- APOR, BALÁZS. The Invisible Shining: The Cult of Mátyás Rákosi in Stalinist Hungary, 19451956. Central European University Press, 2017. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7829/j.ctt1zqrmzm.
- Martin Mevius. “A Crown for Ráákosi: The Vogeler Case, the Holy Crown of St Stephen, and the (Inter)National Legitimacy of the Hungarian Communist Regime, 1945––1978.” The Slavonic and East European Review 89, no. 1 (2011): 76–107. https://doi.org/10.5699/slaveasteurorev2.89.1.0076.
- Sebestyen, Victor (2006). Twelve Days: The Story of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. New York: Pantheon. pp. 340. ISBN 0-375-42458-X.