The Communist Takeover In Hungary In 1938-1939

The Communist Takeover in Hungary
In 1938-1939, the years leading up to WWII, Hungary was in the process of political and economic change on the heels of the Great Depression. In 1938 Hungary signed a trade agreement with Germany to help the boost the economy; and Hungary became dependent on Germany for goods and materials. Hungarian government officials feared the power of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, making a point not to upset either. Hungarian officials thought that, “German domination could threaten Hungarian national independence” (Crampton 93). There was a push to create a new base of right-wing Hungarian politics which led to the creation of The First & Second Jewish Laws. These laws very strictly limited Jewish involvement in Hungarian

At the time, political decisions were made at small inner-party meetings that were informal and unpublicized, only including coalition party leadership. By 1946, the HCP was putting pressure on the ISP with a press campaign and mass demonstrations asking for increased state control over the economy and better management of banks and mines. This created a newfound split in the higher-ups, leading to the founding of the Left-Wing Bloc, consisting of HCP, Social Democrat Party, and National Democrats Party, who all opposed the ISP on most issues. After the formation of the Left-Wing Bloc, the ISP was faced with much political pressure and backed down on many issues. Twenty-one members were expelled from the ISP and absolute majority at the National Assembly was lost. In 1946, Prime Minister Ferenc Nagy said, “Among the parties of the Left-Wing Bloc and more immediately, the leaders and masses of the workers; parties, the idea had become dominant that there are counter-revolutionary endeavors at work in Hungary, seeking to overthrow democracy, and that these efforts receive support, partly or wholly, from one of the coalition parties, the largest one, the Independent Smallholders’ Party” (1). A few months later a conspiracy was discovered within the ISP that gave communists ammunition to expel them from their position of power. The ISP agreed to the arrest of six members who were involved in the conspiracy. The prime target after this discovery was the general secretary of the ISP, Bela Kovacs. After this ISP purging in 1947, Ferenc Nagy betrayed the cooperation between the parties by asking that the Left-Wing Bloc be disband, Rakosi then had him accused of treason and intent to overthrown the people’s democracy. These allegations were untrue and believed based on false proof. Nonetheless, since the