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BOX-FOLDER-REPORT: 28-5-80
TITLE:             The New Hungarian Government
BY:                
DATE:              1956-10-27
COUNTRY:           Hungary
ORIGINAL SUBJECT:  From the Evaluation and Research Section
THEMATIC SUBJECTS: Hungary--1956 Revolution, Government, Personalities

--- Begin ---

FROM THE EVALUATION AND RESEARCH SECTION	BACKGROUND REPORT
(Hungary)	27 October 1956

THE MEW HUNGARIAN GOVERNMENT

Prime Minister: Imre NAGY. Succeeded Andras EEGEDUS as Premier
and became Politbureau member on
October 24, the first day of the
current revolt.

Premier from July 1953 until April
1955 and spokesman of the New Course.
Ousted from the Government and Party
offices in April 1955, and expelled
from the Party in December 1955 for
rightist deviation.

Deputy Prime
Ministers: Antal APRO.	National Chairman of the PPF (Peoples'
Patriotic Front,) and Minister of
Building. He served as Deputy Premier
in the former Government; was member
of the recent regime delegation to
BELGRADE. Member of CP Politbureau.

Jozsef BOGNAR. Also Minister of Foreign Trade, both
of this Government and of the
previous one. Secretary General of the
Small holder Party. Since 1946 he has
always held a cabinet post.

Ferenc ERDEI.	Continuing in the position he held in
the previous cabinet. Secretary
General of the National Peasant Party.
In the provisional government after
World War II he was Minister of
Interior. Has been a member of the
cabinet since 1947.

Minister of State

without portfolio: Zoltan TILDY.	Prime Minister of Hungary's first
post-war constitutional government
(1945) and President of the Republic
from February 1946 until his
dismissal in August 1948, when he vanished
from the public eye. Reappeared in
September 1956. Former President of
the Small holder Party.

Minister of

Foreign Affairs: Imre HORVATH.	Held the same post in the former
cabinet. Became Foreign Secretary

[page 2]

after RAKOSI's downfall in July 1956.
Although not a career diplomat, since
the end of WORLD War II he has been
Minister to East-BERLIN, WASHINGTON, LONDON
and PRAGUE.

Minister of Interior:	Ferenc MUNNICH.	Fought in the Spanish civil war;
police commander of post-war
BUDAPEST. At the time of the RAJK affair
he was appointed Minister to Finland;
later he became Minister to Bulgaria
and than Ambassador to the Soviet
Union, In August 1956, became
Minister in BELGRADE. He is an old-time
enemy of Matyas RAKOSI.

Minister of
Defense:	Karoly JANZA.	Major General, former metal-worker.
Was deputy Minister of Defense in
former cabinets.

Minister of Agriculture:	Bela KOVACS.	Former secretary general of the
Small holder Party. Arrested by
Soviet Military forces in February
1947. He was deported to Soviet
Union, whence he returned in spring
1956.

Minister of Finance:	Istvan KOSSA.	From May 1951 until May 1952 he was
chief of the State Church Office,
later became Minister of Metallurgy
and Machine Industry. When this
ministry was dissolved he was
appointed president of the Labor
reserve Office. In January 1955 he
became first deputy president of the
National Planning Office.

Minister of Justice:	Erik MOLNAR.	Held same position in the previous
cabinet. He is a lawyer, chairman
of the Hungarian Federation of
Jurists, chairman of the permanent
government committee on
constitutional and administrative law, and one
of the main historians of the
Communist Party. Won the Kossuth Prize

[page 3]

twice and is member of the Hungarian
Scientific Academy. Held various
positions in several former cabinets
since 1945, and was for a short time
Ambassador to MOSCOW.

Minister of Metallurgy and Machinery:	Janos CSERGO.	Has held the same position since
1954. He is a turner by trade.

Minister of Health:	Antal BABITS.	An outstanding urologist, Kossuth
Prize holder, former Dean of the
Medical School of the BUDAPEST
University. In March 1953, when he was
director of the BUDAPEST Kutvölgyi
Street Hospital (known as the
principal hospital of the Hungarian
security police) he was suspended from
his position and arrested, very
likely in connection with the demotion
and arrest of former security police
boss Gabor PETER. He reappeared,
however, early in 1954. In July
1956 he was awarded the title of
outstanding physician and received
a 3,000 forint cash prize.

Minister of Mining and Power:	Sandor CZOTTNER.	He has been Minister of Mining and
Power since 1951.

Minister of Domestic Trade:	Janos TAUSZ.	He was deputy minister in the
same ministry in 1951, subsequently
he became deputy minister of home
and foreign trade. After that
ministry was split up in July 1954 he
was appointed first deputy minister
of domestic trade and in April 1956
upped to the rank of minister in
the same ministry.

Minister of Chemical Industry:	Gergely SZABO.	Was in the same position in 1952.
In January 1955 became chief of the
secretarial office of the Council
of Ministers. Since July 30 1956,

[page 4]

again Minister of Chemical Industry.

Minister of Light Industry:	Mrs. Jozsef NAGY.	A former textile worker, became
manager of the BUDAPEST "Hungarian
Cotton Mill." In January 1951, Deputy
Minister of Light Industry. In 1952
became deputy chairman of the
National Planning Office. In September
1955 was appointed Minister of Light
Industry.

Minister of Communal Economy:	Ferenc NEZVAL.	A leather worker, former deputy
president of the BUDAPEST town councils
executive committee. First deputy
minister in the same ministry from
June 1954.

Ministry of State Farms (Sovkhozes):	Miklos RIBIANSZKY.	Has been holding leading
offices in the Ministry of
Agriculture since 1952. In 1953 he won the
Kossuth Prize and 10,000 forint cash
prize. Was appointed deputy minister
in the same ministry January 1955.

Minister of Food Industry:	Rezso NYERS.	Born 1923. Printer. Former social
democrat; after the fusion (June
1948) became org. secretary of the
MDP's PEST County party committee.
In 1954 was nominated deputy
president of National Council of Trading
Co-operatives (SZOVOSZ.) Has been
Minister of Food Industry since July
30 1956.

Minister of Produce Collection:	Antal GYENES.	Journalist, he wrote articles in
Szabad Nep about agricultural
problems. Tarsadalmi Szemle in
September 1956 published an essay of his
titled: "The Role of Simpler Forms
of Co-operation in our Kolkhoz
Movement."

[page 5]

Minister of Communications and Post:	Lajos BEBRITS.	Born 1891. Former railroad employee.
Worked as a Communist Journalist and
member of the American Communist
Party in the USA. Was deported in
1932, went to the Soviet Union, and
after his return to Hungary in 1945
became Secretary of State in the
Ministry of Communications, being the
right hand of Erno (GERO, then head
of that ministry. Was appointed
Minster of Communications in July 1951
and subsequently in July 1953
Minister of Communications and Post.

Minister of People's Culture:	Gyorgy LUKACS.	Aged 71. He was Minister of
Education in Bela KUN's 1919 regime.
During the thirties he emigrated to the
Soviet Union, whence he returned
after the war (1945.) He is the most
outstanding Marxist-Leninist
philosopher of the regime and one of the
leaders of the "thaw" in Hungary. He
criticized bitterly the degeneration
of Marxism-Leninism by Stalinists.

Minister of Education:	Albert KONYA.	Born 1917, teacher of mathematics and
physics. Nuclear physicist. From
1952 until autumn 1954 deputy
minister of education, then until July 30
1956, deputy chief of the CC's
scientific and cultural section and
subsequently Minister of Education.

Chairman of the National Planning Office:	Arpad KISS.	Was Minister of Light Industry from
1951 to October 1954, when he became
Minister of Chemical Industry and
Power. Dismissed from this
ministry, was appointed President of
National Council of Technical
Development. In 1954 won the silver degree
of the Kossuth Prize with a 20,000
forint cash prize. In January 1956
became deputy chairman of the
national atomic energy committee.

[page 6]

PARTY STATUS OF NEW CABINET MEMBERS

Follows a list of members of the new Hungarian cabinet, in the
order names were announced by Radio BUDAPEST on October 27.
Also given are their party affiliation, and any official positions
held in the party.

Note: HWP is the abbreviation for Hungarian Working People's
(Communist) Party.

Name	Party	Position
NAGY Imre	HWP (CP)	Central Committee and Politbureau
			member.
APRO	HWP (CP)	Central Committee and Politbureau
			member.
BOGNAR	Smallholder	Secretary General.
ERDEI	National Peasant	General Secretary.
TILDY	Smallholder
HORVATH Imre	HWP (CP)	Central Committee member.
JANZA	HWP (CP)
MUNNICH	HWP (CP)	Central Committee member.
KOVACS Bela	Smallholder
KOSSA	HWP (CP)	Central Committee alternate member.
MOLNAR	HWP (CP)	Central Committee alternate member.
CSERGO	HWP (CP)	Central Committee member.
BABITS	Undocumented, but almost certainly HWP (CP)
CZOTTNER	HWP (CP)	Central Committee, member.
TAUSZ	HWP (CP)	Central Committee member.
SZABO Gergely	HWP (CP)	Central Committee alternate member.
NAGY Mrs.	HWP (CP)	Central Committee member.
NEZVAL	HWP (CP)	Central Committee alternate member.
RIBIANSZKY	Undocumented, but almost certainly HWP (CP)
NYERS	HWP (CP)	Central Committee member.
GYENES	HWP (CP)
BEBRITS	HWP (CP)	Central Committee alternate member.
LUKACS	HWP (CP)	Central Committee member.
KONYA	HWP (CP)	Central Committee alternate member.
KISS Arpad	HWP (CP)	Central Committee member.

[page 7]

HUNGARIAN EVALUATION COMMENT:

Of the 25 members of the new cabinet, only eight are newcomers.
19 are known from our files as members of the Communist Party,
and two more are very probably also CP numbers. Three are
Smallholders and one belongs to the National Peasant Party.

The following members of the previous cabinet were excluded:

Prime Minister HEGEDUS, First Deputy Prime Minister HIDAS,
Deputy Prime Minister MEKIS, Deputy Prime Minister MAROSAN,
Minister of the Interior PIROS, Minister of Defense BATA,
Minister of Finance OLT, Minister of Produce Collection SZOBEK,
Minister of Construction SZIJARTO, Minister of People's Culture
DARVAS, Minister of Health ROMAN, Minister of State Farms
POGACSAS, Minister of Agriculture MATOLCSY and Minister of Communal
Economy Janos SZABO.

Of the excluded former cabinet members only DARVAS is not a CP
member.

The situation regarding the Ministry of State Control is for
the time being unclear. No minister has been appointed. The
name of Arpad HAZI, head of this ministry, is not included in
the new cabinet list. So far the abolition of the ministry has
not been announced, therefore the post of minister has to be
considered vacant.

End

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