OSA / Guide / RIP / 1956 / RFE/RL Background Reports : Subjects | Browse | Search

The text below might contain errors as it was reproduced by OCR software from the digitized originals,
also available as Scanned original in PDF.

BOX-FOLDER-REPORT: 30-2-68
TITLE:             Hungary Abolishes Workers' Councils
BY:                B.L.
DATE:              1957-11-19
COUNTRY:           Hungary
ORIGINAL SUBJECT:  (General Desk)
THEMATIC SUBJECTS: Hungary--1956-1965, Hungary--1956 Revolution--Workers' Council, Political Persecution

--- Begin ---

"E" DISTRIBUTION - 320
19 NOVEMBER 1957

RFE NEWS & INFORMATION SERVICE - EVALUATION AND RESEARCH SECTION

Background Report
(General Desk)

HUNGARY ABOLISHES WORKERS'COUNCILS

With the Hungarian Government's formal abolition (announced in
BUDAPEST newspapers November 17) of Hungarian "workers' councils",
the KADAR regime has returned Hungarian "workers democracy" to a
position which might be called slightly liberalized Stalinism,

The action follows over a year of steady trade union and regime
propaganda against the workers councils which came into being
during the October 1956 Revolution.* The main charge against the
councils has been that they do not represent the workers' interests.

The fact is that their activities were restricted in such a severe
way as early as the end of 1956 that they had no possibility
of representing the workers interests.

The "substitution" of "works" or "factory councils" for Hungarian
"workers' councils" represents the adoption, presumably with some
modifications, of the Rumanian system of "production conferences".

Thus, there remain two "workers organizations" in Hungarian
factories: the trade union's factory committee and now the 
"factory council". As in Rumania, however, the "factory council" is 
completely controlled by the trade union committee -- as the rules
for the "new" factory councils show -- and the trade union by the
local Party organization.

The establishment of Hungarian "production conferences" under
the guise of "factory councils" is not a new move. A government
decree August 3 this year ordered every factory and enterprise
to hold quarterly production conferences to discuss production
results. According to the factory council rules, a meeting of the
council must also be held at least once every three months. In the

----------------------
*On September 29, Antal APRO, deputy premier and chairman of the
People's Patriotic Front, said at a mass meeting at KECSKEMET that
the greater part of the councils had ceased to exist because their
political composition "was not satisfactiry" and that they were to
be replaced by works councils under trade union leadership.

[page 2]

GENERAL DESK BACKGROUND REPORT, November 19,

interim, according to the Hungarian news agency MTI's report of
the new rules, the trade union committee in the factory exercises
the rights of the factory council.

Factory Democracy Now Only Formal

That the "production conference" type of "worker democracy" is not
intended to be more than formally democratic was made clear as long
ago as last March, when the chief of the Rumanian trade union central
authority, Gheorghe APOSTOL, stated in an interview with the Hungarian
trade union paper, "Nepakarat, that the question of "new economic
leadership" did not and will not arise in Rumania. He said that
"production conferences" -- under the sponsorship of the trade unions
and the enterprise managements -- are the "most important and 
efficient forms of participation of all the workers of the socialist
enterprise in the leadership of production.

The precedent of a permanent "body known as a "production conference"
was also made in Rumania. The chairman of the newly formed Union
of Consumer Goods Industry Workers, Maria MORARU, said in May that
one of the main tasks of the new union would be the transformation
of informal "production conferences" into permanent bodies. The
precise rules and workings of Rumanian "production conferences",
however, still remain largely a mystery in the West.

Trade-Union Attacks On The Workers' Councils

Prior to and during the Revolution of 1956, the authority and
prestige of the government controlled labor unions in Hungary was
almost completely shattered. With the establishment of workers' 
councils during the revolution, the attitude of the workers was
that there was hardly any need whatsoever for such regime-controlled
trade unions.

But after the breaking of the revolution and the KADAR regime's
arrests of worker council leaders, the regime trade union 
organization set about re-establishing its power. Its prestige had 
practically no chance of returning even to its pre-revolution low. The
chances were even slimmer so long as the revolutionary "Decree on
Workers Councils" still remained formally in effect.

This decree has now been abrogated.

The announcement of November 17 reads that factory councils will
be created, will work under the direction of the unions and
according to the traditions of "that huge-mass organization"; the
unions will be the guarantee of success for the factory councils.

[page 3]

GENERAL DESK BACKGROUND REPORT, November 19,

Rules For The New Councils

Factory councils will be formed in all State productive enterprises,
in the mines, State agricultural enterprises and in other 
institutions such as the railway and post and telegraph systems, according
to MTI. 

Membership: A factory council will have from 15 to 125 members,
under the leadership of the chairman of the factory trade union
committee, Two-thirds of its members must also be trade union
officials elected by the trade union committee. The remaining 
one-third will be elected by the work force in general. To qualify for
candidacy in the one-third, a worker must have had no previous
trouble with the law; must be loyal to the people and must have
worked at least two years in the enterprise. For the election of
their one-third of the council at least two-thirds of the work force
must vote. A candidate must receive a majority of the votes cast. The
factory director, the engineer-in-chief, the comptroller-in-chief,
the secretary of the local Party organization and the secretary of
the local Communist Youth Union are automatically members of the
factory council.

Competence; Extends to all domains of the enterprise's life,
according to MTI. The factory council has the right to, formulate
suggestions, ush through the development of industrial technique and
control the economic life of the factory. The advice of the councils
is indispensable, says MTI, in the elaboration of the enterprises's
plan, in fixing sums for investment, in questions of work conditions,
salaries and in introduction of important innovations.

The Director; The factory director has the right of final decision
but the advice of the factory council should influence measures taken.
The factory council should decide on the division of benefits and
profits among the workers; but the director must insure that these
decisions are not contrary to realization of the plan or to the
aims of the central direction. The decisions of the factory council
cannot violate the principle of one-man direction of the factory.

Duties of the Council; It should aid in the direction of the factory,
in increasing production and in sponsoring actions in support of
work discipline.

Trade Union Official Attacks Workers Councils

BUDAPEST newspapers(November l7) also published a statement by the
secretary of the Central Council of Trade Unions, Gyoergy VARGA.

[page 4]

GENERAL DESK BACKGROUND REPORT, November 19,

VARGA salt that the needs of socialism demand, among other things,
the participation of the working class in the direction and control
of economic life. But the "workers' councils" were not capable of
"bringing this about. The workers' councils had lost their popularity
and influence among the masses when their true (reactionary) 
objectives became clear.

The suppression of the workers councils, VARGA said, symbolizes the
political and economic power of the Worker-Peasant government. The
major portion of the workers' councils were suppressed in the spring
of this year, said VARGA, but the workers demanded an enlargement
of their participation in the direction of the enterprises. It is
this demand that the new factory councils must answer,

Minister Of Finance....

The Minister of Finance, Istvan ANTOS, stated in the Party organ
"Nepszabadsag" (November 17) that "profit-sharing" has proven a
stimulus in industrial production since it caused workers in a
number of enterprises to work at reducing production .costs-: But
the share in profits will not be paid out by the regime until next
March or April since it is not possible to establish before then
the results of this year's plan.

Polish Workers' Council Situation

Support of Polish workers' councils still remains one of the
fundamentals of the GOMULKA regime, despite the fact that Poland
is now the only nation in the "socialist camp" proper whose workers'
councils have even a theoretical right of existence.

The Yugoslav Communists maintain their system of workers' councils
as one of the specific features on their "road to socialism". It, is
interesting to note that a Hungarian trace union delegation arrived
in Yugoslavia over the weekend, at the same tine the measure
formally ending Hungarian workers' councils was published. This
coincidence would appear to indicate that the Yugoslavs will not
object very strongly, if at all, to the BUDAPEST action.[*]

The East German regime shelved the worker council idea after some
consideration at the beginning of the year. The East German news
agency ADN was prompts to report the Hungarian action. Czechoslovakia
and Bulgaria apparently never considered the establishment of
workers' councils.

-------------------------

* See Background Report "TITO and the Hungarian Workers' Councils"
19 November 1957.

[page 5]

GENERAL DESK BACKGROUND REPORT, November 19,

It would seem that the Hungarian action--even though it represents
the formal definition of a situation which has existed fort almost
a year--should cause some hard thinking in WARSAW. It will probably
be used by the "Stalinist" wing of the Polish United Workers'
(Communist) Party to point out the fact that Poland is out of step
in the "socialist camp". The "Stalinists" have opposed the worker
council idea from the very beginning.

But at the same time, the BUDAPEST action should serve to alert the
"left" and "centrist" groups in the Polish Party to possible dangers
from the "right" and also serve as "ammunition" against the "right".

Reporting the news from BUDAPEST, WARSAW Radio presented a confused
picture of what had actually happened. The radio said a joint
resolution "by the government and the trade union "concerning the
creation of workers' councils" had "been published. The broadcast did
not make it clear that the workers' councils were in fact ended'1 by the
decree.

The Polish trade union organization was in much the same position
as the Hungarian in October last year. One of the first results
of the Polish October was the ousting of the "Stalinist" trade union
chief, KLOSIEWICZ. With the overwhelming support given the workers'
councils at the time of the 8th Central Committee Plenum in October
1956, the trade unions "began judiciously to step into the 
background. Trade union personnel was reduced by two-thirds and in a
RSAW Radio interview(January 31)the deputy chairman of the trade
union central, GAJEWSKI declared that from then on the unions would
confine themselves "exclusively" to country-wide trade union problems.
One of the unions first tasks, he said, would be to work out forms
of co-operation with the workers' councils and the "works councils",
which are the local trade union "branches in factories. (Note that
Polish "works councils" are identical with Hungarian trade union
"works committees".) In line with the "democratization" of the Polish
trade union organization, GAJEWSKI. also announced that whereas all
union dues had previously gone to the central authority, from then
on only five per cent of the dues would be sent to the central
council. Likewise "new men, sensitive to workers' grievances and more
closely connected with the workers" were being brought into the
unions.

"Trybuna Ludu" of 17 October 1956, had aptly explained the
situation established in Polish enterprises with the advent of
regime and trade union-accepted workers' councils. Previously, the paper
said, everything had frequently been decided by a "triangle
consisting of the secretary of the basic Party organization, the (plant)
manager and the chairman of the (works) council." Row, "Trybuna Ludu"

[page 6]

GENERAL DESK BACKGROUND REPORT, November 19,

said, the workers council would not become a "kind of fourth power"
but would be a single "supreme and true authority, that of the staff."
In these conditions, the manager would "become an executive authority
in the true sense of the word; the "works councils"(trade union
committees) cease to "be "an authority' "but "become a true organ for
the defense of the workers1 interests"; and the Party organization
would at last be able to devote all its efforts to its main task:
the exercise of political leadership in the works".

The triangle mentioned above is certainly what has now "been 
reestablished for Hungarian enterprises, since the works manager,
Party chief and trade union committee chief are all automatic members
of the "factory council."

The progress of Polish workers councils since the beginning of the 
year has not been smooth. The original flood of publicity for
workers' councils has ebbed to something the size of a trickle; from
all indications criticims of the worker council theory has not
ceased despite its official acceptance at this year's Ninth and
Tenth Central Committee Plena.

To a large extent the future of workers' councils has been linked
with the preparatuon of Poland's "new economic model" and the later
is by all indications still primarily in the talking stage. A PAP
report on a meeting November 4 of the Economic Council attached to
the Council of Ministers related, for example, that one of the
participants, Professor BRUS, said that any "future reform" of the
price system must be related to other problems such as the wage
system and the structure of production. BRUS said this was a lengthy
research project. Another of the persons present at this meeting,
Roman FIDELSKI, said that in his opinion the further adoption in
1 January 1958, of the type of experiments now being carried out
in certain Polish factories was "inadvisable".

The independence and effectiveness of the workers' councils would
also seem, according to the Hungarian example, to depend on the role
played by the trade unions. What role Polish unions would like to play
is becoming somewhat unclear.

Whereas GAJEWSKI in the beginning of the year promised full union
support for the workers' councils, an article in the November 14
issue of the trade union organ "Glos Parcy" did not mention the
councils but stressed that it is a "false conception" that trade
unions should have " a "non-political character." Likewise, it
was "nonsense" to see the unions, representing the interests of the
working masses, as a "contracting party in relation to the people's
government." How can one on one side have the unions, representing

[page 7]

GENERAL DESK BACKGROUND REPORT, November 19,

the working class, and on the other the peoples power "which is
precisely the power of that class?" the paper asked.

This, says "Glos Pracy", is an attempt to undermine the "principles
of the dictatorship of the proletariat" because the trade unions
are co-responsible for the people's power. Not only can they not be
a contracting party opposed to the people's power but they must
oppose all activity which could weaken that power.

Such a statement is bound to make one wonder whether the trade union
central is not attempting a return to the pre-thaw philosophy for
which it was condemned so completely by Poland's October.

Any return to such thinking would certainly have an effect on
Poland's "workers' councils".

B.L.

End

  OSA / Guide / RIP / 1956 / RFE/RL Background Reports : Subjects | Browse | Search