Zoltan Tildy was born in
Hungary
in 1889. He became involved
in politics and as a member of the Smallholders Party and in 1936
was elected to Parliament. The Smallholders drew most of its support
from the peasants who formed more than 50 per cent of the country.
However, until 1939, the ballot had been open in rural constituencies,
and therefore large landowners were able to force most peasants to
vote for the government party. The leaders of the Smallholders Party
were mainly members of the middle class and their political views
varied from liberals to socialists.
The Soviet
Army invaded Hungary
in September 1944. It set
up an alternative government in Debrecen on 21st December 1944 but
did not capture Budapest until 18th January 1945. Soon afterwards
Tildy became the provisional prime minister.
In elections held in November,
1945, the Smallholders Party won 57% of the vote. The Hungarian Workers
Party, now under the leadership of Matyas
Rakosi and Erno Gero, received support from only 17% of the population.
The Soviet commander in Hungary, Marshal Voroshilov, refused to allow
the Smallholders to form a government. Instead Voroshilov established
a coalition government with the communists holding all the key posts.
Tildy now became
president and he held the post for two years.
The Hungarian Communist
Party became the largest single party in the elections in 1947 and
served in the coalition People's Independence Front government. The
communists gradually gained control of the government and by 1948
the Smallholders Party ceased to exist as an independent organization
and Tildy was placed under house-arrest.
Rakosi also demanded complete
obedience from fellow members of the Hungarian Workers Party. When
Laszlo
Rajk, the foreign
secretary, criticised attempts by Joseph Stalin
to impose Stalinist policies on Hungary
he was arrested and in September 1949 he was executed. Janos
Kadar and other
dissidents were also purged from the party during this period.
Matyas
Rakosi now attempted to impose authoritarian rule on Hungary.
An estimated 2,000 people were executed and over 100,000 were imprisoned.
These policies were opposed by some members of the Hungarian Workers
Party and around 200,000 were expelled by Rakosi from the organization.
The
Hungarian
Uprising began
on 23rd October by a peaceful manifestation of students in Budapest.
The students demanded an end to Soviet occupation and the implementation
of "true socialism". The following day commissioned officers
and soldiers joined the students on the streets of Budapest. Stalin's
statue was brought down and the protesters chanted "Russians
go home", "Away with Gero" and "Long Live Nagy".
On 25th October Soviet
tanks opened fire on protesters in Parliament Square. One journalist
at the scene saw 12 dead bodies and estimated that 170 had been wounded.
Shocked by these events the Central Committee of the Communist Party
forced Erno Gero to resign from office and replaced him with Janos
Kadar.
Imre
Nagy now went
on Radio Kossuth and promised the "the far-reaching democratization
of Hungarian public life, the realisation of a Hungarian road to socialism
in accord with our own national characteristics, and the realisation
of our lofty national aim: the radical improvement of the workers'
living conditions." Tildy, as leader of the Smallholders Party,
now joined Nagy's coalition government.
On 3rd November, 1956,
Nagy announced details of his coalition government. It included communists
(Janos
Kadar, George
Lukacs,
Geza Lodonczy), three members of the
Smallholders Party (Zolton Tildy, Bela
Kovacs and Istvan Szabo), three Social
Democrats (Anna Kethly, Gyula
Keleman, Joseph Fischer), and two
Petofi Peasants (Istvan Bibo and Ferenc
Farkas). Major-General Maleter was appointed minister of defence.
Nikita
Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet
Union, became increasingly concerned about these developments
and on 4th November 1956 he sent the Red Army
into Hungary. Soviet tanks immediately captured Hungary's airfields,
highway junctions and bridges. Fighting took place all over the country
but the Hungarian forces were quickly defeated.
Zoltan Tildy died in 1961.
(1)
New
York Times (3rd
November,
1956)
Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty
appealed to the West today for political support in Hungary's fight
against Soviet domination. He said his appeal was addressed especially
to the "great powers" in the West, presumably the United
States, Britain and France. He asked also for gifts to relieve the
suffering here.
Speaking in German in
a strong vibrant voice, the Cardinal told correspondents who crowded
his small, almost" bare study that "the whole Hungarian
people wish and demand that Russian troops leave Hungarian territory."
"The people," he added, "want to work for themselves
and for the life of the nation."
The Cardinal said he had
received a telegram of blessings from Pope Pius. He said the telegram
had contained nothing else. This was taken to mean that he had no
political instructions from the Vatican.
As he did just after his
release, he avoided a direct answer to the question whether he would
take part in a government. He answered that he had not had time to
get the full picture of political conditions in Hungary.
Cardinal Mindszenty resumed
his role as leader of Hungary's Roman Catholics by receiving (1 November)
a delegation headed by Vice-Premier Zoltan Tildy, one of two non-Communists
in the Imre Nagy Cabinet. Informed sources said Cardinal Mindszenty
told the delegation that he wants the formation of a Christian Democratic
party with a voice in the Cabinet and cannot consider supporting the
present regime unless this is accomplished. These sources said the
Cardinal envisages a party "on the Adenauer line," referring
to the West German CDU. But they added that the Hungarian party should
embrace "all Christians," including the nation's Protestant
Lutheran population. The sources said
they believe Cardinal Mindszenty is willing to accept a coalition
government including Hungary's "Tito Communists."
(2)
Seftan
Delmer,
Daily Express
(3rd November,
1956)
The Soviet Government
tonight agreed that a joint Soviet-Hungarian commission shall meet
in Budapest tomorrow at noon to discuss Hungarian complaints that
Russian troops are still rolling in. It will discuss too the ultimate
withdrawal of Soviet armour from Hungary ... But in Budapest, however,
the news has caused remarkably little reaction ... The main reason
is that the members of the new inner Cabinet have their misgivings
that this Russian move is just another manoeuvre.
That was the fear of Zoltan
Tildy, the silver-haired Minister of State, leader of the Smallholder
Party ... "The only real chance of success for these talks,"
Tildy told me rather sadly, "is that Soviet troop movements pouring
fresh armour into Hungary, and their operations inside our country,
should stop - at least until the talks begin. The bad, sad news is
that the movements have not ceased. According to our incontrovertible
information, they are still going on."
Even while we were talking,
the new Defence Minister, Colonel Pal Maleter, pulled himself up to
his 6ft. 4in. and asked Tildy to step into the corner so that he could
give him the latest military report.
During our talk, Mr. Tildy
said the Hungarian Government would be prepared to withdraw its appeal
to UNO on one condition. "We are prepared," he said, "to
withdraw our protest to UNO provided that Soviet troops will immediately
cease operations and leave our country."
Tildy, only recently released
from eight years house arrest to which he was submitted with his white-haired
wife, received me in the very same room in which I had talked with
him in 1946, when he was the deputy Prime Minister in the Hungarian
Government.
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