Antal Apró (8 February 1913 – 9 December 1994) was a Hungarian Communist politician, who served as

Speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary The Speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary ( hu, Magyarország Országgyűlésének elnöke, literally the President of National Assembly of Hungary) is the presiding officer of the National Assembly of Hungary. The current Speaker is Lás ...

between 1971 and 1984.

Early life

Born in

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

, Apró was brought up in orphanages. He arrived in

Makó Makó (, german: Makowa, yi, מאַקאָווע Makowe, ro, Macău or , sk, Makov) is a town in Csongrád County, in southeastern Hungary, from the Romanian border. It lies on the Maros River. Makó is home to 23,272 people and it has an area ...

in 1916, where he completed an elementary education. He then went to work as a house-painter in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. He became a member of the Mémosz in 1930 and of the

Hungarian Communist Party The Hungarian Communist Party ( hu, Magyar Kommunista Párt, abbr. MKP), known earlier as the Party of Communists in Hungary ( hu, Kommunisták Magyarországi Pártja, abbr. KMP), was a communist party in Hungary that existed during the interwar ...

in 1931. In 1935, he was among the organizers of a building-workers' strike and active in the United Trade-Union Opposition. He was elected to the national board of Mémosz in 1938. Apró was arrested and interned several times for his illegal activity. In September 1944, he joined the Central Committee of the Peace Party, in charge of obtaining the weapons required for resistance.

Political career

On January 22, 1945, Apró became head of the trade-union department at the Hungarian Communist Party, moving to head the Mass Organizations and Mass Labour Department in February and the newly formed Trade-Union Committee of the Central Committee on April 13, 1945. Apró was elected an alternate member of the party Central Committee in May 1946 and later a full member, joining the executive Organizing Committee of the party in October. In 1948, he was a member of the Joint Organizing Committee of the Hungarian Communist Party and the Hungarian Social Democratic Party. Meanwhile, in 1945, he had been elected to Parliament. Apró was dropped from the highest level of party leadership between 1948 and 1951, but elected general secretary of the Trade-Union Council. He was criticized by Rákosi and Gerő in this period for "syndicalism". From August 1949 to early January 1952 and again from July to November 1953, Apró was also a member of the Presidential Council. He was appointed minister of the construction-materials industry at the beginning of 1952 and first deputy to the minister of construction in July 1953. In November of that year, he returned to the Political Committee of the

Hungarian Working People's Party The Hungarian Working People's Party (, abbr. MDP) was the ruling communist party of Hungary from 1948 to 1956. It was formed by a merger of the Hungarian Communist Party (MKP) and the Social Democratic Party of Hungary (MSZDP).Neubauer, John, a ...

(MDP) and became a deputy prime minister. Apró served on the committee implementing the resolution on rehabilitating unjustly condemned party members, and from March 1955, on the committee dealing with the rehabilitation of the victims of show trials. Until 1971, he was Hungary's permanent representative on the council of Comecon. On June 16, 1956, he was elected chairman of the National Council of the Patriotic People's Front. On October 6, 1956, he delivered an address at the funeral of

László Rajk László Rajk (8 March 1909 – 15 October 1949) was a Hungarian Communist politician, who served as Minister of Interior and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was an important organizer of the Hungarian Communists' power (for example, organizi ...

. He was elected a member of the Military Committee of the MDP Central Committee on the night of October 23. On October 27, he became a deputy prime minister and construction minister in the national government of

Imre Nagy Imre Nagy (; 7 June 1896 – 16 June 1958) was a Hungarian communist politician who served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers (''de facto'' Prime Minister) of the Hungarian People's Republic from 1953 to 1955. In 1956 Nagy became leader ...

. The following day he joined the presidium formed to direct the party. However, he fled to the

Tököl Tököl ( sh, Tukulja) is a town in Pest County, Hungary. Demography The majority of residents are Hungarians, with a minority of Bunjevci. Hungarian Uprising An Budapest-Tököl airfield (47 20 35 N / 18 59 20 E) was built during World War ...

headquarters of the Soviet forces, from where he was taken to

Szolnok Szolnok (; also known by other #Name and etymology, alternative names) is the county seat of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county in central Hungary. A City with county rights, city with county rights, it is located on the banks of the Tisza river, i ...

. On November 4, he was given the industrial portfolio in the Kádár government. On November 7, he became a member of the Provisional Executive Committee of the Kádárite HSWP, heading its Economic Committee from December. Appointed a deputy prime minister again on May 9, 1957, Apró was first deputy prime minister between the end of January 1958 and September 1961. In 1961, he was placed at the head of the government's Committee for International Relations. He was the Hungarian signatory to the agreement on building the Friendship I oil pipeline from the Soviet Union and to the documents on the nuclear-power programme. On May 12, 1971, Apró was relieved of all the posts he had held and chosen as speaker of Parliament, which he remained until December 1984. Between 1976 and 1989, he was president of the Hungarian-Soviet Friendship Society. He was dropped from the HSWP Political Committee in 1980, and at the party meeting in May 1988, from the Central Committee. On May 8, 1989, he resigned his parliamentary seat and retired from politics.

Family

He was an extra-marital child of Piroska Apró, a 19-year-old

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

cook. Antal Apró married to Klára Kovács, they had three children: Antal, János and Piroska. Their only daughter Piroska Apró is an economist. She was the wife of the Bulgarian Petar Dobrev. They have a child,

Klára Dobrev Klára Dobrev (born Klara Petrova Dobreva, bg, Клара Петрова Добрева; on 2 February 1972) is a Hungarian left-wing politician who served as Vice-President of the European Parliament between July 2019 and January 2022. Earl ...

, member of the European Parliament and the wife of former Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány.

References