Béla Kovács (20 April 1908 – 21 June 1959) was a Hungarian politician, who served as

Minister of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

from 1945 to 1946 and in the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

Biography

Béla Kovács was born in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

in 1908. He became involved in politics and joined the Smallholders Party (FKGP). It drew most of its support from the peasants who formed more than 50 percent 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

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

s to

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

s. The

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

invaded Hungary in September 1944. It set up an alternative government in Debrecen on 21 December 1944 but did not capture

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 ...

until 18 January 1945. Soon afterwards

Zoltán Tildy Zoltán Tildy (; 18 November 1889 – 3 August 1961), was an influential leader of Hungary, who served as prime minister from 1945 to 1946 and president from 1946 until 1948 in the post-war period before the seizure of power by Soviet-backed com ...

(FKGP member) 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

Mátyás Rákosi Mátyás Rákosi (; born Mátyás Rosenfeld; 9 March 1892
– 5 February 1971) was a Hungarian

and

Ernő Gerő Ernő Gerő (; born Ernő Singer; 8 July 1898 – 12 March 1980) was a Hungarian Communist leader in the period after World War II and briefly in 1956 the most powerful man in Hungary as the second secretary of its ruling communist party. Ear ...

, received support from only 17% of the population. The Soviet commander in Hungary, Marshal

Kliment Voroshilov Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov (, uk, Климент Охрімович Ворошилов, ''Klyment Okhrimovyč Vorošylov''), popularly known as Klim Voroshilov (russian: link=no, Клим Вороши́лов, ''Klim Vorošilov''; 4 Februa ...

, refused to allow the Smallholders to form a government. Instead Voroshilov established a coalition government with the communists holding all the key posts. Kovács became minister of agriculture (1945–46). Kovács Béla szobra Budapesten

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 ...

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. On February 25, 1947, Soviet authorities arrested Kovács on charges of organizing “underground anti-Soviet groups” and deported him to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, where he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.The Second Hungarian Republic (1946–1949)
/ref> Kovács was released from prison in 1956. The Hungarian Uprising began on 23 October by a peaceful demonstration of students in Budapest. On 3 November, Nagy announced details of his coalition government (third Imre Nagy cabinet). It included Kovács,

György Lukács György Lukács (born György Bernát Löwinger; hu, szegedi Lukács György Bernát; german: Georg Bernard Baron Lukács von Szegedin; 13 April 1885 – 4 June 1971) was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher, literary historian, critic, and ae ...

Anna Kéthly Anna Kéthly (16 November 1889 – 7 September 1976) was a Hungarian social democratic politician, second female member of the National Assembly of Hungary (1922-1948) and minister during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Her fellow party mem ...

, Zoltán Tildy,

Ferenc Farkas Ferenc Farkas (; 15 December 1905 – 10 October 2000) was a Hungarian composer. Biography Born into a musical family (his father played the cimbalom and his mother played the piano) in Nagykanizsa, Farkas began his musical studies in Budape ...

Géza Losonczy Géza Losonczy (5 May 1917, Érsekcsanád – 21 December 1957) was a Hungarian journalist and politician. He was associated with the reformist faction of the Hungarian communist party. During the 1956 Hungarian revolution, he joined the Imre ...

, , ,

József Fischer József Fischer (15 December 1887 – 1952) was a Hungarian and Romanian lawyer and politician of Jewish ethnicity. He was a prominent leader of the Jewish National Party in interwar Romania. In this capacity, he was a member of the Assembly of ...

Pál Maléter Pál Maléter (4 September 1917 – 16 June 1958) was the military leader of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Maléter was born to Hungarian parents in Eperjes, a city in Sáros County, in the northern part of Historical Hungary, today Prešov ...

, Zoltán Szántó and

István Bibó István Bibó (7 August 1911, Budapest – 10 May 1979, Budapest) was a Hungarian lawyer, civil servant, politician and political theorist. Life During the Hungarian Revolution he acted as the Minister of State for the Hungarian National G ...

. On 4 November 1956

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

sent the Red Army into Hungary and Nagy's government was overthrown. Béla Kovács, who remained a member of parliament, died in 1959.

References

Magyar Életrajzi Lexikon

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070312132153/http://www.rev.hu/sulinet45/szerviz/szakirod/palasik.htm Palasik Mária: A Kisgazdapárt felbomlasztására irányuló kommunista taktika lépései
Vörös Vince interjú, emlékezése Kovács Bélára

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kovacs, Bela 1908 births 1959 deaths People from Pécs People from the Kingdom of Hungary Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party politicians Agriculture ministers of Hungary Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1945–1947) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1958–1963) People of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956