Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers And Civic Party
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The Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party ( hu, Független Kisgazda-, Földmunkás- és Polgári Párt), known mostly by its acronym FKgP or its shortened form Independent Smallholders' Party ( hu, Független Kisgazdapárt), is a
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
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 ...
. Since the 2002 parliamentary elections, the party has won no seats.


History

Founded on 12 October 1930, the party was one of the largest anti-fascist opposition parties in the 1930s and during World War II. Representing the interests of landed peasants along with some poor peasants and urban middle class, it advocated for land reform and democratization. Its members opposed Hungary's participation in World War II, giving anti-fascist speeches in Parliament and leading rallies as late as 1943. During the German occupation of Hungary, its members took part in the clandestine anti-fascist resistance movement, and played a major role in the provisional government established in the Soviet-occupied zone of the country. At this time it absorbed several other parties and became quite heterogenous, with tendencies ranging from
right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...
to
left wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
. The original party won a majority in the first elections after the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, resulting in its leader,
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 ...
, becoming
prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
. In the
elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...
in November 1945, the Smallholders' polled 57% of votes against the Communists' 17%. Despite this victory, the Soviet-dominated
Allied Control Commission Following the termination of hostilities in World War II, the Allies were in control of the defeated Axis countries. Anticipating the defeat of Germany and Japan, they had already set up the European Advisory Commission and a proposed Far Easter ...
forced the winning party into a grand coalition government with the other parties including the Communists. The Smallholders-dominated parliament established a republic in 1946 with Tildy as president. He was succeeded as prime minister by
Ferenc Nagy Ferenc Nagy (; 8 October 1903 – 12 June 1979) was a Hungarian politician of the Smallholders Party who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 1946 until his forced resignation in 1947. He was also a Speaker of the National Assembly of Hung ...
. Meanwhile, the Communists had formed a " Left Bloc" with the
Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...
and National Peasants, opposed to the majority Smallholders on every issue with the intent of creating deadlock and facilitating the latter's breakup.'
Part 2: Communist take-over, 1946-1949
' The Institute for the History of the 1956 Revolution.
Their first demand was the expulsion of twenty "reactionaries" from the Smallholder-led coalition. These people went on to form the
Hungarian Freedom Party The Hungarian Freedom Party ( hu, Magyar Szabadság Párt; or simply Freedom Party), was a short-lived right-wing political party in Hungary between 1946 and 1947, it strongly opposed the Communist takeover. The party was revived for a short time ...
, the most vocal opposition force over the next year. From December 1946, the Communists exaggerated a minor intrigue involving several anti-Communist politicians to accuse vast swaths of the Smallholders' Party of complicity in a reactionary plot. The Communist political police ( ÁVO) began to arrest hundreds of Smallholders' Party members, ultimately depriving that party of its elected majority in Parliament. Acting in tandem with this, Soviet troops kidnapped the party's General Secretary Béla Kovács on 25 February 1947 and deported him to the USSR, where he would be imprisoned for over eight years. When Prime Minister Nagy travelled abroad in May, the Communists seized the opportunity to remove him from office. They accused him of conspiracy in the alleged plot and threatened to harm his son if he did not resign. Nagy, unwilling to risk his own life or that of his family, ratified his resignation on 2 June 1947. The Smallholders' Party was effectively finished as a political force, and its leaders were now co-opted as
fellow travellers The term ''fellow traveller'' (also ''fellow traveler'') identifies a person who is intellectually sympathetic to the ideology of a political organization, and who co-operates in the organization's politics, without being a formal member of that o ...
. Its member
Lajos Dinnyés Lajos Dinnyés (16 April 1901 – 3 May 1961) was a Hungarian politician of the Smallholders Party who served as the last pre-communist Prime Minister of Hungary from 1947 to 1948. Biography He came from a well to do titled family and finished ...
became the new Prime Minister, but the Communists effectively controlled his government. Politicians expelled from the Smallholders after the Communist intrigues formed new parties, primarily the Democratic People's Party,
Hungarian Independence Party The Hungarian Independence Party ( hu, Magyar Függetlenségi Párt, MFP) was a political party in Hungary in the period after World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that ...
and
Independent Hungarian Democratic Party The Independent Hungarian Democratic Party ( hu, Független Magyar Demokrata Párt, FMDP) was a political party in Hungary in the period after World War II. The party was revived after the end of communism in 1989–90, but remained unsuccessful ...
. New elections in August massively reduced the Smallholders' Party's share of votes and seats in Parliament, but this was mostly in favor of the parties which had succeeded from them. Combined, the FKGP and its offshoots had roughly the same number of votes the party had won in the 1945 election. Despite this, the rump party's fellow-travelling leaders formed a coalition with the Communists, who now had increased representation. Most of the remaining non-collaborationist Smallholders were forced out of the party and into exile over the next two years. President Tildy, now politically isolated, was forced to resign in July 1948. Another Smallholder, the openly pro-Communist
István Dobi István Dobi (; 31 December 1898 – 24 November 1968) was a Hungarian politician who was Prime Minister of Hungary from 1948 to 1952 and Chairman of the Presidential Council of the Hungarian People's Republic from 1952 to 1967. Early life Dob ...
, became premier in December 1948, and pushed out the remaining elements of the party who were not willing to stop their obstruction. In 1949, the party was absorbed into a People's Independent Front, led by the communist
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 ...
. The latter prevailed in elections held that year, marking the onset of
Hungarian People's Republic The Hungarian People's Republic ( hu, Magyar Népköztársaság) was a one-party socialist state from 20 August 1949 to 23 October 1989. It was governed by the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, which was under the influence of the Soviet Uni ...
. The Smallholders party was dissolved later in 1949, and Dobi and several other left-wing Smallholders joined the Communist Party. During 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 ...
the Smallholders' Party was revived under the leadership of Zoltan Tildy and Béla Kovács, who had returned from Soviet exile earlier that year. Both of them joined the democratic coalition 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 ...
on 27 October 1956 which was brought to power in the Revolution, as the first non-Communists in the government since 1948. However, the party was unable to function after the Soviet invasion which crushed the Revolution. After the
end of Communism in Hungary Communist rule in the People's Republic of Hungary came to an end in 1989 by a peaceful transition to a democratic system. After the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was suppressed by Soviet forces, Hungary remained a communist country. As the So ...
, the Smallholders' Party was revived again and took part in the center-right governments of
József Antall József Tihamér Antall Jr. ( hu, ifjabb Antall József Tihamér, ; 8 April 1932 – 12 December 1993) was a Hungarian teacher, librarian, historian, and statesman who served as the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Hungary, holdi ...
,
Péter Boross Péter Boross (born 27 August 1928) is a retired Hungarian politician and former member of the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from December 1993 to July 1994. He assumed the position upon the death of his ...
, and
Viktor Orbán Viktor Mihály Orbán (; born 31 May 1963) is a Hungarian politician who has served as prime minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has presided over Fidesz since 1993, with a brief break between 20 ...
. In the 2002 Hungarian parliamentary election it lost all its seats in Parliament. In early 2019,
Our Homeland Movement Our Homeland Movement (Hungarian language, Hungarian: ''Mi Hazánk Mozgalom,'' MHM) is a Hungarian Far-right politics, far-right political party founded by Ásotthalom mayor and former Jobbik Vice-President László Toroczkai and other Jobbik dis ...
(Mi Hazánk Mozgalom) made an alliance with the far-right Hungarian Justice and Life Party (MIÉP) and FKgP. On August 3, 2021,
Kuruc.info Kuruc.info is a far-right Hungarian language online portal registered in California, United States, affiliated with politician Előd Novák. The website often harbours extreme anti-semitic sentiments, including frequent Holocaust denial, and fre ...
published an article in which they revealed that the national court initiated liquidation proceedings against the party for its massive debts. The article also revealed that all the remaining members of the party would run in 2022 elections on the list of Our Homeland Movement.


Party leaders


Election results


National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

1FKGP was a member of the Communist-led Hungarian Independence People's Front (MFN). Hungary became a
one-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...
after the 1949 election.


References


External links


Official website
{{Authority control 1930 establishments in Hungary 1949 disestablishments in Hungary 1988 establishments in Hungary Agrarian parties in Hungary Conservative parties in Hungary Formerly banned political parties National conservative parties Nationalist parties in Hungary Political parties disestablished in 1949 Political parties established in 1930 Political parties established in 1988 Right-wing parties in Europe