Béla Kovács (20 April 1908 – 21 June 1959) was a Hungarian politician, who served as Minister of Agriculture from 1945 to 1946 and in the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; ), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by ...

Biography

Béla Kovács was born in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, 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 and ...

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 liberals to

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

s. The

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

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 city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

until 18 January 1945. Soon afterwards Zoltán Tildy (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 communism, communist politician who was the ''de facto'' leader of Hungary from 1947 to 1956. He served first as General Secretary of the 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 leader of its ruling communist party. Early career G ...

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

Kliment Voroshilov Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov ( ; ), popularly known as Klim Voroshilov (; 4 February 1881 – 2 December 1969), was a prominent Soviet Military of the Soviet Union, military officer and politician during the Stalinism, Stalin era (1924–195 ...

, 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). The

Hungarian Communist Party The Hungarian Communist Party (, , abbr. MKP), known earlier as the Party of Communists in Hungary (, , abbr. KMP), was a communist party in Hungary that existed during the interwar period and briefly after World War II. It was founded on Novem ...

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 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, 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 Bernát György Löwinger; ; ; 13 April 1885 – 4 June 1971) was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher, literary historian, literary critic, and Aesthetics, aesthetician. He was one of the founders of Western Marxism, an inter ...

, Anna Kéthly, Zoltán Tildy,

Ferenc Farkas Ferenc Farkas (; 15 December 1905 – 10 October 2000) was a Hungary, Hungarian composer. Biography Born into a musical family (his father, Aladár Farkas, was an Olympian and soldier who played the cimbalom and his mother played the piano) i ...

, Géza Losonczy, , , József Fischer, Pál Maléter, Zoltán Szántó and

István Bibó István Bibó (7 August 1911, Budapest – 10 May 1979, Budapest) was a Hungary, Hungarian lawyer, civil servant, politician and political theorist. Life During the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, Hungarian Revolution he acted as the Minister ...

. On 4 November 1956

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

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 Ministers of agriculture 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 Hungarian prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Hungary