Ferenc Erdei (24 December 1910 – 11 May 1971) was a Hungarian politician and sociologist. Initially a member of the National Peasant Party (NPP), he supported the party's merging into 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, Joh ...

(MDP) and held a number of ministerial positions after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and in the

Hungarian People's Republic The Hungarian People's Republic (HPR) was a landlocked country in Central Europe from its formation on 20 August 1949 until the establishment of the current Hungary, Republic of Hungary on 23 October 1989. It was a professed Communist_state# ...

Biography

Born into a

smallholder A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technolo ...

's family, Erdei completed elementary and secondary school in his hometown of

Makó Makó (, , Makowe, or , ) is a town in Csongrád County, in southeastern Hungary, from the Romanian border. It lies on the Maros River. Makó is home to 21,913 people and it has an area of , of which is arable land. Makó is the fourth-larges ...

. Between 1929 and 1934 he studied at the Faculty of Law and Political Science at

Franz Joseph University Royal Hungarian Franz Joseph University () was the second modern university in the Hungarian realm of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Founded in 1872, its seat was initially in Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca). After World War I, it first moved to Budap ...

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 ...

, where he graduated with a degree in

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

; while at university, Erdei was introduced to

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

ideas. After graduation, he traveled to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in 1935, where he studied cooperative economic systems. Upon his return to Hungary, Erdei worked as a manager at a cooperative of onion farmers in Makó. At this point a member of the National Independence Kossuth Party (OFKP), he was among the initiators and leaders of the March Front, a progressive political and intellectual movement founded in the spring of 1937. In October 1937, Erdei moved to

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 ...

in order to finish a study on the Hungarian peasantry. He participated in the founding of the National Peasant Party (NPP) in the summer of 1939, and was elected to the party's executive committee. From the late 1930s and during

, Erdei devoted most of his time to sociological studies, and also wrote for the

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

newspaper ''

Népszava ''Népszava'' (, meaning "People's Voice" in English) is a social-democratic Hungarian language newspaper published in Hungary. History and profile ''Népszava'' is Hungary's eldest continuous print publication and as of October 2019 the last ...

''. In the autumn of 1944, Erdei contacted the underground

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 ...

in Szeged. In December 1944, he joined the unofficial

Debrecen Debrecen ( ; ; ; ) is Hungary's cities of Hungary, second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain Regions of Hungary, region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the large ...

-based provisional government of

Béla Miklós Béla Miklós de Dálnok, Vitéz of Dálnok (, 11 June 1890 – 21 November 1948) was a Hungarian military officer and politician who served as acting Prime Minister of Hungary, at first in opposition, and then officially, from 1944 to 1945. ...

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

; the cabinet officially took office in March 1945, after the retreat of the last

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

forces in the country and the beginning of the

Soviet occupation of Hungary During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into three differe ...

, and remained in power until November. From the spring of 1946, Erdei served as vice-president, and from February 1947 as secretary-general, of the National Peasant Party; as such, he supported the party's participation in the Hungarian National Independence Front, as well as its subsequent merging into the

in 1949. In June 1949, Erdei was appointed

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 ...

in the cabinets of

István Dobi István Dobi (; 31 December 1898 – 24 November 1968) was a Hungarian communist 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. Ear ...

and

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 ...

. As such, he was responsible for the

collectivization Collective farming and communal farming are various types of "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member- ...

of the farms in Hungary, as well as for mass persecutions of large parts of the large-scale farmers as

kulaks Kulak ( ; rus, кула́к, r=kulák, p=kʊˈɫak, a=Ru-кулак.ogg; plural: кулаки́, ''kulakí'', 'fist' or 'tight-fisted'), also kurkul () or golchomag (, plural: ), was the term which was used to describe peasants who owned over ...

.Hungarian Biographical Dictionary (in Hungarian
Retrieved 4 July 2017.
/ref> In June 1953, Erdei was appointed

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

in the cabinet of

Imre Nagy Imre Nagy ( ; ; 7 June 1896 – 16 June 1958) was a Hungarian communist politician who served as Council of Ministers of the Hungarian People's Republic, Chairman of the Council of Ministers (''de facto'' Prime Minister of Hungary, Prime Minis ...

; he held this position until October 1954, when he returned to the post of Minister of Agriculture. In November 1955, Erdei he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the

Council of Ministers Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...

(Deputy Prime Minister) under Nagy. A close colleague of the latter during 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 ...

, Erdei publicly expressed support for a

multi-party system In political science, a multi-party system is a political system where more than two meaningfully-distinct political parties regularly run for office and win elections. Multi-party systems tend to be more common in countries using proportional ...

and called for the reorganization of the ruling

Patriotic People's Front The Patriotic People's Front () was a Hungarian political resistance movement during World War II which later became an alliance of political parties in the Hungarian People's Republic. In the latter role, it was dominated by the Communist Party ...

. As a member of the Hungarian delegation which abortively negotiated the withdrawal of 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 ...

from Hungary at the Soviet military base in

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

on 3 November, Erdei was arrested together with the other members of the delegation on the orders of

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

chief

Ivan Serov Ivan Alexandrovich Serov (; 13 August 1905 – 1 July 1990) was a Soviet intelligence officer who served as Chairman of the KGB from March 1954 to December 1958 and Director of the GRU from December 1958 to February 1963. Serov was NKVD Commis ...

. After a few weeks, Erdei was released after an intervention by

János Kádár János József Kádár (; ; né Czermanik; 26 May 1912 – 6 July 1989) was a Hungarian Communist leader and the General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, a position he held for 32 years. Declining health led to his retireme ...

. Immediately after the suppression of the 1956 revolution, Erdei largely withdrew from political life, instead focusing on scientific work. From December 1957 until April 1964, and again from February 1970 until his death, he served as General Secretary of the

Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( , MTA) is Hungary’s foremost and most prestigious learned society. Its headquarters are located along the banks of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. The Academy's primar ...

. He returned to politics when he was appointed General Secretary of the National Council of the Patriotic People's Front in 1964, an office he would retain until 1970. From November 1965 until his death, Erdei was also a member of the Presidential Council.

Honours and awards

National honours

Kossuth Prize The Kossuth Prize (, ) is a state-sponsored award in Hungary, named after the Hungarian politician and revolutionist Lajos Kossuth. The Prize was established in 1936, by the Hungarian National Assembly, to acknowledge outstanding personal and grou ...

(1948; 1962) * HUN Order of Kossuth Class1 BAR

Order of Kossuth, 1st Class (1948) * HUN Order of the Flag of the HPR Diamonds BAR

Order of the Flag of the People's Republic of Hungary, 1st Class (1970)

Foreign honours

Grand Cross of the

Order of the White Lion The Order of the White Lion () is the highest order of the Czech Republic. It continues a Czechoslovak order of the same name created in 1922 as an award for foreigners (Czechoslovakia having no civilian decoration for its citizens in the 192 ...

(1949) *

FIN Order of the Lion of Finland 1Class BAR

Commander Grand Cross of the

Order of the Lion of Finland Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

(1968)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erdei, Ferenc 1910 births 1971 deaths People from Makó National Peasant Party (Hungary) politicians Members of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party Ministers of the interior of Hungary Ministers of agriculture of Hungary Members of justice of Hungary Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1945–1947) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1947–1949) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1949–1953) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1953–1958) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1958–1963) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1963–1967) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1967–1971) Members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Grand Crosses of the Order of the White Lion Commanders Grand Cross of the Order of the Lion of Finland People of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956