István Szurdi

István Szurdi (born November 17, 1911 in Nagyszöllős , Mureș County , Transylvania , Romania ; † June 4, 1987 in Budapest ) was a Hungarian politician of the Party of the Hungarian Working People MDP (Magyar Dolgozók Pártja) and finally the Hungarian Socialist Workers Party MSZMP (Magyar Szocialista Munkáspárt) , who was among other things Secretary of the Central Committee of the MSZMP between 1963 and 1966 and Minister for Internal Trade from 1966 to 1976.

Life

Office clerk, textile technician and MSZDP functionary in World War II

Szurdi came from a working-class family and was the son of a tailor in Nagyszöllős, who moved with his family to Budapest when the First World War broke out in 1914 to work in a factory for military uniforms and, after the end of the war in 1918, as a patch cutter. After attending the commercial college in 1928, he himself began training as an office clerk in a haberdashery store and in 1930 became an assistant to the management of a wholesaler for fabrics and cloths. He has been involved in the labor movement since 1928 and in 1936 joined the social democratic party MSZDP (Magyarországi Szociáldemokrata Párt) in the 6th district of Terézváros in Budapest .

Later Szurdi became the manager of the weaving mill belonging to this trade in the 8th district of Józsefváros in Budapest . In addition, he completed additional training as a textile technician in evening classes and worked after the bankruptcy of the company in various factories and most recently between 1939 and 1944 as a slave laborer. During the Second World War he left Budapest on March 19, 1944 to settle in Gyöngyös , where he reorganized the MSZDP. Shortly afterwards he became the head of the MSZDP secretariat in Heves County .

Post-war period, MP and ministerial official

After the end of the war, Szurdi returned to Budapest, where he became First Deputy Head of the MSZDP State Secretariat and, in March 1946, Head of the State Secretariat.

On June 24, 1945 he was elected a member of the Provisional National Assembly (Ideiglenes Nemzetgyűlés) and on November 4, 1945 as a member of Parliament (Országgyűlés) . There he represented after his re-elections on August 31, 1947 and May 15, 1949 the Social Democratic Party on the common list of the Hungarian Popular Front (Magyar Nemzeti Függetlenségi Front) in Heves County, Hont County and Nógrád County . In the meantime he became a member of the board of the MSZDP in March 1948 and, after its union with the Communist Party KMP (Kommunisták Magyarországi Pártja), he joined the resulting party of the Hungarian working people MDP (Magyar Dolgozók Pártja) . After the unification of the parties he became deputy head of the Central Committee's department for organization on June 12, 1948 and shortly afterwards secretary of the MDP leadership in Heves County.

In 1950, Szurdi moved to the Ministry of Light Industry, where he was initially head of department and later deputy head of department. In addition, he began studying at the Palatine Josef University of Technology and Economics (József Nádor Műszaki és Gazdaságtudományi Egyetemen) in 1954 , which he graduated in 1957 after the popular uprising and the renaming of the university to the Budapest Technical University BME (Budapesti Műszaki Egyetem) .

After completing his studies, he acted from 1957 to December 5, 1963 as head of the Central Committee Department for Transport and Industry and at the same time became a member of the Central Committee (ZK) of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party MSZMP (Magyar Szocialista Munkáspárt) , to whom he was elected until the XII. Party Congress on March 27, 1980.

Furthermore, he was re-elected member of parliament on November 16, 1958 and initially represented the 1st constituency of Heves County on the list of the Patriotic Popular Front (Hazafias Népfront) , then between March 19, 1967 and April 11, 1975 the 10. Heves County constituency.

Central Committee Secretary and Minister for Internal Trade

On December 5, 1963 Szurdi was secretary of the Central Committee of the MSZMP and exercised this function until the IX. Party congress on December 5, 1966. At the same time he was a member of the Economic Policy Committee until 1970 and, for the first time, chairman of the National Council for Tourism (Országos Idegenforgalmi Tanács) between 1964 and 1966

After a reshuffle of the government of Prime Minister Gyula Kállai he took over on December 7, 1966 by János Tausz the Office of the Minister of Domestic Trade (Belkereskedelmi Miniszter) and has held this for almost ten years in the Cabinet of Jenő Fock and in the government of Prime Minister György Lázár until his replacement by Vilmos Sághy on October 29, 1976.

At the beginning of September 1969 he opened the Second Budapest Autumn Fair, at which 500 companies, agricultural production cooperatives and industrial cooperatives exhibited in sixty pavilions .

During his tenure as Minister of Internal Trade, there was also increasing recognition of private companies. In July 1974 he put the number of private craftsmen in Hungary at 90,000. 25,000 of them sold their own products. He underlined that the private artisans contributed to a wider choice of goods. At times, they would also help to bridge bottlenecks. So from a supply standpoint, they are definitely desirable. Szurdi put the number of private dealers at 10,800.

After leaving the government, Szurdi was again chairman of the National Council for Tourism between 1976 and 1978. In this capacity, he stated that the number of outbound trips by Hungarian nationals in 1977 was 4.7 million and the number of domestic tourists was around 17 million. The lack of places in hotels and rest homes in the country was, however, great, so that accommodation options in private apartments were therefore in great demand. Around 90,000 tourists could be accommodated in state-registered private apartments.

On October 8, 1978 he was again a member of parliament and represented the 2nd constituency of Budapest until the elections on April 19, 1985. In the 1985 elections he was nominated again on the list of the Patriotic Popular Front, but missed re-election as MP. Most recently he was chairman of the supervisory board of a glassworks .

Web links

• Entry in Történelmi Tár (Hungarian)
• Upheaval in Hungary 1985-1990 - government lists ( Herder Institute (Marburg) )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Budapest fair opened. Around 500 companies, LPG and trade cooperatives are exhibiting . In: Neues Deutschland from September 6, 1969
2. ↑ Hungary recognizes private companies . In: Sudetenpost of July 4, 1974
3. ↑ Hungary's tourism on the rise , 1979 (ceeol.com)