Károly Grósz

Károly Grósz

Károly Grósz [ ˈkaːroj ˈɡroːs ] (born August 1, 1930 in Miskolc , Hungary ; † January 7, 1996 in Gödöllő , Hungary) was a Hungarian communist politician , Prime Minister of the Hungarian People's Republic and Secretary General of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (MSZMP).

Rise in the communist party

Born in Miskolc in 1930 as the son of a working-class family (his father was a metal worker, his mother was of Slovak nationality), Grósz trained as a printer and joined the Communist Party of Hungary (Hungarian: Magyar Kommunista Párt, MKP) at the age of 15 in 1945. After its union with the Social Democratic Party to form the Hungarian Workers' Party (Hungarian: Magyar Dolgozók Pártja, MDP) in 1948, he held the office of District Secretary of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén of the Communist Youth Association until 1950 . For the next four years, Grósz served as an officer. In 1954 he became head of the agitation and propaganda department of the party leadership in his home district of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, and from 1958 he was also editor of the Észak-Magyarország newspaper . After graduating from the party college, Grósz became an employee of the Central Committee's department for agitation and propaganda in 1961 . From 1962 to 1968 he was secretary of the party organization within the Hungarian radio and television.

In 1968, at the suggestion of the then First Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers Party (Hungarian: Magyar Szocialista Munkáspárt, MSZMP), János Kádár , Grósz was initially appointed deputy head of the Central Committee's department for agitation and propaganda. After a short one-year activity as first secretary of the party leadership of the Fejér district , he was head of this department from 1974 to 1979. In this office he was responsible for the political and ideological control of the media.

His rapid rise within the central party leadership temporarily ended in 1979, allegedly after a disagreement with Kádár. In that year he became First Secretary of the Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén party leadership. At the 12th party congress of the MSZMP in 1980, Grósz was elected a member of the Central Committee of the MSZMP. From 1984 at the latest he found support and encouragement from Kádár, which reached its first climax with Grósz's election as First Secretary of the Budapest Party Leadership in December 1984 and at the 13th Party Congress in March 1985 as a member of the Politburo of the MSZMP Central Committee . In this position, Grósz became increasingly the "Crown Prince" and designated successor to Kádár.

Prime Minister and Secretary General of the MSZMP

On June 25, 1987, Grósz was appointed Prime Minister of the Hungarian People's Republic. On May 22, 1988, Grósz was finally elected at the national conference of the MSZMP as the new general secretary of the MSZMP and thus the successor to Kádár, who had held this position since the popular uprising of 1956.

On November 24, 1988, Miklós Németh succeeded him as Prime Minister. In contrast to this and the other representatives of the “reform” wing of the MSZMP, Grósz, as a staunch communist, spoke out clearly and unequivocally for the preservation of the socialist social order, which should be improved and strengthened through reforms, but in no way weakened or even abolished. As a result of this clear stance, from the beginning of 1989 Grósz came into ever more intense conflict with the forces inside and outside the party as well as abroad who were pressing for the abandonment of socialism. Grósz and his allies were gradually marginalized in the course of 1989. In June 1989 his office as general secretary of the MSZMP was devalued by the creation of a four-member party presidium - dominated by three outspoken representatives of the "reform" wing - to which he initially also belonged. At the party congress in October 1989, Grósz tried one last time to prevent the complete surrender of the Marxist-communist character of the MSZMP and its "social democratization" as well as to pool the left forces within the party, but remained in the minority with his proposals. By resolution of the party congress, the MSZMP was then renamed the Hungarian Socialist Party (Hungarian: Magyar Szocialista Párt, MSZP) and ideologically approached the Western European social democratic parties. The Communists, including Grósz, who were defeated at the party congress, were not ready to support these decisions, which made the question of how to proceed virulent.

Co-founder of the reorganized MSZMP and promoter of the communist movement of Hungary

After a brief hesitation about the path to be taken in view of the new situation in Hungary and the other socialist states of Europe, Grósz devoted himself to the reorganization of Hungary's communist forces with great dedication from November 1989 and thus became one of the most prominent co-founders and zealous supporters of the (in the frame its 14th party congress) in December 1989 as the communist, renewed Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (MSZMP), based on the principles of Marxism and Leninism, of which he was a member of the first Central Committee. Increasingly prevented by a serious illness from active participation in political life, Grósz worked in his last years as an advisor and "doyen" of the communist movement in Hungary until he died in Gödöllő in January 1996 at the age of 65.

Remarks

1. ↑ At the party congress of October 1989, which led to the split in the old MSZMP, Grósz was not relieved of his post as general secretary by any formal resolution, nor was he resigned. The statutes of the newly founded MSZP simply did not provide for this office and the MSZP, which claimed to be the legal successor of the previous MSZMP, therefore considered it to be over. In the opinion of the communist forces that were defeated at the party congress, the old MSZMP had never ceased to exist, its statute was in effect and the organs appointed under it - insofar as they were able to act - consequently continued to function unabated until the re-constitution of the party in December 1989. Grósz therefore held office held the office of Secretary General until (on December 17th) the election and appointment of the governing bodies provided for in the new party statute of the reorganized MSZMP and in this capacity presented the preparatory report on December 17th, 1989 at the first meeting of the 14th party congress Committee (who, on behalf of the Central Committee, took charge of the convening and organization of the party congress) to the party congress.

Publications

• Károly Grósz: Szocializmus és korszerűség. Nemzeti és történelmi felelősség, Kossuth, Budapest 1987 (386 pages)
• Károly Grósz: Eleven, mozgalmi pártot! Interjú Grósz Károllyal, az MSZMP főtitkárával, Kossuth, Budapest 1988 (29 pages)
• Károly Grósz: Kiállni a politikáért, tenni az országért! Grósz Károly beszéde a budapesti pártaktíván, 1988. November 29th, Kossuth, Budapest 1988 (33 pages)
• Károly Grósz: Nemzeti összefogással a reformok sikeréért! Beszéd a Csongrád megyei pártértekezleten, 1988th december 10. Beszéd a Borsod megyei pártaktíván, 1988th december 16. Beszéd az MTESZ jubileumi ülésén, 1988th december 16th, Kossuth, Budapest 1989 (57 pages)

literature

• Short biography in rulers.org