Rezső Nyers

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Rezső Nyers (1970)

Rezső Nyers (born March 21, 1923 in Budapest ; † June 22, 2018 ) was a Hungarian politician of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (MSZMP), who was considered the "father" of the Hungarian economic reforms in the Kádár era between 1968 and 1973 and from 1989 to 1990 President of the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP), the successor to the MSZMP.

Life

Promotion to Central Committee Secretary, economic reforms and disempowerment

Nyers, who completed a professional training as a printer after attending school , first joined the Social Democratic Party of Hungary in 1940 , before becoming a member of the resulting Party of the Hungarian Working People ( Magyar Dolgozók Pártja , MDP) with the Communist Party on June 12, 1948. has been. On January 1, 1950 he was elected chairman of the council of Kispest , which has since been the 19th district of Budapest. In 1954 he became a member of the Central Committee (ZK) of the MDP and at the same time in 1956 Minister of Food for a few months.

After the bloody suppression of the popular uprising and the renaming of the MDP to the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (Magyar Szocialista Munkáspárt) , he remained a member of the Central Committee and also became chairman of the government commission for the general public.

In 1959 he was again Minister of Food, before becoming Minister of Finance on January 15, 1960 as part of a reshuffle in the cabinet of Prime Minister Ferenc Münnich , which he also held in the subsequent government of Prime Minister János Kádár until his replacement by Mátyás Tímár on November 27, 1962 .

He then became secretary of the MSZMP Central Committee for economic issues in November 1962 and thus became the "father" of the Hungarian economic reforms that began in early 1968. These reform plans, known since May 1966, provided for the conversion of production from the extensive to the intensive phase, ie increasing efficiency, improving quality and adapting it to the market. At the same time he also became a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee.

After the reform efforts were slowed down in 1972/73 under the influence of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and its General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev , Nyers lost his functions as Central Committee secretary and as a member of the Politburo and the Central Committee. A short time later he was accepted again as a member of the Central Committee of the MSZMP, but had no further influence in the following fifteen years.

Return to politics and chairman of the MSZMP

Only when Károly Grósz was elected on May 22, 1988 at the national conference of the MSZMP as the new General Secretary of the MSZMP and thus as successor to Kádár, who had held this position since the popular uprising of 1956, was Nyers re-elected as a member of the Politburo .

Shortly afterwards he founded the "New March Front", an independent movement for the renewal of socialism , which also campaigned for the elimination of Stalinism . In addition, he was not only a member of the National Assembly (Országgyűlés) , but also chairman of the Economic Committee.

On November 24, 1988, Prime Minister Miklós Németh appointed him Minister of State for Economic Affairs in his cabinet.

Nyers was then appointed on June 24, 1989 as President of the four-member Politburo of the MSZMP, which also included Károly Grósz, Miklós Németh and Imre Pozsgay . He was the successor to the previous General Secretary Grósz, the new party leader of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party.

During his tenure as party chairman, which lasted until 1990, he not only established international contacts with other parties, but also held talks with the opposition on the transition to a multi-party system . In addition, Nyers, who was a staunch supporter of the market economy , advocated the introduction of democratic decision-making processes and a political opening. In addition, through the party's internal reform policy, he promoted a departure from the old concept of socialism towards recognition of western-oriented human rights .

In 1990 he was succeeded by Gyula Horn as chairman of the MSZMP, which reorganized itself on November 9, 1989 as the Hungarian Socialist Party (Magyar Szocialista Párt) .

Publications

  • Twenty-five questions, twenty-five answers . Pannonia Publishing House, Budapest, 1969
  • Twenty questions, twenty answers Pannonia Publishing House, Budapest, 1970
  • Experience in reforming the economic mechanism in Hungary . Pannonia Publishing House, Budapest, 1970
  • Hungarian reform policy . Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Bonn, 1989

Web links

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Róbert Friss: Elhunyt Nyers Rezső. In: Népszava . June 23, 2018, Retrieved June 23, 2018 (Hungarian).
personal data
SURNAME Nyers, Rezső
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian communist politician (MSZMP), member of parliament
DATE OF BIRTH March 21, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Budapest
DATE OF DEATH June 22, 2018