Ferenc Erdei (1910-1971)
Biography
In: Egy életút állomásai. In: Erdei Ferenc / Kulcsár Kálmán. Budapest : Akadémiai K., 1988. p. 324-338.
An important person being both a scientist and a politician who played a key role in socialist Hungary in the initiation of the opening towards the West.
Ferenc Erdei was born into an agricultural family growing onions in the southern Hungarian town of Makó, in 1910. He was raised as a respectable member of peasant lifestyle. His home town formed an affection of local patriotism in his behaviour and - at the same time - the social background planted the inner conflicts of this society into him.
Due to the upbringing by his father's principles, he and his brother were encouraged to learn and also participate actively in rural labour in order to see the difficulties of this society and make use of their knowledge and skills to help advancement of their narrower society. This kind of upbringing helped him with leaving the countryside, however, his affection for that society was quite strong.
The symbolic bias towards the peasantry and values of village dwellers was the basis of his responsibility for dealing with and analysing the social problems of the countryside.
Studying law at the university of Szeged he started his scientific career by publishing sociographic studies in the periodical Századunk, for instance (1931); his work as a social researcher was interwoven with a political activity, within the frame of scientifically established efforts of society development. As a member of the circle of older and younger intellectuals in Szeged (in the Art College of Youngsters of Szeged and around this group), he took part in political and professional debates related to sociography and sociology. However, social debates led to him ending up in jail due to his strong criticism of the prevailing regime in 1932. His scientific and political character developed in this period (in the first half of the 1930s he got acquainted with Péter Veres and Géza Féja); the combination of science and political expression remained characteristic of his behaviour; it led him into prison again in the changeable mid-20th -century Hungarian political era.
After he finished university, Erdei's scientific intrigue turned towards village life and farming cooperatives. His trips to Western Europe (Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland) allowed him to examine the way villages and their agriculture were organised, so he could compare the status of the Hungarian countryside as something far more remote and underdeveloped at that time.
The study trips set a critical and scientific view which made him find a way out of the underdeveloped and culturally traditional Eastern European countryside characterising Hungary in the 1930s. The circumstances how his inner world developed due to the process in which his identity became clearer were depicted in his letters to his family and friends; he also recognized the necessity of the battle against Hungarian rural conditions; he was convinced that Lenin's writings about peasantry and cooperatives could show the right way to get out of underdevelopment.
After his return, he soon joined the movement of folk literature in Hungary; the golden age of the Hungarian populist (népi) movement started a little bit earlier - it combined subversive political goals with utopian notions of non-Western paths of modernization and many outstanding contributions to literature and the arts -; however he could take part actively in local political battles in Makó. He wrote articles about cooperative movements and when his works were published in the periodical Válasz (Response), he became known as an active member of the movement of folk literature in Hungary.
Erdei specialized in sociography and his writings published in the 1930s and 1940s indicated that his work in the fields of sociography and sociology was on a high level of quality.
His first sociological publications included Futóhomok (1937), The Peasants (1938) and The Hungarian peasant society (1942) which were mainly sociographic studies about settlements and their social lives.
His private life also changed in the last years of the 1930s. He married Jolán Majláth historian, two children were born in this marriage. In 1939 he left his homeland, Makó.
His work as a writer, in the fields of scientific researches and politics became more known and appreciated.
As a politician, Erdei served as Interior Minister in the unofficial interim government led by Béla Miklós. After the Soviet occupation of Hungary this cabinet took office officially, in March 1945. Under communist rule, he served as minister of agriculture in 1949–53 and was responsible for the "attic sweepings" and other coercive happenings and atrocities in the villages. In 1953 he was appointed minister of justice. He became a deputy prime minister during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956; he was one of the leaders of the Hungarian delegation who negotiated abortively with the Soviets. He was arrested together with Minister of Defence Pál Maléter on 3 November, but after a few weeks Erdei was released after an intervention by János Kádár.In 1957 he became secretary-general of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He received Kossuth Prize twice, in 1948 and 1962. He was also secretary-general of the National Council of the Patriotic People's Front for more than 6 years, between 1964 and 1970.
After holding high offices in the Stalinist years, he survived the post-1956 recriminations, and continued to cooperate closely with the regime until his early death in 1971. János Kádár’s regime needed Erdei because the communists had very little expertise of their own in rural matters. As the head of an agrarian research institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (and Secretary-General of this august body), he was quite influential in shaping the reforms that, in combination with general economic decentralization after 1968, made Hungarian collectivization the most successful model for improving rural livelihoods in the Soviet bloc.
Biography
In: Egy életút állomásai. In: Erdei Ferenc / Kulcsár Kálmán. Budapest : Akadémiai K., 1988. p. 324-338.
An important person being both a scientist and a politician who played a key role in socialist Hungary in the initiation of the opening towards the West.
Ferenc Erdei was born into an agricultural family growing onions in the southern Hungarian town of Makó, in 1910. He was raised as a respectable member of peasant lifestyle. His home town formed an affection of local patriotism in his behaviour and - at the same time - the social background planted the inner conflicts of this society into him.
Due to the upbringing by his father's principles, he and his brother were encouraged to learn and also participate actively in rural labour in order to see the difficulties of this society and make use of their knowledge and skills to help advancement of their narrower society. This kind of upbringing helped him with leaving the countryside, however, his affection for that society was quite strong.
The symbolic bias towards the peasantry and values of village dwellers was the basis of his responsibility for dealing with and analysing the social problems of the countryside.
Studying law at the university of Szeged he started his scientific career by publishing sociographic studies in the periodical Századunk, for instance (1931); his work as a social researcher was interwoven with a political activity, within the frame of scientifically established efforts of society development. As a member of the circle of older and younger intellectuals in Szeged (in the Art College of Youngsters of Szeged and around this group), he took part in political and professional debates related to sociography and sociology. However, social debates led to him ending up in jail due to his strong criticism of the prevailing regime in 1932. His scientific and political character developed in this period (in the first half of the 1930s he got acquainted with Péter Veres and Géza Féja); the combination of science and political expression remained characteristic of his behaviour; it led him into prison again in the changeable mid-20th -century Hungarian political era.
After he finished university, Erdei's scientific intrigue turned towards village life and farming cooperatives. His trips to Western Europe (Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland) allowed him to examine the way villages and their agriculture were organised, so he could compare the status of the Hungarian countryside as something far more remote and underdeveloped at that time.
The study trips set a critical and scientific view which made him find a way out of the underdeveloped and culturally traditional Eastern European countryside characterising Hungary in the 1930s. The circumstances how his inner world developed due to the process in which his identity became clearer were depicted in his letters to his family and friends; he also recognized the necessity of the battle against Hungarian rural conditions; he was convinced that Lenin's writings about peasantry and cooperatives could show the right way to get out of underdevelopment.
After his return, he soon joined the movement of folk literature in Hungary; the golden age of the Hungarian populist (népi) movement started a little bit earlier - it combined subversive political goals with utopian notions of non-Western paths of modernization and many outstanding contributions to literature and the arts -; however he could take part actively in local political battles in Makó. He wrote articles about cooperative movements and when his works were published in the periodical Válasz (Response), he became known as an active member of the movement of folk literature in Hungary.
Erdei specialized in sociography and his writings published in the 1930s and 1940s indicated that his work in the fields of sociography and sociology was on a high level of quality.
His first sociological publications included Futóhomok (1937), The Peasants (1938) and The Hungarian peasant society (1942) which were mainly sociographic studies about settlements and their social lives.
His private life also changed in the last years of the 1930s. He married Jolán Majláth historian, two children were born in this marriage. In 1939 he left his homeland, Makó.
His work as a writer, in the fields of scientific researches and politics became more known and appreciated.
As a politician, Erdei served as Interior Minister in the unofficial interim government led by Béla Miklós. After the Soviet occupation of Hungary this cabinet took office officially, in March 1945. Under communist rule, he served as minister of agriculture in 1949–53 and was responsible for the "attic sweepings" and other coercive happenings and atrocities in the villages. In 1953 he was appointed minister of justice. He became a deputy prime minister during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956; he was one of the leaders of the Hungarian delegation who negotiated abortively with the Soviets. He was arrested together with Minister of Defence Pál Maléter on 3 November, but after a few weeks Erdei was released after an intervention by János Kádár.In 1957 he became secretary-general of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He received Kossuth Prize twice, in 1948 and 1962. He was also secretary-general of the National Council of the Patriotic People's Front for more than 6 years, between 1964 and 1970.
After holding high offices in the Stalinist years, he survived the post-1956 recriminations, and continued to cooperate closely with the regime until his early death in 1971. János Kádár’s regime needed Erdei because the communists had very little expertise of their own in rural matters. As the head of an agrarian research institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (and Secretary-General of this august body), he was quite influential in shaping the reforms that, in combination with general economic decentralization after 1968, made Hungarian collectivization the most successful model for improving rural livelihoods in the Soviet bloc.
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