Ságvári Ágnes (szerk.): Budapest. The History of a Capital (Budapest, 1975)
From the Liberation to Greater Budapest (1945-1950)
ferent parts of the country and the capital were re-established. The national authorities, economic institutions, the banks and industrial and commercial enterprises began to operate again, the universities and colleges opened their doors, radio programmes were started up. György (Georg) Lukács, the philosopher, Béla Balázs, the writer and film critic, the writer György Bölöni, and other leading figures of Hungarian intellectual life returned from exile. The art of Béla Bartók and Attila József, the poetic genius of Miklós Radnóti, the painter Gyula Derkovits, and many other writers, poets and artists driven out or destroyed by the counter-revolutionary regime were finally given due recognition. Budapest, arising from its ruins, once again became the centre of Hungary. On 16th May, as recommended by the National Committee of Budapest, the Provisional Legislative Board met. This was the “parliament” of the capital, composed of delegates from all the parties of the Hungarian Independence Front. The workers’ parties, together with the delegates of the Trade Unions had an absolute majority. As a result, Árpád Szakasits, the leader of the Social Democratic Party, became President of the Board, and Zoltán Vas mayor. The President of the Legislative Board also exercised those functions which in the counter-revolutionary days were exercised by the nominated Lord Mayor. The metamorphosis of Budapest into a popular democratic capital brought considerable changes in the upper echelons of the city, but these changes stopped short on the lower levels. The administrative staffs of undertakings and enterprises belonging to the municipality, of the culture, health, and educational institutions, the stratum which for over twentyfive years had been selected by the counter-revolutionary regime and served it, was hardly touched by the process of democratization. The denazification procedure carried out in 1945 should have been designed to investigate the political attitudes of the members of this stratum after the 1st September 1939, and to weed them out according to results of the examination, but this was not done. Other attempts were also made to give the administration more democratic character, such as introducing delegates of the national committees and of the different parties into the administration, and rehabilitating those who had been dismissed in the counter-revolutionary era on account of their activities during the 1918- 1919 revolutions; but only a few of them were still active, and their re-integration met with determined resistance on the part of the old civil servants. The most effective changes were those brought about in municipal undertakings, with the assistance of the new type of workers’ organizations, the factory committees. Many of the members of the old administrative apparatus were converted to a genuine support of the people’s regime, but many simply took refuge in the ranks of the reorganized political parties to safeguard their position. In the summer of 1945 the Independent Smallholders’ Party enjoyed the largest support in terms of membership among approximately 50,000 municipal employees, although this party had exercised practically no influence in Budapest before the Liberation, and certainly not among the administrative ranks of the municipality. A considerable number of them also joined the Social Democratic Party. This party made good use of its experience in municipal politics in the years preceding Liberation, and energetically campaigned among the workers in the municipal undertakings. The highest number of affiliations among the factory workers went to the Hungarian Communist Party. The situation developing in the ranks of the administrative employees gave rise to conflicts between the higher leadership of the capital and the old staff of municipal employees 60
