A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Historica 11. (Szeged, 2008)

SIPOS József: A választási kampány és a földreform 1919 tavaszán

JÓZSEF SIPOS ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN AND LAND REFORM IN SPRING 1919 The way how the land reform and the electoral campaign in 1919 were related in Hungary has not yet been studied. However, its importance was recognised already by memoir literature. As Mihály Károlyi noted: "today we may conclude that the fact that we did not set up the constitutional assembly in spite of all the difficulties as soon as possible, was the greatest mistake and misfortune of our government. We would have been in a completely different internal and international situation if the national assembly had been reorganised on the basis of universal suffrage representing the whole nation." Present study analyses the relationship of the electoral campaign of March 1919 and the accomplishment of the land reform. The study discusses first the presentation of the three electoral alliances competing in the mid-April elections. Current study not only presents the electoral programmes of these alliances and the parties taking part in them, but also reveals details of the fierce campaign itself. The debate and approach between the National Smallholders' Party and the Social Democratic Party is the main focus of the paper. The approach of these two parties provided a basis for a coalition in the frames of a radical democracy. The Smallholders' Party could accept the socialisation of great- and middle capitalist property. In return they demanded from the Social Democrats the acceptance of the socialisation and redistribution of greater and middle estates on a low price.