Bányai Balázs - Kovács Eleonóra (szer.): A"Zichy-expedíció"- Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei. A. sorozat 48. (Székesfehérvár, 2013)
The "Zichy Expedition"
JENŐ ZICHY IN PUBLIC LIFE 211 (these events were the result of the crisis in the stockmarkets and credits in 1869).'32 Due to diverging opinions on these economical matters he left the Deák Party. He then joined the circle of Kálmán Tisza and György Ghiczy, a moderately radical group of the Center left. (Ghyczy founded the Center Party in 1873 after leaving the Center left. Then, until the spring of 1875 he successfully coordinated the negotiations preparing the fusion of the Center-left and the Deák-Party.) Later Zichy left them, too, and made contact with the National Party of Apponyi. After the National Party’s fusion with the Liberal Party in 1899, Jenő Zichy became a member of the Liberal Party. 1903 was another turning point in his career. He criticised and refused the protection law and left the Liberal Party. The newspaper Székesfehérvár és vidéke quotes his words of leaving the Party on 29th January 1903: “Now I derive the consequences from all this. I know that I have no longer a place in Your party so I’m leaving. I’m walking alone if I must on the road I must walk and I refuse to vote for this law.”'33 After a short time of independence he joined the Independence Party. He worked as an MP with the exception of the parliamental cycles between 1872-1880 when he was a member of the House of Lords. From 1881 he represented Székesfehérvár, between 1884-1887 the city center of Budapest, between 1887-1896 the Bobró district of County Árva, between 1896-1901 Ipolyság district of County Hont and finally Székesfehérvár again between 1901-1905.134 He won another mandate in Székesfehérvár in 1905 but he died on 25th December 1906 so he could not complete his mandate. He was often criticized in the press and political life for his frequent changes of opinion and party preference. In retrospect, he explained that the same principle led him all three times: to protect the weight and position of Hungary within the Monarchy and that he could not let Hungary take any more of the military and financial burden. “Now I’m asking, did not all three cases occur because of the same reasons and the protection of the same principles?”- he wrote in one of his mémoires.'35 JENŐ ZICHY IN PUBLIC LIFE The exhibition in Székesfehérvár made count Zichy well-known and contributed much to his election as president of the Hungarian National Industry Association.'36 He held his office until his death in 1906 and earned great respect in an age that is seen as the golden age of the Hungarian industry. In these decades, the Industry Association played a leading role in preparing the industrial laws, developing the education of artisans,’37 publishing books'38 and conserving the memories of industry.139 The everyday work fell naturally
