Szirácsik Éva (szerk.): A Magyar Mezőgazdasági Múzeum Közleményei 2016-2017 (Budapest, 2017)

Fehér György: Darányi Ignác, az agrárpolitikus

tévedései. A két háború között ápolták emlékét, számon tartották munkásságát. 1945 után méltatlanul elfelejtették, teljesitményét alábecsülték, félremagyarázták. A magyar történelemtudomány feladata, hogy személyéről torzításmentes, hiteles kép alakuljon ki.

ABSTRACT

Ignác Darányi, the agrarian politician

György Fehér

Ignác Darányi was the longest serving Minister of Agriculture in Hungarian history, who held this position for two terms in four governments, between 1895 and 1903 and again between 1906 and 1910. After concluding his career in government he remained until 1921 the chairman of the Hungarian Farmers Alliance, one of the most influential lobby groups in the country. Darányi however was not only a politician but a country gentleman as well, who oversaw high quality farming on his 5,000 cadastral yoke estate.

Darányi aimed at improving the problems of the agricultural sector by proposing specialist laws facilitating the sector’s development and improving the social conditions of agricultural employees. His successes were accompanied by failures as well (for example in connection with his estate policies), and his scope was often limited by the ruling class, which he was also a part of. He did not belong to the innermost circle of the agrarian elite, and cannot be considered an unconditional supporter of the agrarian interest. He was a representative of politicians aware of realities with a willingness to adapt to changing conditions. His legacy is overwhelmingly positive, making his failures and mistakes less relevant. In the interwar period his memory and legacy were cultivated, but after 1945 he was unfairly ignored, his achievements were underestimated and misinterpreted.

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