Baják László Ihász István: The Hungarian National Museum History Exhibition Guide 4 - The short century of survival (1900-1990) (Budapest, 2008)

Room 20. The Rise and Fall of Communism (1945-1990). István Ihász

Nationalisation of the mines and heavy industries began at the end of 1946. By early 1947, through a fabricated conspiracy, the HCP had succeeded in throwing the ranks of its largest political rival, the Smallholders, into disorder. The legal basis for this was provided by Statute VII of 1946, which dealt with the protection of the democratic state and the republic's penal law. At gatherings, a small group of Smallholders criticised the aggressive activities of the Soviets and the Communists and the gradual elimination of democratic order. The authorities investigating the case took this as being an attempt to restore what they looked upon as being the interwar, "fascist" Horthy regime, and citing the above statute tried to present it as a plot against the republic: (on 25th February 1947) the Soviet authorities arrested the Béla Kovács MP (!), secretary-general of the Smallholders Party and carted him off to the Soviet Union for eight years. During a visit to Switzerland by the Prime Minister, Ferenc Nagy - who disagreed with the elimination of private property and the nationalisation of the banks, and had formally demanded the return of Béla Kovács - his coalition deputy Mátyás Rákosi (HCP) first threatened him, then forced him to resign. His forced exile was followed by those of several other Smallholders, among them Béla Varga, Speaker of the National Assembly. Meanwhile, the largest governing party fell into utter disarray.