Századok – 2001

TANULMÁNYOK - Nagy József: A szántóföldi művelés állami irányítása és a paraszti gazdálkodás feltételei az 1950-es években (1949-1956) V/1075

1124 NAGY JÓZSEF these measures, but hoped that the economic consolidation would bring about the return of the free market as well. But the establishment of the one-party regime in 1948 resulted in further difficulties especially for the cultivation of plants. Plants to be compulsorily produced now included sunflower, sugarbeet and species hitherto unknown in Hungary such as rice and cotton, the yield of which had to be sold at centrally designated places. The free market was virtually restricted to garden products. The tax burdens of the peasantry were increased every year. According to the directions of the Communist Party the government and its departments regulated the production of plants by a multitude of central decrees, which included all aspects of the process from sowing in the autumn through chemical and natural protection to the harvest in the summer. These strict measures were in fact aimed at introducing in the agriculture of the planned production which had already been established in the industry. On the other hand, the continuous increase of the tax burden was destined to force the individual farmers to enter the cooperations. The same goal lay behind the establishment of central machine stations and the reallocation of the arable. The machine stations were officially destined to cultivate the lands of the cooperations, but they also served political purposes among the individual farmers. The reallocation of the arable equally served the purpose of compelling the peasants to join the cooperations. It meant that the most accessible lands of a given village were grouped together into a huge block and given to the cooperation, and the peasants could choose between joining the cooperation or getting other pieces of land in more distant parts of the village land. Most of the lands thus allotted were left uncultivated by their owners, who went instead to find a living in the industry. Thanks to the oppressive policy of the Communist state the security of land-ownership decreased, and so did the willingness of the peasantry to produce. Consequently, whereas suuplies were constantly in short, the amount of uncultivated area had grown by the spring of 1953 to some 500.000 hectares.