Századok – 2002

Tanulmányok - Papp István: A Begyűjtési Minisztérium az 1956-os forradalom idején és a begyűjtési rendszer felszámolása 1956–57-ben I/31

56 PAPP ISTVÁN 1 THE MINISTRY OF INGATHERING DURING THE REVOLUTION OF 1956 AND THE SUPPRESSION OF THE SYSTEM OF INGATHERING IN 1956-57 by István Papp (Summary) The history of the compulsory delivery of agricultural produce before 1956 was the subject of a number of works, but its suppression as well as that of the system of ingathering has so far not been examined by the historical literature. The system of compulsory delivery of agricultural produce was introduced during World War II and was continued, by means of an ever growing apparatus, after 1945. In 1952 the Ministry of Ingathering was established which, a year later, employed as many as 55.000 people in a network covering the whole country. Although during the first government of Imre Nagy the burdens affecting the peasantry were somewhat alleviated, the system was basically not modified before the Revolution. As early as 22 October 1956 the sixteen points of the students of the Technical University demanded the suppression of the compulsory delivery, and they were supported by a great number of provincial newspapers as well as by the revolutionary committees of workers and soldiers. On the part of the government the first to propose the abolition of the compulsory delivery was Antal Gyenes, minister of ingathering in the government of Imre Nagy, which was formed on 27 October 1956. He was an old confident of the prime minister and, as former editor of the agrarian review of the Communist Party, the Szabad Föld, and of the agrarian column of the Társadalmi Szemle, was perfectly aware of the problems inherent in the system of compulsory delivery. At the session of the government on 28 October the suppression of the system was not decided on, for Imre Nagy himself was against it. The reason of his resistance seems to have been the absence of a decision taken by the Central Committee of the Communist Party, and the prime ministers intention to respect party decisions. Two days later, as a result latent political struggle, state minister Zoltán Tildy was able to announce in the radio the abolition of the system of ingathering. Yet the final and detailed edict, elaborated by Antal Gyenes, was only read out publicly the next day. The compulsory delivery by the peasantry of their crop, animals, animal produce and wine was thereby supressed. Animals could be butchered freely, but the regulations on their purchase remained in vigour. The proclamation was met by widespread sympathy throughout the countryside, and in the villages it was one of the prime changes brought about by the Revolution. It is interesting that the country-wide network of ingathering and its employees were not exposed to any kind of revolutionary agression, despite the fact that the system of compulsory delivery weis and remained one of the most hated institutions of the Rákosi regime. That the apparatus working in the ingathering organisation survived almost intact the Revolution was basically due to the fact its members, unlike those working in the local councils and party houses, absented themselves from their offices, for the process of ingathering could not be continued during the crisis. Consequently, most of the offices of ingathering remained empty during the days of the revolution. The reports on the damages suffered by the offices during the Revolution attest, that in most places only pieces of the furniture were stolen. Only in two counties, those of Hajdú-Bihar and Vas, did it happen here and there the buildings were ravaged and then set on fire, but human casualties were nowhere registered. The first edict issued by the Kádár government concerned the system of ingathering. It was published on 12 November 1956 and abolished the system of compulsory delivery of agricultural produce retrospectivly, from 25 October. It is clear, therefore, that the new regime was aware of the importance of the problem, and tried thereby to calm the peasantry. The suppression of the apparatus previously working in the ingathering system also began. In a first step 5600 people were dismissed from the ingathering offices before 20 November. On 27 December a further 1500 people were removed from office, and the Ministry of Ingathering was officially abolished on 31 December 1956. The somewhat protracted process of suppression, which had been initiated by the Revolution, was definitively completed in January 1958.