Zombori István (szerk.): Nagy István emlékkönyv (Szeged, 1999)

SIPOS József: Földreform, földigények és földosztás 1919 tavaszán ....

JÓZSEF SIPOS LAND REFORM, DEMAND FOR LAND AND DIVISION OF LAND IN THE SPRING OF 1919 With an overview of the history of the topic, this study demonstrates the 40 year old negative stereotypes, concerning land reform of the civil democratic revolution that continued in the monographs and university notes. Their importance is the following: the government was too late in accepting the Law XVIII of the year 1919. This law was intended to execute land reform from above, that is in the bureaucratic sense of the word. The government did not commence the immediate enforcement of this law and thus it was responsible for the postponement of land reform. Using various examples from several parts of the country, the author proves that the census of those claiming land began in December of 1918 and they were completed in most counties by the middle of February, 1919. This law and its associated decrees, as opposed to the existing literature on the topic, thus, have built on the initiative and self-motivation of the land-claimers. The land distributing governmental agencies efficiently combined this with their work just as the National Property Organizing Council and its three person councils did. This study also disputes the accepted statement that land reform only began in Kápolna on February 23, 1919. It proves that by the end of February and the beginning of March, 188 property-management councils began their work quickly and with success. Using many statistical data, the essay portrays the land demands of the peasants, their mood and the way they related to the civil democratic revolution. This could be seen in internal politics, since the Kisgazda (Small landholders)-party, led by István Nagyatádi Szabó in the Berinkeregime that was founded on January 19th, 1919, received ministerial and state secretary positions. Thus, the government came to be consisted of the coalition of the MSZDP (Hungarian Social-Democrat Party), the Independence '48 Party and the Small-Holders Party. The last two parties signed a voting alliance after the commencement of the land reform on February 23, 1919. István Nagyatádi Szabó pointed out several times that in the interest of land reform, he is ready to cooperate with the MSZDP (Hungarian Social-Democratic Party). As a result, the study claims that the land reform and the division of the lands were not carried out because of the Hungarian Soviet Republic. According to the other view, the governing body of the civil democratic organization was responsible for this task. They were the ones, who at the beginning of April, 1919, stopped the land distributing councils and the work of the local committees. Instead of dividing up the large states among the peasants, they created cooperative farms. This is why Oscar Jászi believes the following statement to be true: "Hungarian feudalism can be thankful to the Hungarian bolshevism for ever: he was the one, who discredited the politics of the land distribution of the October Revolution, saved and painted the large estate simply red." 77