Fehér György szerk.: A Magyar Mezőgazdasági Múzeum Közleményei 1992-1994 (Budapest, 1994)

11. Nemzetközi Gazdaságtörténeti Kongresszus, 1994., Milánó (llth International Economic History Congress) - FEHÉR GYÖRGY: Agricultural associations in Hungary in the late 19th century

ricaly the social importance of agrarian interests and to accept as members — alongside the big and medium estate owners — the smallholders as well, whose number was the greatest among land proprietors. However not giving up the possibility of management they announced a program, offering a convenient alternative already not only for the biggest land owners. It is very illuminating to compare the program of the association accepted in 1895 with the statutes of OMGE and at once it appears that the editors formulated it showing not only professional accuracy, but greater sense of agrarian policy and social sensitivity. The most important things to be done were summarized as follows: 1./ reduction of the land tax and other taxes concerning the agriculture, 2.1 reduction of burdens of the mortgage, the support of agricultural credit co-operatives, 37 promoting of the reconstruction of melioration works, 4./ plantations, partitions, establishing of minor tenures of land, 57 reform of the agricultural workers' question and servants act, 6./ customs policy according the to interests of agriculture, 1.1 reform of the institutions overtaking the agricultural prices (cartel, stock exchange), 8./ spreading of agricultural knowledges, establishing an agricultural college, promoting the co-operative matter. The content of the program approached a broader layer of Hungarian agrarian society, than the former one, and outlined for them a solution. However the Federation was doubtless successful in that comparing whith the former similar organisations it had larger membership, since before the World War I. the number of joining associations reached 2500, but the members 300 000. However the Federation finally did not fulfil the hopes — i. e. to represent the whole class of land proprietors, because only 5-7 percent of the farmers were among its members. In Western Europe the chambers proved to be one of the most efficient interest enforcement organisations, which were established in various areas of economic life and branches. In Hungary the malcontents with the agricultural safeguarding of interests formed a judgement that the failure was caused by the deficiencies of organizing. They believed to find the key of solution in establishing an agrarian chamber following the German model. A group of representatives of agrarian interests demanded that the government, the legislation and the public administration should support actively the agriculture and together with it the agrarian chamber, as an agrarian organisation for safeguarding of interest established on the base of compulsory union, prescribed by the legislation. In their conceptions every land owner would have been obliged to pay a sum adequate to 1 percent of the land tax for the chamber. The enlightened representatives of home agriculture able to be superior to their own interests, thinking in long term agitated in words and in writings using all forums for the establishment of the chamber. Their foundation was not realized yet in the 19th century, this took place after the lost World War I. among considerably more unfavourable and different economic policy circumstances compared with the previous period. Summing up the associations organized to develop agriculture as well as to safeguard and to enforce the agrarian interests in Hungary in the 19th century we can state that the National Hungarian Agricultural Association (OMGE) had the greatest