Századok – 2003

TANULMÁNYOK - Hámori Péter: A magyarországi agrár-szociálpolitika kezdetei. Az agrárszegénység képének megváltozása az alföldi agrármozgalmak idején 3

42 HÁMORI PÉTER ság szociális helyzetéről, és egy nagyszabású társadalompolitika körvonalait is fölvázolták.20

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Az ott meghatározott program végrehajtását azonban a gazdasági válság és a szociálpolitika város felé fordulása lehetetlenné tette. THE BEGINNINGS OF A SOCIAL POLICY FOR RURAL HUNGARY by Péter Hámori (Summary) Rural Hungary faced a lot of difficulties at the turn of the 19t

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centuries. Yet the political elite failed to realise the serious social problems despite the obvious signes (such as mass emigration) showing the deterioration of elementary living conditions. On the long run, however, the movements of agricultural workers and the frequent strikes of harvesters, although initially dealt with by resorting to force, made it inevitable for the legislature to interfere with the relationship between employers and employees. The result after considerable preparation was the enactment of two laws (Nos. XLV and XVI) in 1907. Whereas the former tried to regulate the working conditions of agricultural labourers and contained a whole series of positive prescriptions, the latter wanted to improve the living conditions of families living off daily wages and occasional labour. Yet the ensuing constructions of houses were only partially financed by the government. For the Ministry of Agriculture only supported the payment of interests, whereas the funds had to be provided, mainly in the form of loans, by the municipalities (towns and villages) themselves. It is obvious that this model was furnished by the propositions of the German "theoretical" socialists. The study partly analyses the birth of the two laws and the slow and extremely limited transformation of the attitudes of the political elite, and partly follows the practical implementation of the second law (1907: XVI). It also tries to demonstrate beyond the practical aims of the law the working of other, "socio-educational" objectives during the making and especially the implementation of the law. 204

Angyal Endre: Községi [sic!] és országos társadalompolitikai értekezlet. A Vármegye, 1926. 34. 1-2; Országos Társadalompolitikai Értekezlet. Közgazdasági Szemle, 1926. 9-10. 613-619; Közegészségi és társadalompolitikai Országos Értekezlet. Társadalomtudomány, 1926. 308. Az előadások szövege: Közegészségi és társadalompolitikai Országos Értekezlet, im.