Borza Tibor (szerk.): A Magyar Kereskedelmi és Vendéglátóipari Múzeum évkönyve 1976 (Budapest, Magyar Kereskedelmi és Vendéglátóipari Múzeum, 1976)

Gadanecz Béláné: A vendéglátóipari dolgozók szakszervezeti mozgalmának sajátosságai

MRS. В. GADANECZ CHARACTERISTICS OF CATERING TRADES UNION This is based on a higher degree dissertation on the history of the catering trades unions up to 1919. The objective factors determining and influencing the development and special features of the movement of the workers of the Catering trade as well as their composition and position hindered rather than promoted their activity. Compared to the workers' movement the development of this Trades Union was characterized by a phase delay, a long and complicated prehistorical period, the existence of Budapest strata-organizations running parallel and by the relatively late establishing of a national union. In 1907 Hungarian workers in the Catering industry made their way to the forefront of the international movement by their organization. Two ways of organizing Trades Unions became typical: the establishment of new unions and the transformation of self-help associations. The Trades Union movement of workers in this trade met with the resistance of employers and officials. The Trades Unions therefore played an outstanding role in assuring the continuity of the class-conscious workers' movement. The workers' movement was compelled to fight against almost every ideal-political direction and organization contending against it. The experiences of this fight influenced the representatives of the socialdemocrat Left. The organization of the Catering trade was in great need of the support of the whole movement, as its members were influenced both by consumers and public opinion. The socialist transformation of Hungarian society produced another problem and task: to harmonize the interests of the workers of the Catering trade with the general interests of the working class. During the public discussion of the dissertation the candidate — answering her opponents — added something on the relations of the international and Hungarian movement of the workers of the Catering trade; she analyzed the meaning of the Catering Trades Union of having been the mass basis of the socialdemocrat Left; she dealt with the necessity of distinction between the precursor organizations and the Trades Union; and finally she spoke about the importance of making the traditions of the movement common property. 329.