István Dobi

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The native form of this personal name is Dobi István. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

István Dobi
Istvan Csala
Personal details
Born(1898-12-31)31 December 1898
Szőny, Kingdom of Hungary
Died24 November 1968(1968-11-24) (aged 69)
Budapest, Hungarian People's Republic
Political partyIndependent Smallholders' Party (1916–1949)
Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (1959–1968)[1]

István Dobi (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈiʃtvaːn ˈdobi]; 31 December 1898 – 24 November 1968) was a Hungarian communist politician who was Prime Minister of Hungary from 1948 to 1952 and Chairman of the Presidential Council of the Hungarian People's Republic from 1952 to 1967.

Early life

Dobi originated from a poor peasant family and was born in

First World War, he supported the Hungarian Soviet Republic. During the Hungarian–Romanian War
of 1919 he was captured by the Romanians.

Upon his release, he worked as a casual laborer and became active in the agricultural workers' union as well as in the

regency of Miklós Horthy
.

World War II

During the war he became one of the leaders of the Hungarian resistance until he was called up for duty, returning in the summer of 1945.

Post war

By the end of World War II he had become a leading member of the Smallholders Party, which achieved a majority in the 1945 general elections. Dobi was a member of the left-wing faction of that party, and advocated cooperation with the communists.

With the Smallholders being a part of Hungary's post-war coalition government, Dobi served as Minister of Agriculture from February 1946 to November 1946 (under prime minister

salami tactics"), Dobi was elected chairman of the Smallholders Party in June 1947. The party concluded an alliance with the communists, social democrats and National Peasant Party for the rigged 1947 parliamentary election
.

Due in part to his strong support of the Communists, he replaced fellow Smallholder

fellow travelers
like himself. This process was repeated with the other non-Communist parties as well.

Thus, by the time of the

Soviet-style constitution
, formally marking the onset of out-and-out Communist rule in Hungary. The Smallholders' Party was effectively disbanded.

In terms of allegations of collaboration with the party, the New Hungarian Encyclopedia summed up Dobi's role in the Communist takeover in this way: "Following the ousting of the Smallholders Party right wing elements, he was selected to be president. Under his direction the party was cleansed of its reactionary elements and it became part of the program for building a people's democracy with the Communists."

Presidency of the People's Republic

In 1952, he gave up the prime ministership because Communist Party leader

Lenin Peace Prize in 1962. He died in Budapest
in 1968.

References

  • Writings of István Dobi, Politikatörténeti és Szakszervezeti Levéltár, PIL 769. f.
  • Hungarian Biographical Lexicon
  • Biography In: Országgyűlési Almanach 1947–1949, Budapest, 2005,
    ISBN 963-03-3856-4
  1. ^ "István Dobi, 1898–1968". The Institute for the History of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. 12 September 2001.
  2. ^ Várdy, Stephen Béla (2006). "Peasant and Smallholders Parties (Hungary)". In Roy P. Domenico; Mark Y. Hanley (eds.). Encyclopedia of Modern Christian Politics. Greenwood Press. p. 437.
  3. ^ Lendvai, Paul (2008). One Day That Shook the Communist World: The 1956 Hungarian Uprising and Its Legacy. Princeton University Press. p. 157.
  1. Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Hungary
    from 20 August 1949
Political offices
Preceded by
Minister of Agriculture

1946 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Minister of Agriculture

1948 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Prime Minister of Hungary
1948–1952 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Chairman of the Hungarian Presidential Council
1952–1967 		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by Chairman of the Independent Smallholders' Party
1947–1949 		Succeeded by
party dissolved
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