András Hegedus
Encyclopedia
András Hegedüs was a Hungarian
Communist politician who served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1955 to 1956. Hegedüs fled to the Soviet Union on 28 October, the fifth day of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Hegedűs returned to Hungary in 1958 and taught sociology.
at the Evangelical Academy. Hegedüs first became involved in the underground communist movement during his university years when he studied railway engineering at Budapest
Technical University in 1942. He was not able to finish his studies and was put under house arrest in the August 1944 for two years but managed to escape at the end of November. He became part of the interim government on 24 June 1945.
After signing the document asking Soviet troops for assistance during the revolution on 24 October, the government and people overwhelmingly supported him handing power to Imre Nagy
. He became the most hated man in Hungary
and was advised to flee by
Soviet ambassador Yuri Andropov
to the Soviet Union
along with other Hungarian hard liners such as Ernő Gerő
. In Moscow, he worked as part of the philosophy department at the Soviet Academy of Sciences between 1957 and 1958. In the November 1956 the interim committee of the Communist party shut him out of the party but by September 1958 he was able to return home.
From the late 1950s he held numerous academic posts and worked in various research institutes:
1958–61: Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS) Economic Institute
1961–63: Central Statistics Institute
1963–68: Founded and led the HAS Sociology Research Institute
1966: Karl Marx
Economics University
1968–73: Industry Studies
In 1968 he objected to the Warsaw Pact
invasion of Czechoslovakia
during the Prague Spring
. He was dismissed from his position at the Sociology Research Institute and later in 1973 was shut out of the Communist Party for his differing political and ideological views. He became a pensioner from 1975 to 1982 when he was allowed to teach at the Economics University.
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
Communist politician who served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1955 to 1956. Hegedüs fled to the Soviet Union on 28 October, the fifth day of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Hegedűs returned to Hungary in 1958 and taught sociology.
Early years
Coming from a poor family, he finished high school in SopronSopron
In 1910 Sopron had 33,932 inhabitants . Religions: 64.1% Roman Catholic, 27.8% Lutheran, 6.6% Jewish, 1.2% Calvinist, 0.3% other. In 2001 the city had 56,125 inhabitants...
at the Evangelical Academy. Hegedüs first became involved in the underground communist movement during his university years when he studied railway engineering at Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
Technical University in 1942. He was not able to finish his studies and was put under house arrest in the August 1944 for two years but managed to escape at the end of November. He became part of the interim government on 24 June 1945.
1945–1990
In 1947 he married Zsuzsanna Hölzel; they had six children. From 1948 onwards Hegedüs became involved with the Hungarian Working People's Party eventually taking on leading roles. From the early 1950s he took on numerous ministerial portfolios and served as Prime Minister from 18 April 1955 to 24 October 1956.After signing the document asking Soviet troops for assistance during the revolution on 24 October, the government and people overwhelmingly supported him handing power to Imre Nagy
Imre Nagy
Imre Nagy was a Hungarian communist politician who was appointed Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Hungary on two occasions...
. He became the most hated man in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
and was advised to flee by
Soviet ambassador Yuri Andropov
Yuri Andropov
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov was a Soviet politician and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 12 November 1982 until his death fifteen months later.-Early life:...
to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
along with other Hungarian hard liners such as Ernő Gerő
Erno Gero
Ernő Gerő was a Hungarian Communist Party leader in the period after World War II and briefly in 1956 the most powerful man in Hungary as first secretary of its ruling communist party.-Life and career:...
. In Moscow, he worked as part of the philosophy department at the Soviet Academy of Sciences between 1957 and 1958. In the November 1956 the interim committee of the Communist party shut him out of the party but by September 1958 he was able to return home.
From the late 1950s he held numerous academic posts and worked in various research institutes:
1958–61: Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS) Economic Institute
1961–63: Central Statistics Institute
1963–68: Founded and led the HAS Sociology Research Institute
1966: Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
Economics University
1968–73: Industry Studies
In 1968 he objected to the Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
invasion of Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was the official name of Czechoslovakia from 1960 until end of 1989 , a Soviet satellite state of the Eastern Bloc....
during the Prague Spring
Prague Spring
The Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II...
. He was dismissed from his position at the Sociology Research Institute and later in 1973 was shut out of the Communist Party for his differing political and ideological views. He became a pensioner from 1975 to 1982 when he was allowed to teach at the Economics University.
Post-communism
Following the collapse of Communism in 1990, Hegedus founded the Worker's Academy. He was often interviewed about the events of 1956 by local and foreign news teams, as he was one of the few survivors from the government of that time.Books
- Hegedüs András. "Élet egy eszme árnyékában" ("Life in the shadow of an ideology"). Bethlen Gábor Publishing House. 1989. Budapest ISBN 9630272008 (A shligthly modified version of this book was published in 1985 in English.)
Essays
- with Maria Markus. "Modernization and the Alternatives of Social Progress". TELOSTELOS (journal)Telos is an academic journal published in the United States. It was founded in May 1968 to provide the New Left with a coherent theoretical perspective. It sought to expand the Husserlian diagnosis of "the crisis of European sciences" to prefigure a particular program of social reconstruction...
17 (Fall 1973). New York: Telos Press