Magyar Party (Romania)
Encyclopedia
The Magyar Party was a political party
in post-World War I
Romania
.
The party had a heterogeneous structure, including bourgeois and landowners, peasants, workers, intellectuals and city-dwellers. It had powerful organisations in counties with a Hungarian majority, among whom it had a substantial electoral influence.
The party wished to obtain complete autonomy for the areas inhabited by a majority of Hungarians and Székely
; it foresaw Hungarians handling administration and all social-cultural problems, but asked that Hungarian-language confessional schools be funded by the Romanian state at all levels. Its tactical line underwent a certain oscillation. In the years right after 1918, several Magyar political formations appeared, some calling for integration into the just-unified Romanian state, others not recognising the new realities settled through the Alba Iulia
Resolution. After the June 1920 signing of the Treaty of Trianon
, the Magyar Party, which declared itself the representative of all Hungarians in Romania, came to be established. After Hitler
came to power in Germany
and Miklós Horthy
's régime sharpened its revisionist rhetoric, the party leadership more often than not took anti-Romanian stances, following the Budapest government's line.
: Consiliul Naţional Maghiar, CNM) was founded at Cluj
, while the National Democratic Magyar-Székely Party (Partidul Naţional Democrat Maghiar-Secuiesc, PNDM-S), led by Béla Maurer, was founded at Târgu Mureş. While the CNM hedged its bets, hoping for a change in the situation through the signing of a peace treaty, the PNDM-S decided to collaborate with the authorities and to participate in the November 1919 election, in which it received 8 seats in the Assembly of Deputies
. PNDM-S also took part in the 1920 election, expressing its desire to take part in the country's political life and condemning its co-nationals' passive attitude. After the Treaty of Trianon was signed, Magyar political leaders changed their attitude. The October 1920 PNDM-S congress, which took place at Târgu Mureş, decided that the Hungarians of Romania should renounce its reserved attitude and stand beside all of Romania's inhabitants in the postwar nation-building process.
In January 1921, at Cluj, the wealthiest segments of the Magyar bourgeoisie and landowers formed the Magyar Union (Uniunea Maghiara, UM). On June 5 of that year, a petty bourgeois group meeting at Huedin
formed the Popular Magyar Party (Partidul Popular Maghiar), with Ludovic Albert as president. UM entered talks with the new group, and the two merged on July 6, 1921. The new Magyar Union elected baron Sámuel Jósika as its president. On August 14, 1921, democratic political circles and the PNDM-S decided to create another party, called the Magyar People's Party (Partidul Poporului Maghiar). As the UM leadership did not recognise the act of union of Transylvania
with Romania, it was disbanded by the government on October 30, 1921.
The faction belonging to the former Huedin party re-established the Popular Magyar Party on January 5, 1922, electing István Kecskeméthy as president and adopting a policy of integration into Romanian political life. At the same time, Emil Grandpierre founded the National Magyar Party (Partidul Naţional Magyar). At the insistence of Grandpierre and of other politicians, both sides came to look favourably on the idea of creating a single party, through the union of all existing formations. Thus, on December 28, 1922, the Magyar Party of Romania was founded at Cluj. It was led by the old Magyar aristocracy and sustained by solid banking institutions, a network of cooperatives, the church and a number of cultural organisations, and a sizeable press with a wide area of distribution.
Differences of opinion continued within the new party, with most members favouring participation in Romanian political life. One key element of the PM's activity centred around following and documenting errors and abuses committed by the authorities, and composing memoranda addressed to the League of Nations
which declared that the Hungarian minority was being persecuted and that Romania was not respecting the treaty on minorities, asking the League to intervene and put an end to these persecutions. On October 31, 1923, the "Ciucea
Pact" was signed with Octavian Goga
and Constantin Bucşan, representatives of the People's Party. The agreement was also approved of by the Prime Minister of Hungary, István Bethlen
. In the February 1926 communal elections, PM participated in an electoral alliance with the Liberals
(PNL), managing to obtain numerous seats on communal and county
councils. István Ugron, who favoured an exclusive collaboration with the PNL, broke the "Ciucea Pact" on February 1, 1926, yielding the post of president to count György Bethlen. In the 1927 election, the PM obtained 8 seats in the Assembly and 1 in the Senate
.
Opposition by the democratic circles in the PM, grouped around Miklós Krenner and the newspaper Keleti Újság ("Ştirile vestului" or "News of the West"), was powerfully manifested at the Gheorgheni
Congress of February 26, 1926. The PM leaders decided to buy the newspaper and transform it into an official party publication, which it remained until 1938. In 1927, István Kecskeméthy and Károly Kós
addressed an appeal "to the Magyar people of Transylvania" in which they stated that they had been "insulted with the most disgusting calomnies by the professional Magyar politicians and their mercenaries, and their most constant accusation was that we sold out to the Romanians". The two favoured stronger integration into Romanian political life and re-established the Popular Magyar Party. This was in large part also due to discontent in the face of the PM leadership's attempts to form, together with the German Party
, a "minority bloc", which ran on the same lists in the 1927 election. The PM leaders, using pressure and corruption, managed to choke off the PPM's activity, accuzing it of pursuing "the division of Hungarians". To avoid dissensions within the Hungarian minority, the following clause was introduced into its statute at the October 1928 Congress of the Magyar Party: "Every Romanian citizen of Magyar nationality or who considers himself a Magyar and who has reached the age of 20 automatically becomes a member of the Magyar Party."
However, political divisions continued even after this date. During the Congress itself, a dissident faction took shape, led by István Albert, which became the Independent Magyar Party (Partidul Maghiar Independent) and which ran unsuccessfully on its own lists in the 1931 election. In June 1933, the Magyar Opposition (Opoziţia Maghiară) formed within the PM; it took an openly leftist course, forming the Union of Hungarian Workers of Romania (MADOSZ) in 1934, with Sándor Szepesi (president) and Sándor Péter (general secretary) elected as leaders. MADOSZ followed the Romanian Communist Party
's political line. In 1937, Kurkó Gyàrfás became its president, and László Bányai, its general secretary. Also in reaction to the PM leadership's orientation, the Magyar Peasants' Party or the Smallholders' Party (Partidul Ţărănesc Maghiar / Partidul Micilor Gospodari) was formed in September 1935, led by dr. Imre Réthy, whose followers were especially numerous in Odorhei County. Initially, this party collaborated with the National Peasants' Party
, then becoming closer to MADOSZ, with which it merged in November 1937.
The PM maintained its intransigent line, permanently criticising the policies of the Romanian state. At the last PM Congress, which took place in Târgu Mureş in November 1937, it was asserted that the Romanian government was promoting a policy of assimilation toward minorities, and of violaring their rights and liberties of expression. In the 1937 election
, the PM won 4.43% of the vote, 19 seats in the Assembly and 2 in the Senate. In advance of the 1938 election, the PM (with the Hungarian ambassador to Bucharest acting as intermediary) reached an electoral alliance with the governing National Christian Party
. However, as the royal dictatorship was installed on February 10, 1938, this election never took place.
Dissolved, along with all other political parties extant in Romania, on March 30, 1938, the PM continued to exist under the name of the Magyar Community (Comunitatea Maghiară), which joined the National Renaissance Front
in January 1939. After the Second Vienna Award
of August 30, 1940, almost all PM leaders remained on territory ceded to Hungary, holding various political and administrative functions, and promoting a policy of harsh repression against the Romanian inhabitants of that land.
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in post-World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
.
The party had a heterogeneous structure, including bourgeois and landowners, peasants, workers, intellectuals and city-dwellers. It had powerful organisations in counties with a Hungarian majority, among whom it had a substantial electoral influence.
The party wished to obtain complete autonomy for the areas inhabited by a majority of Hungarians and Székely
Székely
The Székelys or Székely , sometimes also referred to as Szeklers , are a subgroup of the Hungarian people living mostly in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania, Romania...
; it foresaw Hungarians handling administration and all social-cultural problems, but asked that Hungarian-language confessional schools be funded by the Romanian state at all levels. Its tactical line underwent a certain oscillation. In the years right after 1918, several Magyar political formations appeared, some calling for integration into the just-unified Romanian state, others not recognising the new realities settled through the Alba Iulia
Alba Iulia
Alba Iulia is a city in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania with a population of 66,747, located on the Mureş River. Since the High Middle Ages, the city has been the seat of Transylvania's Roman Catholic diocese. Between 1541 and 1690 it was the capital of the Principality of Transylvania...
Resolution. After the June 1920 signing of the Treaty of Trianon
Treaty of Trianon
The Treaty of Trianon was the peace agreement signed in 1920, at the end of World War I, between the Allies of World War I and Hungary . The treaty greatly redefined and reduced Hungary's borders. From its borders before World War I, it lost 72% of its territory, which was reduced from to...
, the Magyar Party, which declared itself the representative of all Hungarians in Romania, came to be established. After Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
came to power in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Miklós Horthy
Miklós Horthy
Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya was the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary during the interwar years and throughout most of World War II, serving from 1 March 1920 to 15 October 1944. Horthy was styled "His Serene Highness the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary" .Admiral Horthy was an officer of the...
's régime sharpened its revisionist rhetoric, the party leadership more often than not took anti-Romanian stances, following the Budapest government's line.
History
At the end of October 1918, the National Magyar Council (Ro.Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
: Consiliul Naţional Maghiar, CNM) was founded at Cluj
Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade...
, while the National Democratic Magyar-Székely Party (Partidul Naţional Democrat Maghiar-Secuiesc, PNDM-S), led by Béla Maurer, was founded at Târgu Mureş. While the CNM hedged its bets, hoping for a change in the situation through the signing of a peace treaty, the PNDM-S decided to collaborate with the authorities and to participate in the November 1919 election, in which it received 8 seats in the Assembly of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of Romania
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house in Romania's bicameral parliament. It has 315 seats, to which deputies are elected by direct popular vote on a proportional representation basis to serve four-year terms...
. PNDM-S also took part in the 1920 election, expressing its desire to take part in the country's political life and condemning its co-nationals' passive attitude. After the Treaty of Trianon was signed, Magyar political leaders changed their attitude. The October 1920 PNDM-S congress, which took place at Târgu Mureş, decided that the Hungarians of Romania should renounce its reserved attitude and stand beside all of Romania's inhabitants in the postwar nation-building process.
In January 1921, at Cluj, the wealthiest segments of the Magyar bourgeoisie and landowers formed the Magyar Union (Uniunea Maghiara, UM). On June 5 of that year, a petty bourgeois group meeting at Huedin
Huedin
Huedin is a town in Cluj County, Romania.Huedin is located at the northern edge of the Apuseni Mountains. It is surrounded by the villages of Nearşova, Domoşu, Horlacea and others. The town administers one village, Bicălatu...
formed the Popular Magyar Party (Partidul Popular Maghiar), with Ludovic Albert as president. UM entered talks with the new group, and the two merged on July 6, 1921. The new Magyar Union elected baron Sámuel Jósika as its president. On August 14, 1921, democratic political circles and the PNDM-S decided to create another party, called the Magyar People's Party (Partidul Poporului Maghiar). As the UM leadership did not recognise the act of union of Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
with Romania, it was disbanded by the government on October 30, 1921.
The faction belonging to the former Huedin party re-established the Popular Magyar Party on January 5, 1922, electing István Kecskeméthy as president and adopting a policy of integration into Romanian political life. At the same time, Emil Grandpierre founded the National Magyar Party (Partidul Naţional Magyar). At the insistence of Grandpierre and of other politicians, both sides came to look favourably on the idea of creating a single party, through the union of all existing formations. Thus, on December 28, 1922, the Magyar Party of Romania was founded at Cluj. It was led by the old Magyar aristocracy and sustained by solid banking institutions, a network of cooperatives, the church and a number of cultural organisations, and a sizeable press with a wide area of distribution.
Differences of opinion continued within the new party, with most members favouring participation in Romanian political life. One key element of the PM's activity centred around following and documenting errors and abuses committed by the authorities, and composing memoranda addressed to the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
which declared that the Hungarian minority was being persecuted and that Romania was not respecting the treaty on minorities, asking the League to intervene and put an end to these persecutions. On October 31, 1923, the "Ciucea
Ciucea
Ciucea is a commune of Cluj County, Romania, situated 20 km northwest of Huedin on the right bank of the Crişul Repede River. It is composed of two villages, Ciucea and Vânători...
Pact" was signed with Octavian Goga
Octavian Goga
Octavian Goga was a Romanian politician, poet, playwright, journalist, and translator.-Life:Born in Răşinari, nearby Sibiu, he was an active member in the Romanian nationalistic movement in Transylvania and of its leading group, the Romanian National Party in Austria-Hungary. Before World War I,...
and Constantin Bucşan, representatives of the People's Party. The agreement was also approved of by the Prime Minister of Hungary, István Bethlen
István Bethlen
Count István Bethlen de Bethlen was a Hungarian aristocrat and statesman and served as Prime Minister from 1921 to 1931....
. In the February 1926 communal elections, PM participated in an electoral alliance with the Liberals
National Liberal Party (Romania)
The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...
(PNL), managing to obtain numerous seats on communal and county
Counties of Romania
The 41 judeţe and the municipality of Bucharest comprise the official administrative divisions of Romania. They also represent the European Union' s NUTS-3 geocode statistical subdivision scheme of Romania.-Overview:...
councils. István Ugron, who favoured an exclusive collaboration with the PNL, broke the "Ciucea Pact" on February 1, 1926, yielding the post of president to count György Bethlen. In the 1927 election, the PM obtained 8 seats in the Assembly and 1 in the Senate
Senate of Romania
The Senate of Romania is the upper house in the bicameral Parliament of Romania. It has 137 seats , to which members are elected by direct popular vote, using Mixed member proportional representation in 42 electoral districts , to serve four-year terms.-Former location:After the Romanian...
.
Opposition by the democratic circles in the PM, grouped around Miklós Krenner and the newspaper Keleti Újság ("Ştirile vestului" or "News of the West"), was powerfully manifested at the Gheorgheni
Gheorgheni
Gheorgheni is a city in Harghita County, Romania.It lies in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania. The city administers four villages:*Covacipeter / Kovácspéter*Lacu Roşu / Gyilkostó*Vargatac / Vargatag*Visafolio / Visszafolyó...
Congress of February 26, 1926. The PM leaders decided to buy the newspaper and transform it into an official party publication, which it remained until 1938. In 1927, István Kecskeméthy and Károly Kós
Károly Kós
Károly Kós was a Hungarian architect, writer, illustrator, ethnologist and politician of Austria-Hungary and Romania.- Biography :...
addressed an appeal "to the Magyar people of Transylvania" in which they stated that they had been "insulted with the most disgusting calomnies by the professional Magyar politicians and their mercenaries, and their most constant accusation was that we sold out to the Romanians". The two favoured stronger integration into Romanian political life and re-established the Popular Magyar Party. This was in large part also due to discontent in the face of the PM leadership's attempts to form, together with the German Party
German Party (Romania)
The German Party was a political party in post-World War I Romania, claiming to represent the entire ethnic German community.The German Party went through a rather lengthy period of creation. It was founded on the initiative of part of the ethnic German bourgeoisie at Timişoara on September 6,...
, a "minority bloc", which ran on the same lists in the 1927 election. The PM leaders, using pressure and corruption, managed to choke off the PPM's activity, accuzing it of pursuing "the division of Hungarians". To avoid dissensions within the Hungarian minority, the following clause was introduced into its statute at the October 1928 Congress of the Magyar Party: "Every Romanian citizen of Magyar nationality or who considers himself a Magyar and who has reached the age of 20 automatically becomes a member of the Magyar Party."
However, political divisions continued even after this date. During the Congress itself, a dissident faction took shape, led by István Albert, which became the Independent Magyar Party (Partidul Maghiar Independent) and which ran unsuccessfully on its own lists in the 1931 election. In June 1933, the Magyar Opposition (Opoziţia Maghiară) formed within the PM; it took an openly leftist course, forming the Union of Hungarian Workers of Romania (MADOSZ) in 1934, with Sándor Szepesi (president) and Sándor Péter (general secretary) elected as leaders. MADOSZ followed the Romanian Communist Party
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
's political line. In 1937, Kurkó Gyàrfás became its president, and László Bányai, its general secretary. Also in reaction to the PM leadership's orientation, the Magyar Peasants' Party or the Smallholders' Party (Partidul Ţărănesc Maghiar / Partidul Micilor Gospodari) was formed in September 1935, led by dr. Imre Réthy, whose followers were especially numerous in Odorhei County. Initially, this party collaborated with the National Peasants' Party
National Peasants' Party
The National Peasants' Party was a Romanian political party, formed in 1926 through the fusion of the Romanian National Party from Transylvania and the Peasants' Party . It was in power between 1928 and 1933, with brief interruptions...
, then becoming closer to MADOSZ, with which it merged in November 1937.
The PM maintained its intransigent line, permanently criticising the policies of the Romanian state. At the last PM Congress, which took place in Târgu Mureş in November 1937, it was asserted that the Romanian government was promoting a policy of assimilation toward minorities, and of violaring their rights and liberties of expression. In the 1937 election
Romanian general election, 1937
General elections were held in Romania on 20 and 22 December 1937. It was Romania's last election before King Carol II dissolved Parliament and instituted a royal dictatorship the following February. By the next elections under the 1923 Constitution, Romania had passed through two dictatorships and...
, the PM won 4.43% of the vote, 19 seats in the Assembly and 2 in the Senate. In advance of the 1938 election, the PM (with the Hungarian ambassador to Bucharest acting as intermediary) reached an electoral alliance with the governing National Christian Party
National Christian Party
The National Christian Party was a Romanian political party, the product of a union between Octavian Goga's National Agrarian Party and A. C. Cuza's National-Christian Defense League; a prominent member of the party was the philosopher Nichifor Crainic...
. However, as the royal dictatorship was installed on February 10, 1938, this election never took place.
Dissolved, along with all other political parties extant in Romania, on March 30, 1938, the PM continued to exist under the name of the Magyar Community (Comunitatea Maghiară), which joined the National Renaissance Front
National Renaissance Front
The National Renaissance Front was a fascist Romanian political party created by King Carol II in 1938 as the single monopoly party of government following his decision to ban all other political parties and suspend the 1923 Constitution, and the passing of the 1938 Constitution of Romania...
in January 1939. After the Second Vienna Award
Second Vienna Award
The Second Vienna Award was the second of two Vienna Awards arbitrated by the Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Rendered on August 30, 1940, it re-assigned the territory of Northern Transylvania from Romania to Hungary.-Prelude and historical background :After the World War I, the multi-ethnic...
of August 30, 1940, almost all PM leaders remained on territory ceded to Hungary, holding various political and administrative functions, and promoting a policy of harsh repression against the Romanian inhabitants of that land.
Notable members
- Sámuel JósikaSámuel Jósika (politician)Baron Sámuel Jósika de Branyicska was a Hungarian politician, who served as Minister besides the King between 1895 and 1898. After the Treaty of Trianon he was the leader of the Hungarian minority's main party in Transylvania which became part of the Kingdom of Romania.-References:*...
(president, December 28, 1922 – July 1923) - István Ugron (president, July 1923 – April 1, 1926)
- György Bethlen (April 1, 1926 – March 30, 1938)
- György Bernady
- Emil Grandpierre
- István Kecskeméthy
- Miklós Krenner