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Hungary Party Structure
In theory, the party congress formed the highest
authority in
the HSWP, although, because it met only once every five
years, it
lacked real power. Its members were appointed by officials
of the
Central Committee and the Politburo, two organs nominally
responsible to the party congress. The Central Committee,
which
included more than 100 members and usually met once every
three
months, also was too large to exert much influence. The
Central
Committee yielded in real power and authority to the
Politburo
and the Secretariat. Also nominally subordinate to the
party
congress was the Central Control Committee, which enforced
party
discipline.
The Politburo and the Secretariat paralleled a set of
governmental institutions that included the Council of
Ministers
and the Presidential Council
(see Presidential Council
, this
ch.). The difference between party and government
institutions
lay in the distinction between policy formation and policy
execution. In general, the party formulated policy and the
government carried it out. Since the early postwar period,
however, the party has been heavily involved in executing
economic, domestic political, and foreign policies.
Nevertheless,
in the late 1980s party leaders, especially General
Secretary
Grosz, called upon party organs to withdraw from
day-to-day
supervision of policy execution and content themselves
with
establishing broad policy guidelines.
Within the party, the Politburo was responsible for
selecting
policy alternatives. The Secretariat produced policy
alternatives
for the Politburo, and, once that body made a decision,
the
Secretariat carried them out. Of course, in fulfilling its
role
the Secretariat often made policy decisions itself.
The structure of intermediate party organizations on
the
county and district levels resembled that of the central
institutions. According to the Party Rules, the
authoritative
body at each level was the conference, which elected a
committee
that in turn chose a bureau with several members
(including a
first secretary) and a secretariat. Conferences at the
district
level elected delegates to the county party conference.
However,
in late 1980s the norms of democratic centralism dictated
that
party leaders at each level approve the composition of the
conference that elected them, as well as the composition
of party
committees, bureaus, and secretariats on the next lowest
level.
Basic Organizations made up the lowest rung of the
party
hierarchy. In contrast to higher rungs on the hierarchy,
which
were organized on a territorial basis, the Basic
Organizations
were located at places of work, residences, and armed
forces
units having more than three party members. The party
meeting
formed the highest authority at this level. The only
full-time,
salaried party official in the Basic Organization was the
secretary.
Data as of September 1989
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