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Hungary Politburo
The Central Committee nominally elects the membership
of the
Politburo, which directs party activity between plenums of
the
Central Committee. The Politburo consisted of the
country's most
powerful political leaders; its members occupied the most
important positions in the party, government, and mass
organizations. In early 1989, Politburo membership
included
Grosz, the general secretary; Janos Berecz, the party's
leading
ideologist; Istvan Szabo, an agricultural specialist;
Csaba
Hamori, the chairman of the Central Committee's Youth
Committee;
Janos Lukacs, Central Committee secretary for party
organization;
Pal Ivanyi, Central Committee secretary for economic
policy;
Miklos Nemeth, the chairman of the Council of Ministers;
and
other government and economic administrators. Each
Politburo
member had responsibility that often overlapped with an
area
managed by a government ministry.
The Politburo usually met once a week to address the
country's foreign, military, economic, and domestic
policies. The
Politburo conducted its meetings in secret, although it
often
invited other members of the party, government, and mass
organizations to attend. The general secretary chaired the
meeting, and decisions appeared to be reached by
consensus. The
Politburo informed Central Committee plenums about the
issues
discussed at these weekly meetings.
Traditionally, succession to the position of general
secretary has presented problems for the political elite.
No
institutionalized procedures governed the transfer of
power from
one general secretary to the next. And in the late 1980s,
the
general secretary did not have a set term of office. The
general
secretary had to secure power by promoting trusted clients
to
positions of power and influence within other leading
party,
government, and state institutions. Like other Soviet
satellite
parties in Eastern Europe, the HSWP Politburo usually
gained
prior Soviet approval for the appointment of its general
secretary. The general secretary also required continued
Soviet
support to remain in office. Thereafter, the general
secretary
had to establish his authority by generating successful
economic,
social, and foreign policies. Kadar accomplished all these
objectives, and he remained in the post of general
secretary from
1956 to 1988. However, when the leadership deemed Kadar
too
conservative to push forward further economic and
political
reforms, it ousted him in favor of Grosz, having gained
Soviet
approval to do so.
Data as of September 1989
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