|
Hungary Political and Economic Life, 1905-19
Tisza directed the Liberal government until 1890, and
for
fourteen years thereafter a number of Liberal prime
ministers
held office. Agricultural decline continued, and the
bureaucracy
could no longer absorb all of the pauperized lesser nobles
and
educated people who could not find work elsewhere. This
group
gave its political support to the Party of Independence
and the
Party of Forty-Eight, which became part of the "national"
opposition that forced a coalition with the Liberals in
1905. The
Party of Independence resigned itself to the existence of
the
Dual Monarchy and sought to enhance Hungary's position
within it;
the Party of Forty-Eight, however, deplored the Compromise
of
1867, argued that Hungary remained an Austrian colony, and
pushed
for formation of a Hungarian national bank and an
independent
customs zone.
Franz Joseph refused to appoint members of the
coalition to
the government until they renounced their demands for
concessions
from Austria concerning the military. When the coalition
finally
gained power in 1906, the leaders retreated from their
opposition
to the compromise of 1867 and followed the Liberal Party's
economic policies. Istvan Tisza--Kalman Tisza's son and
prime
minister from 1903 to 1905--formed the new Party of Work,
which
in 1910 won a large majority in the parliament. Tisza
became
prime minister for a second time in 1912 after labor
strife
erupted over an unsuccessful attempt to expand voting
rights.
Data as of September 1989
|
