Shown here is Hungarian leader Matyas Rakosi. Born 9th March 1892 in the village Ada, which was at that time part of the Kingdom of Hungary. The fourth child in a Jewish household in which 7 more would soon proceed him. In his adolescence he disavowed Judaism along with his repudiation of all other religions. In the early years of his adulthood he fought with the Austro-Hungarian Army during the Great War, only to be captured whilst fighting on the Eastern Front. When he returned to Hungary he became a member of the communist party Bela Kun which was a rigid and broke apart leading to his decision to flee to the Soviet Union where he joined the Comintern. He soon rose up the ranks and became leader of this organisation and would then return to Hungary in 1945 to focus his interests of developing the Hungarian Communist Party. After the 1947 elections the Hungarian Communist Party took complete control of Hungary and established it as a one party state with Matyas Rakosi as its leader. Rakosi would go on to create a communist dictatorship fuelled by the ideologies of Joseph Stalin. So there was no surprise when Hungary joined Cominform (established in September 1947). Cominform’s purpose was to co-ordinate the activities of communist parties in the world, not only in Soviet dominated countries. Though Hungary’s economy was sorely crippled under Rakosi’s rule with it not being able to receive Marshall Aid as it was a Soviet satellite state as well as the unpopularity of forced collectivisation. Politically, Ralosi murdered 2,000 opponents as well as imprisoning a further 200,000. As would be expected by a man who repudiates religion, religious education was abolished and Cardinal Mindszsenty, leader of the Hungarian Catholic Church was imprisoned for life in 1949. Rakosi’s government was failing and upon the death of Stalin in 1953, he was replaced by Imre Nagy who would go on to propose his controversial “New Course” ideologies. Matyas Rakosi spent the final years of his life in the Soviet Union and died in Gorky in 1971. His ashes were returned to Hungary for burial in a cemetery in Budapest…only his initials are visible on his gravestone to avoid vandalism.
History is our Future 