Left Bloc

The Left Bloc (in Hungarian: Baloldali Blokk) was a political alliance in Hungary, functioning between 1946 and 1947. The Bloc included the Hungarian Communist Party (MKP), the Social Democratic Party (SZDP), the National Peasant Party (NPP) and the Trade Union Council (SZT). Origin The Left Bloc was primarily formed to counteract the Independent Smallholders' Party, which had won a majority of the vote in the 1945 Hungarian parliamentary election. Despite the Smallholders' victory, the Soviet occupiers had forced them to include the Communists, Social Democrats, and National Peasants in a grand coalition. The Communist Party was given control over the crucial Ministry of Interior—in charge of public security—while Communist leader Mátyás Rákosi became Deputy Prime Minister. The official justification for the Bloc's formation was to defend the country's "progressive achievements" thus far, primarily the land reform enacted in March 1945. The Smallholders' Party wished to revise some of the excesses committed in the process, in which many peasant smallholdings had also been divided up, but the Communists accused them of wishing to reverse the entire process. Dividing the opposition The Left Bloc was founded in Budapest on March 5, 1946. It was effectively a coalition within a coalition, taking the opposite position to the majority Smallholders' Party on every issue in order to isolate them and create political deadlock. The Bloc's primary demands were the exclusion of "reactionaries" from the government and the nationalization of the banks, mines, and heavy industry, and the three parties organized street demonstrations to force their agenda. The Bloc's demands received tacit backing from the Soviet occupiers. Amidst the country's dire economic situation, political deadlock, and Soviet threats, the Smallholders' Party backed down in most cases. For instance, they agreed to expel 20 "reactionaries" from the Smallholders' parliamentary group on March 12, diminishing their majority. The expelled deputies went on to found the Hungarian Freedom Party, becoming the most outspoken anti-Communist force over the next year. The Left Bloc also blocked the holding of municipal elections, which the Smallholders' Party was expected to sweep.