László Rajk
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László Rajk (1909-1949) was a Hungarian Communist who eventually fell victim to Rákosi's show trials, probably, apart from the Communist parties' endemic power struggles, because he was a homegrown Communist, as opposed to the Stalin-backed Rákosi.
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Background
László Rajk was born in 1909 and died in 1949. His ties to communism began at an early age when he became a member of the Hungarian Communist Party. Later he was expelled from his university for his political ideas and would become a building worker, until 1936 when he joined the Popular Front in the Spanish Civil War. He was then imprisoned in France until 1941, when he was finally able to return to Hungary, where he became Secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee, an underground communist movement. He was again imprisoned until the entrance of the Soviet Army in Hungary. Once the Hungarian Communists were given control of the internal security forces by the Soviets, Rajk, now minister of the Interior, became directly responsible for the Hungarian Communist Party's private army, the AVO. In 1948 Rajk was promoted minister of Foreign Affairs. Rákosi, who saw Rajk as a threat to his power, decided to accuse him on false charges and had him arrested in 1949.
Trial
László Rajk was accused of being a "Titoist Spy", an ambassador for western imperialism and one who planned on restoring capitalism and jeopardizing Hungary's independence. During his time in prison, Rajk was tortured and was promised acquittal if he took responsibility for the charges brought against him. In September 1949 he confessed to all the charges brought against him. After his confession the prosecution decided, against the promise made, to call for the heaviest sentences to be brought down upon him and the other eighteen men who stood trial with him. Rajk was to be made an example for the beginning of Stalin's anti-Titoist purges. Rajk, along with the other eighteen men, was sentenced to execution and his trial would mark one of the most ruthless events in Hungarian history until the purge trials of Rudolf Slánský and others in 1952.
Reburial and Atonement
The Rajk trial marked the beginning of the anti-Titoist drive movement of Stalin. His trial also marked the beginning of the removal of all political parties in Hungary. The purges, however, left the economy in a heavily disastrous state where not enough inflow of capital could suffice the building projects that were underway. Also, a vast number of the intelligentsia became employed to the manual labor duties usually reserved for skilled professionals. The result left the country with inadequate infrastructure and unsatisfactory manufactured goods. The government was providing too many men to search for spies within the country and not enough to perform the productive work to sustain the economy. Dissatisfaction with Rákosi's rule began to surface and on the 28 of March 1956, after a number of vast demonstrations; Rajk was rehabilitated. The rehabilitation speech, even though it was not publicized, had vast consequences for Rákosi who had used the Rajk guilt as an explanation for the other purges that followed, now that he had to admit that he was indeed wrong would end up ruining Rákosi's rightful authority. The people then began to speak out against Rákosi saying that he had lost the their trust. Lászlo Rajk was then reburied along with three other men who lost their lives during the purges. The only lingering effect of the Lászlo trial was who was to be held responsible for the activities for the late 40s and early 50s. Many victims still have yet to have been identified following the purges including those who lost their government positions simply because they posed a threat to Rákosi's reign of power.
Bibliography
- Crampton, R.J. Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century - And After, 2nd Ed. Routledge Press, 1994.
- Litvan, Gyorgy The Hungarian Revolution of 1956: Reform, Revolt, and Repression 1953-1963, Longman Publishing Group, 1996.
- Rajk, Laszlo, Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Ed. Columbia University Press, 2001. http://www.bartleby.com/65/ra/Rajk-LAS.html (1 Dec. 2005)
- Stokes, Gale (ed.) From Stalinism to Pluralism: a Documentary History of Eastern Europe since 1945, New York and Oxford University Press, 1991.
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