DISMISSAL OF NAGY

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27638, 20 April 1955, Page 13

DISMISSAL OF NAGY

Party Change In Hungary

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 8 p.m.) VIENNA, April 19. Mr Imre Nagy was removed from office as Prime Minister of Hungary yesterday, six weeks after fellow Communist leaders had branded him as an anti-Marxist and Right-wing deviationist.

He was succeeded by Mr Andras Hegedues, the acting Prime Minister. The gap between the denunciation and the dismissal may be explained by Mr Nagy’s popularity among Hungary’s peasants for his land reform programme in 1945 and his “new course” economic policy of June, 1953, with its accent on higher living standards.

Reports reaching Vienna earlier said that the attack against Mr Nagy had been met with hostility, and party leaders were trying to persuade him to confess his reputed sins and accept a minor role in the hierarchy. But the veteran revolutionary refused.

An official statement in Budapest said Parliament voted unanimously today for Mr Nagy’s dismissal and elected in his place Mr Hegedues, the former first Deputy-Prime Minister, who had been acting Prime Minister since Mr Nagy disappeared from public life last February.

Mr Nagy was also expelled from the policy-making political committee of

the'Workers* (Communists Party along with Mr Mihaly Farkas, a party secretary associated with Mr Nagy’s policies.

The statement said Mr Farkas would be given a position of less importance in the party. The dismissal of the Prime Minister was seen by observers as a triumph for his old rival, Mr Matyas Rakosi First Secretary of the party, whom Mr Nagy succeeded in June, 1953, as Prime Minister. Mr Rakosi’s policy of top priority for heavy industry was criticised and replaced by the “new course,” with the emphasis on agricultural development and increased consumer goods. 7 he reversal of policy and change o' leadership in Hungary follows a similar pattern to that in the Soviet Union. I Mr Nagy first appeared to be under attack after Mr Georgi Malenkov was replaced in February. New Leader’s Programme Mr Hegedues, the new Prime Minister, outlined his political programme in a speech to the National Assembly later in the day. He laid down his government’s three main aims—raising the standard of living, developing heavy industry and strengthening the army. Mr Hegedues said Hungary was “joyfully willing” to sign a pact with the Soviet Union and other East European countries to set up a unified military command to face “the aggressive ' North Atlantic Treaty Bloc.” He said that Hungary’s agriculture needed developing. Agricultural shortages, especially in meat and grain, made the supply situation for the population difficult.