Imre Nagy in favour expertise

Romány, Pál

In general historians and the daily press keep account of expertise per se in connection with events related to politicians. It is hardly known for example that Count Pál Teleki was not only a prime minister of tragic fate but also an expert geographer. We can make out a similar case for Imre Nagy, who taught at several universities, written many publications even before WWII and was a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His findings and work on the theory and history of agricultural policies remain largely in obscurity. Therefore it was not a mere accident that following the formation of his government in 1953 he set together with the most eminent although so far mostly ignored agricultural experts of the country in formulating his “new period” program. A decade after WWII members of the desolved Hungarian Royal Agricultural Inspectorate, experienced stewards and under-stewards of estates were still around. Imre Nagy counted on them because he favoured expertise.