Imre Pozsgay

Imre András Pozsgay (Pozsgay Imre, ; 26 November 1933 – 25 March 2016) was a Hungarian Communist politician who played a key role in Hungary's transition to democracy after 1988. He served as Minister of Culture (1976–1980), Minister of Education (1980–1982) and Minister of State (1988–1990). He was also a Member of Parliament from 1983 to 1994.

Life and career Career in the Communist Party Pozsgay was born in Kóny on 26 November 1933 as the son of tailor Imre Pozsgay, Sr. (died 1938) and housewife Rozália Lénárt. After finishing elementary and secondary studies in Enying and Fertőd, respectively, he joined the Hungarian Working People's Party (MDP) in 1950 which had established a Communist one-party system by then. In 1951, he became head of the Balatonbozsok (today part of Enying) party branch. Following the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, Pozsgay became a member of the reorganized state party, the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (MSZMP). After that he graduated with an English degree from the Lenin Institute in Budapest, which belonged to the Eötvös Loránd University. On 15 December 1957, he published an article in Petőfi Népe (newspaper of the MDP) about the 1956 revolution under the title "Revolution or Counter-revolution?". Therein he called the 1956 events as a "pure counter-revolution", which tried to restore the "capitalist conditions and the bourgeois rule". Pozsgay pretended Imre Nagy was an "unprincipled" man who became Prime Minister "in the days of the raging White Terror".

Between 1957 and 1965, he functioned as Director of the MSZMP Bács-Kiskun County Committee's Marxist–Leninist Evening University. Between 1965 and 1968, he was Head of the Agitation and Propaganda Department of the local county branch. Until 1969, he served as Secretary of the party's Bács-Kiskun County branch. After that he was appointed Head of the Central Committee's Press Department. From 1971 to 1975, he was Deputy Editor in Chief of Társadalmi Szemle. In 1970, he defended his C.Sc. thesis in philosophy.

In 1975, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Culture under László Orbán in the cabinet of Prime Minister György Lázár. In 1976 he was promoted to Minister of Culture, replacing Orbán. In June 1980, his ministry was merged into the Ministry of Education, his responsibilities conferred with education and cultural affairs after that. Beside his ministership, he also became a member of the MSZMP's Central Committee. As minister, he established the independent Katona József Theatre in 1982.

In 1982, his calls for reform (which he describes in his book Turning Point and Reform) led to a falling-out with the party's leader János Kádár which in turn moved Pozsgay to become Secretary-General of the party's mass organization, the 'Patriotic People's Front' (HNF) under President Gyula Kállai. In 1983, he was elected to the National Assembly of Hungary during a by-election. In the 1985 parliamentary election, he became MP from the party's national list. Returning to the government sphere, he became Minister of State in the cabinets of Károly Grósz then Miklós Németh from 1988 to 1990. He was also a member of the Politburo until its dissolution in 1989, and Chairman of the College of Political Communication, Political Science and Nationalities.

On 28 January 1989, Pozsgay, as the first from ruling party, stunned the Communist establishment by labelling the 1956 Hungarian revolution not a counterrevolution but a "popular uprising". Pozsgay participated in the reburial of Imre Nagy in June 1989, which proved to be a catalyst event; the hard-line Károly Grósz was outranked by a four-member collective presidency (included Pozsgay) of the reformist wing within the MSZMP on 26 June 1989. The ruling communist party began discussions with the opposition groups within the framework of the so-called Round Table Talks. Jointly with Otto von Habsburg, Imre Pozsgay was the sponsor of the Pan-European Picnic of 19 August 1989, where hundreds of East Germans who were visiting Hungary were able to cross the previously impenetrable Iron Curtain into Austria. In 2010, a new government led by Fidesz initiated a drafting process for a new constitution. Pozsgay became a member of the board advising Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on the conceptual foundations of the new fundamental law.

Death Imre Pozsgay died on 25 March 2016, at the age of 82, his family told Magyar Távirati Iroda. In a statement, the Fidesz–KDNP government sent its condolences to his family, and noted Pozsgay's "inevitable" role in the transition process to democracy. According to the statement, Pozsgay "despite his major role in the Communist and Socialist parties, had a commitment to the future of the country and its people".

Awards In 2010 Pozsgay received the Dr.Rainer Hildebrandt Human Rights Award endowed by Alexandra Hildebrandt. The award is given annually in recognition of extraordinary, non-violent commitment to human rights.

Selected works Szocialista társadalom és humanizmus (1978) Demokrácia és kultúra (1980) Októberi kérdések (1988) Esélyünk a reform (1988) Politikuspálya a pártállamban és a rendszerváltásban (1993) Koronatanú és tettestárs (1998) A rendszerváltás (k)ára (co-author with Tibor Polgár, 2003)