István Dobi

István Dobi
3rd Prime Minister of the Second Hungarian Republic
In office 10 December 1948 – 20 August 1949
Preceded by	Lajos Dinnyés
Succeeded by	Himself, as Chairman of the Council of Ministers
Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Hungary
In office 20 August 1949 – 14 August 1952 (3 years, 248 days)
Succeeded by	Mátyás Rákosi
3rd Chairman of the Presidential Council of the People's Republic of Hungary
In office 14 August 1952 – 14 April 1967
Preceded by	Sándor Rónai
Succeeded by	Pál Losonczi
Personal details
Born	31 December 1898 Szőny, Austria-Hungary
Died	24 November 1968 (aged 69) Budapest, Hungary
Nationality	Hungarian
Political party	Independent Smallholders' Party, Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party

István Dobi (31 December 1898 – 24 November 1968) was a Hungarian politician and prime minister of Hungary from 1948 to 1952.

Early life

Dobi originated from a poor peasant family and was born in Szőny, Hungary. He finished primary school and in 1916 came into contact with the peasant movement. He supported the Hungarian Soviet Republic and in 1919 he was imprisoned for the first time. Upon his release, he was active in peasant and social democratic politics from the early 1920s and under police surveillance for this. He later worked as a casual laborer and became a farmer by occupation. Although he was not a Communist, he was arrested several times during the regency of Miklós Horthy.

World War II

During the war he became one of the leaders of the Hungarian resistance until he was called up for duty, returning in the summer of 1945. By the end of World War II he had become a leading member of the Smallholders Party, which achieved a majority in general elections. Dobi was a member of the left-wing faction of that party, and advocated cooperation with the communists.

Post war

With the Smallholders being a part of Hungary's post war coalition government, Dobi was Minister of Agriculture. He held this post until he became Hungary's prime minister in December 1948.

In public relations terms, he was seen as someone supporting and shoring up the Communist's waning support, he lent some much needed legitimacy to the party, being from another party. In terms of allegations of collaboration with the party, the New Hungarian Encyclopedia says: "Following the ousting of the Smallholders Party right wing elements, he was selected to be president. Under his direction the party was cleansed of its reactionary elements and it became part of the program for building a people's democracy with the Communists."

Through taking on numerous high-profile roles, Dobi eventually became a high-ranking communist, although he only formally joined the party in 1959. He served as prime minister of Hungary from 10 December 1948 until 14 August 1952 and Chairman of the Presidential Council from 1952 until his retirement in April 1967. He was officially the second or third most powerful politician in Hungary, and supported the crushing of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. He was a winner of the Lenin Peace Prize in 1962. He died in Budapest.

References

• Writings of István Dobi, Politikatörténeti és Szakszervezeti Levéltár, PIL 769. f.
• Hungarian Biographical Lexicon
• Biography In: Országgyűlési Almanach 1947–1949, Budapest, 2005, ISBN 963 03 3856 4

Political offices
Preceded by Béla Kovács	Minister of Agriculture 1946	Succeeded by Károly Bárányos
Preceded by Árpád Szabó	Minister of Agriculture 1948	Succeeded by István Csala
Preceded by Lajos Dinnyés	Prime Minister of Hungary 1948–1952	Succeeded by Mátyás Rákosi
Preceded by Sándor Rónai	Chairman of the Hungarian Presidential Council 1952–1967	Succeeded by Pál Losonczi
Party political offices
Preceded by Zoltán Tildy	Chairman of the Independent Smallholders' Party 1947–1949	Succeeded by party dissolved