AGRICULTURAL CONDITIONS AND COMMUNIST OFFICIALS IN THE VILLAGE OF VAJDACAKA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00423R000700660001-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 27, 1999
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: January 1, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 1999/09/10 : CIA-RDVgJR
25X1A9a
Country - Hungary
Subject - Agricultural conditions and communist officials in the
Village of Vajdacska
Place Acquired 25X1 A
Date Acquired - 25X1 X6
to of Information - 19+6
1. "The Hungarian village of Vajdacska has about 2,000 inhabitants.
Since it lies in a poor district of north-eastern Hungary, emigra-
tion to the US and Canada was strong prior to World War II. The
famous 19th century Hungarian poet, Ferenc Kazinczy, used to live
in Vajdacska.
2. "Collectivization of land began in Vajdacska soon after the end of
World War II, when the large estates were divided. However, when CP
propagandists started to go around the village to persuade farmers
to join a kolkhoz, most of them refused even to listen; still fewer
agreed. One of the most active supporters of c llective farming was
Ferenc Toth of Karos, a village 10 km. souths of Satoraljaujhely.
He used to come to Vajdacska every week to talk about the advantages
of collective farming. Finally in 1950 the CP managed to establish
the Petofi Collective. One of the founders was Janos Szilagyl. He
personally visited houses and made lists of members. Sometime later
when he saw that the collective farm was not what he had imagined,
he left it. When his son learned about this he implored his father
to rejoin the collective, and he finally complied. The son, Janos
Szilagyl, Jr., is 23 years old. He originally studied to become a
teacher. In 1951 he joined the Army and was soon sent to Moscow
for special training. When he returned to Hungary in September
1952 he had the rank of lieutenant. He came to spend his furlough
in Vajdacska and made propaganda speeches in the surrounding
villages.
3.
"The nucleus of the Petofi Collective was the property of the farmer
Aurel Sulcz, who had just died at this time. His widow was simply
evicted from the farm. This property comprises about 350 yokes of
land, to which have been added some strips of land belonging to
local smallholders. The collective has about 1,000 head of sheep,
some cows and six horse teams.
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 Approved For Release 1999/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00423R000700660001-1
Originally the collective had about 25 members. Many were soon
dissatisfied with their new. situation. They earned little money,
received bad food and had to pay fines when they failed to fulfill
the nomas. Consequently, one after another they took the first
opportunity to get away and took jobs as hired laborers at the
State farm in Varhomok or at other neighboring State farms, where
they were better paid and were not made personally responsible for
all production failures.
i. "The results achieved by the Petofi Collective have been getting
poorer each season. At the beginning of December 1952 the potatoes
and sugar beets were still lying in the fields as a result of
mismanagement and insufficient manpower. The Communists solved
this problem by ordering all inhabitants of Vajdacska to collect
potatoes in the fields - an attempt which proved a failure because
the soil was already frozen, making digging practically impossible.
The Communists ordered out a tractor, which broke down after half
an hour. The potatoes were still:?_ift the fields in January.
5. "The chairman of the Petofi Collective is Janos Tamaa 50, a
staunch Communist. His 22 year old daughter, Erzsebet, holds a
clerical job in the management office, though her education is so
poor that she can hardly write. Her assistant, (fnu) Lacsni,is a
former lawyer and notary public who was dismissed from that job by
the Communists.
6. "The Local Council of Vajdacska consists of 70 members. Because
there are not enough Commuxh?sts in the locality, only the top posts
are held by reliable Communists. The ordinary members are mostly
non-Party men. Since 1951 the chairman of the Council has been
Joz-set Csomos, about 30, who used to head the Council's Economic`
Department. He has a reputation as a notorious drunkard and has
forbidden his wife and children to go to church.
7. "Csomos' predecessor was Andras Tar, about 50, a shoemaker. The
CP did not consider him reliable enough for the post of chairman
so it demoted him to head the Economic Department. A shoemaker
by profession, Andras Tar has not the faintest idea about agri-
culture. Yet he is the economic dictator of the village. His
orders must be obeyed unconditionally. His constant blunders have
made him a laughing stock, but they are often heartbreaking for a
conscientious farmer. Tar may order the grain to be harvested
immediately, regardless of the fact that it as still wet. He may
order sowing at a time when the fields are not ready; as a result
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the seeds do not sprout. Each time he commits such an elementary
mistake he calls in a number of inspectors to seek their advice
and at the same time he attempts to put the blame on somebody else.
In summer 1952 he ordered a local farmer to deliver his wheat
quota without delay. The farmer was willing to obey but wanted to
let the wheat dry before it was stored. Within a few hours after
the initial order was issued, Tar dispatched a member of the
Council, a woman, to warn the farmer that unless he delivered his
quota immediately, he would be fined 600 forints. The farmer took
a sample of the wheat to the collecting point. There he was told
that no grain can be accepted for storage unless properly dried.
When he reported Tar's conflicting order, the latter was reprim-
anded by higher authorities.
8. "The secretary of the CP organization in Vajaacska is Mrs. Mihaly
Szabo, a Communist activist, who also holds some other political
post within the local council. She is a widow. Ner husband died
in the USSR during World War II. She has three children. The
last was born in 1950; the father is unknown. It is a popular
joke in the village that this last child., is an offspring of the
Party, the result of CP meetings at late hours, after which Mrs.
Szabo usually invited one or two comrades to her home"to discuss
political idealogy" over a glass of wine.
9. "Another CP official who belongs to the present village elite is
Ferenc Pator, about 30, who was appointed after he passed a
three-months' Party course.
10. "The main occupation of local political representatives is to
expose "class enemies". For this purpose a black list of
"kulaks;" has been drawn up by the Local Council. This list is
headed by several farmers who now own no land but are still
classified as t'kulaks" . It includes the local Orthodox priest,
Bela V atamany, whose land was confiscated back in 1951. Another
"kulak" is Mrs. (fnu) Szucs, a widow, whose land was forcibly
incorporated into the Petofi Cooperative, Lajos Guensler, a Jew,
turned over his land to the State and moved to Budapest in 1951,
but he is still listed as a kulak in Vajdacska. The land of
another Jewish "kulak", Jozsef Grosz, was incorporated into the
State farm years ago.. Andras Gyeresi offered his 40 yokes of land
to the State, but the authorities refused this deal for some reason
and ordered him to pay 17,000 forints in taxes for 1952. He too
is on the ?`kulaki' list.
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Rise in Taxes on Farmers
11. "The taxes collected from-farmers are being increased every year.
In 1950 the owner of 18 yokes of land paid 800 forints; in 1951
the tax was increased to 1,200 forints and in 1952 to 6,000
forints. Towards the end of 1952 the farmers were warned that in
1953 they would have to pay an additional 400 forints for
`insurance". Persistent rumors are circulating among farmers that
in 1953 the taxes will be doubled compared to 1952.
12. "Farmers have to surrender high delivery quotas at minimum prices.
The quotas established for 1952 were as follows, for a farmer
cultivating 18 yokes of land:
170 kg. of beef,
126 kg. of porkt
48 kg. of poultxy,
800 eggs,
1,200 litres of milk (tested for cream content),
1,200 kg. of wheat,
300 kg. of maize, (price: 18 forints per 100 kg.)
300 kg. of sunflower seed (price: 85 ft. per 300 kg.)
500 kg. of potatoes (price: 18 ft. per 100 kg.)
Local Prices
13. "Following were the prices of some commodities on sale at the local
store in January 1953:
1 egg - 1 forint
1 kg. salt - 2 forint
10 gr. paprika - 1 forint
1 It. vinegar - 5 forint
1 box of matches - 0.40 forint"
Approved For Release 1999/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00423R000700660001-1