Ernő Gerő (; 8 July 1898 – 12 March 1980) was a Hungarian Communist leader in the period after World War II and briefly the most powerful man in Hungary in 1956, as leader of the ruling Hungarian Working People's Party.

Early career

Gerő was born in Terbegec, Hont County of the Kingdom of Hungary (now Trebušovce, Slovakia) as one of 10 children to Jewish parents, although he later repudiated religion. His father was a retail merchant. Gerő completed his secondary education in Újpest outside Budapest and then enrolled in medical school. A member of the Hungarian Communist Party from its foundation in November 1918, he abandoned his studies when the Hungarian Soviet Republic was proclaimed and became a permanent member of the Young Communists. When the revolution was crushed, Singer emigrated to Vienna, and participated in organizational work in a number of foreign locations. He returned illegally to Hungary in September 1921 and was arrested after twelve months. Sentenced to 16 years in prison, he was released with a group of Communists after a year and a half following a prisoner exchange agreement between Moscow and Budapest, and subsequently deported to the Soviet Union.

Already speaking seven languages, he was hired by the Comintern in 1925, which immediately sent him to a factory for six months to learn Russian; he was then sent to France, where he headed the Hungarian subsection of the French Communist Party until 1928. From his arrival to the Soviet Union, Gerő was an active NKVD agent, and performed foreign assignments for the NKVD and the Comintern in Belgium, Sweden, Finland and Yugoslavia. He also fought in the Spanish Civil War, during which he performed purges against Trotskyist groups in the International Brigades.

The outbreak of the Second World War in Europe found him in Moscow again, and he remained there for the duration of the war. After the dissolution of the Communist International in 1943, he was in charge of propaganda directed at enemy forces and prisoners of war. Gerő was among the first Communist functionaries to return to Hungary in early November 1944, and later that month participated in discussions in Moscow detailing the terms of Hungary's surrender in the war. Back in Hungary in December, he was one of the main organizers of the provisional assembly which concluded an armistice with the victorious powers. Gerő finally settled in Budapest during the last stages of the Budapest offensive in January 1945, and began heading the party apparatus in the capital.

In the November 1945 election, the Hungarian Communist Party, under Gerő and Mátyás Rákosi, got 17% of the vote, compared to 57% for the Independent Smallholders' Party, but the Soviet commander in Hungary, Marshal Kliment Voroshilov, installed a coalition government with communists in key posts. In June 1948 Gerő became a member of the Secretariat of the Hungarian Working People's Party, formed following a forged merger between the Hungarian Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party of Hungary, and was appointed deputy to General Secretary Mátyás Rákosi in November. His inability to quell the protests caused Gerő to lose support from the Soviets.

His works

  • There will be a Hungarian rebirth. Ernő Gerő's speech at the Szeged rally held on November 7 ; Új Dunántúl Könyvkiadó, Pécs, 1944
  • The Hungarian Communist Party. March 7, 1945 ; Szikra, Budapest, 1945 ( MKP Seminar )
  • Communists at the National Assembly. Speech by Ernő Gerő, Mihály Keresztes, József Révai ; Szikra, Budapest, 1945
  • Conditions for the Economic Reconstruction of Hungary ; Szikra, Budapest, 1946 ( Political Academy of the Hungarian Communist Party )
  • Questions of popular democracy. Speeches by Ernő Gerő, László Rajk, etc. at the 3rd Congress of the Hungarian Communist Party ; Szikra, Budapest, 1946
  • The Balance Sheet of Stabilization ; Szikra, Budapest, 1946
  • The foundations of Hungary's three-year economic plan. Lecture by Ernő Gerő on December 20, 1946 / Commentators Jenő Rácz, György Kemény ; Szikra, Budapest, 1947 ( Political Academy of the Hungarian Communist Party )
  • The Foundation of Prosperity – Hungary's Three-Year Plan. Contributions by Jenő Rácz and György Kemény ; Szikra, Budapest, 1947
  • Financial Issues of the Three-Year Plan ; Szikra, Budapest, 1947
  • The Chain Bridge must rise up! / Speech by Zoltán Tildy and Ernő Gerő at the inaugural meeting of the Chain Bridge Committee ; Eisler Ny., Budapest, 1947
  • Three-Year Plan ; Szikra, Budapest, 1947 ( Library of Work and Knowledge )
  • With the cooperatives for the rise of the working peasantry ; in: National Cooperative Conference of the Hungarian Workers' Party. 1948. VII. 10–11. Report by Ernő Gerő, András Hegedüs, Ferenc Donáth, opening by the president Sándor Rónai ; Szikra, Budapest, 1948
  • Speeches by Ernő Gerő, Zoltán Vas, Imre Vajda at the meeting of the Central Leadership on Nov. 27 ; Szikra Ny., Budapest, 1948
  • The First National Congress of Leading Workers. August 1, 1948. Complete minutes of the meeting / Speech by László Piros / Comments by Ernő Gerő, Árpád Szakasits ; Trade Union Council, Budapest, 1948
  • Structural changes and the future of our national economy ; Szikra, Budapest, 1948
  • National Building Workers' Youth. Ernő Gerő's speech at the 1st National Production Conference of the SZIT on March 16, 1948 ; SZIT, Budapest, 1948
  • We are opening a bridge. Speech by Ernő Gerő on November 21, 1948 ; Hírlapkiadó Ny., Szeged, 1948
  • On the Path of People's Democracy for Socialism. Contributions by Ernő Gerő, László Rajk, etc. at the Unification Congress of the Hungarian Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party ; Szikra, Budapest, 1948
  • Towards socialism with the five-year plan. Ernő Gerő's speech at the National Assembly on December 9, 1949 ; HM Political Main Group Headquarters, Budapest, 1949 ( Political Library of the Armed Forces )
  • Our Five-Year Plan: the Path of People's Democracy Towards a Prosperous, Strong, Educated, Socialist Hungary ; HM Political Main Group Headquarters, Budapest, 1949 ( Political Library of the Armed Forces )
  • The Politics of the Hungarian Workers' Party in the Village ; MDP Central Education Department, Budapest, 1949
  • The new tasks of our national economy. Speeches by Ernő Gerő, Zoltán Vas, Imre Vajda ; Szikra, Budapest, 1949
  • With the five-year plan for a prosperous, strong, independent socialist Hungary ; MDP, Budapest, 1949
  • Five-Year Plan of the Hungarian National Economy ; Szikra, Budapest, 1949
  • The achievements of our people's democracy so far and the further tasks of the five-year plan. For urban and factory educators ; MDP, Budapest, 1950
  • The Construction of Socialism in the Countries of People's Democracy. Problems of the Economy of People's Democracy ; Szikra, Budapest, 1950 ( Lectures of the Party College of the Hungarian Workers' Party )
  • In the fight for a socialist national economy. Selected speeches and articles 1944–1950 ; Szikra, Budapest, 1950
  • Resolution of the Central Leadership of the Hungarian Workers' Party on the immediate tasks of developing the Hungarian national economy / Resolution of the Central Leadership of the Hungarian Workers' Party on the fight against clerical reaction / Report by Comrade Ernő Gerő and József Révai ; MDP, Budapest, 1950
  • Report by Ernő Gerő at the 2nd Congress of the Hungarian Workers' Party ; MDP, Budapest, 1951
  • For the land of iron, steel, and machines ; Szikra, Budapest, 1952
  • With Party Unity for Socialist Democracy / Keynote Speech and Closing Remarks by Ernő Gerő / Resolution of the Central Leadership ; Szikra, Budapest, 1956

His character plays a central role in Vilmos Kondor's 2012 novel, Budapest Noir.

References