Unity Party (Hungary)

The Unity Party (Hungarian: Egységes Párt), officially the Catholic-Protestant Farmers, Smallholders, and Civic Party or Christian Farmers, Smallholders and Civic Party (Hungarian: Keresztény-Keresztyén Földmíves-, Kisgazda- és Polgári Párt), was the ruling party of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1922 to 1944. It was founded in early 1922, and in the same year they won an electoral landslide in the parliamentary election. Initially, the party was conservative and agrarian but in the early 1930s its fascist faction grew to become the largest, and shortly after they established a militia. The main leader of the fascist faction was Gyula Gömbös, who served as the prime minister from 1932 to 1936. When he came to power, the party was renamed to National Unity Party (Hungarian: Nemzeti Egység Pártja). Gömbös declared the party's intention to achieve "total control of the nation's social life". In the 1935 Hungarian Election, Gömbös promoted the creation of a "unitary Hungarian nation with no class distinctions". The party won a huge majority of the seats of the Hungarian parliament in the Hungarian election of May 1939. It won 72 percent of the parliament's seats and won 49 percent of the popular vote in the election. This was a major breakthrough for the far-right in Hungary. The party promoted nationalist propaganda and some of its members sympathized with the Nazi Arrow Cross Party. In 1939, the party was renamed to the Party of Hungarian Life (Hungarian: Magyar Élet Pártja). It was also called "the Government Party" since it was the governing party of the Kingdom of Hungary during the existence of the Horthy era. A faction of the most pro-Nazi members led by the party's former leader Béla Imrédy split from the party October 1940 to form the Party of Hungarian Renewal (Magyar Megújulás Pártja) that sought to explicitly "solve" the "Jewish Problem."

Ruling party of Hungary (1922–1944)

See also: Unity Party (Hungary, 2009)

Unity Party Egységes Párt
Logo of the party seen during the early to late 1930s.
Leader	István Bethlen (1922–1932) Gyula Gömbös (1932–1936) Béla Imrédy (1938–1939) Miklós Kállay (1942–1944)
Founder	István Bethlen
Founded	2 February 1922 (1922-02-02)
Dissolved	23 March 1944 (1944-03-23)
Merger of	KNEP (partial) and OKGFP
Headquarters	Budapest, Hungary
Ideology	Szeged Idea[1][2]  • Hungarian nationalism  • Christian nationalism  • National conservatism[3]  • Social conservatism  • Agrarianism  • Corporatism  • Anti-communism  • Antisemitism
Political position	1922–1932: Right-wing[4] 1932–1944: Far-right[5]
Party flag
Politics of Hungary Political parties Elections

The Unity Party (Hungarian: Egységes Párt), officially the Catholic-Protestant Farmers, Smallholders, and Civic Party or Christian Farmers, Smallholders and Civic Party (Hungarian: Keresztény-Keresztyén Földmíves-, Kisgazda- és Polgári Párt), was the ruling party of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1922 to 1944.

It was founded in early 1922, and in the same year they won an electoral landslide in the parliamentary election.^[6] Initially, the party was conservative and agrarian but in the early 1930s its fascist faction grew to become the largest, and shortly after they established a militia.^[7] The main leader of the fascist faction was Gyula Gömbös, who served as the prime minister from 1932 to 1936.^[8] When he came to power, the party was renamed to National Unity Party (Hungarian: Nemzeti Egység Pártja).

Gömbös declared the party's intention to achieve "total control of the nation's social life".^[9] In the 1935 Hungarian Election, Gömbös promoted the creation of a "unitary Hungarian nation with no class distinctions".^[10] The party won a huge majority of the seats of the Hungarian parliament in the Hungarian election of May 1939.^[11] It won 72 percent of the parliament's seats and won 49 percent of the popular vote in the election.^[5] This was a major breakthrough for the far-right in Hungary.^[5] The party promoted nationalist propaganda and some of its members sympathized with the Nazi Arrow Cross Party.^[5] In 1939, the party was renamed to the Party of Hungarian Life (Hungarian: Magyar Élet Pártja).

It was also called "the Government Party" since it was the governing party of the Kingdom of Hungary during the existence of the Horthy era.^[8] A faction of the most pro-Nazi members led by the party's former leader Béla Imrédy split from the party October 1940 to form the Party of Hungarian Renewal [Wikidata] (Magyar Megújulás Pártja) that sought to explicitly "solve" the "Jewish Problem."

Electoral results

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National Assembly

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Election	Votes			Seats		Rank	Government	Leader
	#	%	±pp	#	+/−
1922	623,201	38.2%	38.2	140 / 245	140	1st	Unity Party	István Bethlen
1926	482,086	42.2%	4.0	161 / 245	21	1st	Unity Party	István Bethlen
1931	603,576	40.0%	2.2	149 / 245	12	1st	Unity Party	István Bethlen
1935	879,474	44.6%	4.6	164 / 245	15	1st	Party of National Unity	Gyula Gömbös
1939	1,824,573	49.5%	4.9	181 / 260	17	1st	Party of Hungarian Life	Pál Teleki

References

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1. ^ Stanley G. Payne. A history of fascism, 1914-1945. Oxon, England, UK: Routledge, 2005. pp. 269.
2. ^ Miklós Lackó. "Arrow-cross men, national socialists, 1935-1944", Studia historica, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia. Volume 61. Akadémiai Kiadó, 1969. Pp. 65.
3. ^ Häkkinen, Ville (2019). From Counterrevolution to Consolidation?. JYU. p. 99.
4. ^ https://mult-kor.hu/ki-volt-grof-bethlen-istvan-miniszterelnok-20161005
5. ^ ^{a b c d} Georgi Karasimeonov. Cleavages, parties, and voters: studies from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999. p. 70.
6. ^ Gregory Curtis Ference. Chronology of 20th-century eastern European history. Gale Research, Inc., 1994. Pp. 226.
7. ^ Philip Morgan. Fascism in Europe, 1919-1945. London, England, UK: Routledge, 2003. Pp. 76-77.
8. ^ ^{a b} Payne, Stanley G. (1996). A History of Fascism, 1914-1945. Routledge. ISBN 0203501322.
9. ^ Philip Morgan. Fascism in Europe, 1919-1945. London, England, UK: Routledge, 2003. Pp. 76.
10. ^ F. L. Carsten. The rise of fascism. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California, USA: University of California Press, 1982. Pp. 173.
11. ^ Peter F. Sugar, Péter Hanák. A History of Hungary. First paperback edition. Bloomington, Indiana, USA: Indiana University Press, 1994. Pp. 341.