Trade-union communist who left Nagy's government for Kádár's Revolutionary Worker-Peasant Government
A house-painter who joined the Hungarian Communist Party in 1931 and organised building workers' strikes, Apró headed the party's trade-union department and the Trade-Union Council after 1945, returned to the Political Committee of the Hungarian Working People's Party in 1953 and became deputy prime minister. On 27 October 1956 he entered Imre Nagy's national government as deputy premier, but in early November went over to the Soviet headquarters at Tököl and became industry minister in János Kádár's Revolutionary Worker-Peasant Government. He served for years as deputy premier and was Speaker of Parliament from 1971 to 1984.
Activities and affiliations
-
1931–1948
Party of Communists in Hungary (KMP)
Social movements and organizing -
1948–1956
Hungarian Working People's Party (MDP)
Political and party leadership -
1952–1971
Hungary state institutionsDeputy Prime MinisterMain
Government and administration -
1956–1988
Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (MSzMP)
Political and party leadership -
1971–1984
Hungary state institutionsSpeaker of the National Assembly
Legislature and state representation
Career Timeline
- 1931Joined the Hungarian Communist Party.
- 1935Helped organise a building workers' strike.
- 1948–1951General Secretary of the Trade-Union Council
- 1953.11Back on the MDP Political Committee; deputy prime minister
- 1956.10.27Deputy premier and construction minister in Imre Nagy's national government
- 1956.11.04Industry minister in János Kádár's Revolutionary Worker-Peasant Government
- 1958.01–1961.09First deputy prime minister
- 1971.05–1984.12Speaker of Parliament
November 1956: from Nagy's deputy premier to Kádár's industry minister
On the night of 23 October 1956 the Central Committee of the Hungarian Working People's Party chose Antal Apró to lead its newly created Military Committee. The next day, in an internal instruction, he called the insurgents a "fascist mob". Even so, on 27 October he entered the national government Imre Nagy had formed as deputy premier and construction minister, and the following day he joined the presidium set up to direct the party.
On 2 November, after the Soviet leadership had decided on a second intervention, he went over to the Soviet headquarters at Tököl, south of Budapest, and was taken from there to Szolnok. The Open Letter to the Hungarian Working People, broadcast and scattered as a leaflet with the Soviet attack at dawn on 4 November, put his name first, beside those of János Kádár, István Kossa and Ferenc Münnich. The letter said that the four had broken with the Nagy government on 1 November and taken the initiative in founding the Revolutionary Worker-Peasant Government. In the cabinet list published the same day he was industry minister.
On 7 November he joined the Provisional Executive Committee of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party Kádár had founded, and from December he headed its Economic Committee. Deputy premier again from 1957, he personally oversaw the trial of Imre Nagy and his comrades, and on 17 June 1958 he announced their execution to Parliament as "the people's just retribution". In Budapest talk his name, with Kádár's and Dögei's, came to stand for the hard line of reprisal after 1956.