Social democrat who helped the merger, then head of state, Speaker, and commerce minister in Kádár's 1956 government
A building worker from Miskolc, Rónai joined the Social Democrats, sat on the Miskolc workers' council under the 1919 Soviet Republic and was the party's Miskolc secretary from 1922. After 1945, as minister of commerce and cooperatives and then of foreign trade, he worked to push out the party's right wing and merge it with the Communists. He chaired the Presidential Council (head of state) in 1950–1952 and was Speaker of Parliament from 1952 to 1963, and in November 1956 he entered Kádár's Revolutionary Worker-Peasant Government as minister of commerce.
Also known as: Sándor Ritu
Activities and affiliations
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1922–1948
Hungarian Social Democratic Party (MSZDP)
Social movements and organizing -
1945–1957
Hungary state institutionsMinister
Government and administration -
1948–1956
Hungarian Working People's Party (MDP)
Political and party leadership -
1950–1963
Hungary state institutionsChairman of the Presidential Council; SpeakerMain
Legislature and state representation -
1956–1965
Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (MSzMP)
Political and party leadership
Career Timeline
- 1919Member of the Miskolc workers' council
- 1922Social Democratic secretary in Miskolc
- 1941.04Sent to a penal labour company
- 1945Minister of commerce and cooperatives, later of foreign trade
- 1950.05.08–1952.08.14Chairman of the Presidential Council
- 1952.08–1963Speaker of Parliament
- 1956.11.04Commerce minister in the Revolutionary Worker-Peasant Government
The reward for the merger, and commerce minister in November 1956
Sándor Rónai entered the trade-union movement as a building worker in Miskolc and became a Social Democrat; under the 1919 Soviet Republic he sat on the Miskolc workers' council. From 1922 he was the party's Miskolc secretary and a local leader of the building workers' union, and in April 1941 he was sent to a penal labour company.
After 1945 he was minister of commerce and cooperatives and then of foreign trade. He did much to push the so-called right wing out of the Social Democratic Party and to merge it with the Communists, and as his reward chaired the Presidential Council, the collective head of state, from May 1950 to August 1952, before becoming Speaker of Parliament. From 1948 to 1956 he sat, with a short break, on the Central Leadership of the Hungarian Working People's Party.
In the list of the Revolutionary Worker-Peasant Government that János Kádár announced on 4 November 1956 he was minister of commerce. He remained a member of the Central Committee and the Political Committee of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party until his death, and from 1960 also chaired the Hungarian-Soviet Friendship Society.