Kulak list (Hungary)
쿨라크 명부 (헝가리)
The administrative register of farm households that Rákosi's Hungary classed as kulaks (rich peasants). A 1952 decree defined them broadly as holders of 25 cadastral holds (about 14 hectares) or more, or of land above a set cadastral income. Listed households faced heavier compulsory deliveries, taxes, fines, prosecution and surveillance, and were in effect excluded from society. At the Kremlin talks of June 1953 Imre Nagy demanded its abolition, the Soviet side agreed, and the June resolution of the Working People's Party abolished it.
In depth
Who was a kulak
From 1948 the Hungarian communists, aiming at Soviet-style collectivization, launched anti-kulak propaganda and struggle, and the pejorative word "kulák" displaced older terms for well-off farmers. Broadly, a peasant with more than 25 holds of land counted as a kulak; Law-Decree No. 2 of 1952, section 15, set out the criteria: land actually farmed or owned of 25 cadastral holds or more, or a cadastral net income above a threshold (350 or 850 gold crowns); ownership of a threshing machine, mill or other powered plant, or running a shop or inn alongside the farm; or liability for the 1949 agricultural development levy. Yet a poor peasant who stood in the party's way could easily be branded a kulak too.
Being on the list
Listed households were harassed with compulsory deliveries and regulations impossible to fulfil, and faced prosecutions, police and ÁVH harassment, internment and confiscation. In the Kremlin in June 1953 Imre Nagy said: "Anyone who features on the kulak list is excluded from society."
Abolition
On 16 June, the second day of the talks, Beria urged caution on one point only: abolishing the kulak list. Nagy held firm—"The kulak list is the basis for the illegal acts against the kulaks"—and Beria allowed it. It was the only moment in the two days when a Hungarian proposal was accepted by the Soviet side. The Central Leadership resolution of 27–28 June named abolition of the kulak list first among the agricultural tasks, and Nagy's government programme of 4 July listed the kulak list among the forms of harassment that had offended the population's sense of justice.
Remembrance
On 26 March 2012 the Hungarian Parliament designated 29 June, the feast of Saints Peter and Paul and traditionally the start of harvest, as a day of remembrance for farmers ruined by the persecution of kulaks.