Unity Party (Hungary)

Unity Party

Egységes Párt
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
Dissolved	23 March 1944
Merger of	KNEP (partial) and OKGFP
Headquarters	Budapest, Hungary
Ideology	Szeged Idea; • Hungarian nationalism; • Christian nationalism; • National conservatism; • Social conservatism; • Agrarianism; • Corporatism; • Anti-communism; • Antisemitism;
Political position	1922–1932:; Right-wing ; 1932–1944:; Far-right
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 Kingdom of Hungary from 1922 to 1944.

It was founded in early 1922, and in the same year they won a electoral landslide in the parliamentary election.^[5] 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.^[6] The main leader of the fascist faction was Gyula Gömbös, who served as the prime minister from 1932 to 1936.^[7] 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".^[8] In the 1935 Hungarian Election, Gömbös promoted the creation of a "unitary Hungarian nation with no class distinctions".^[9] The party won a huge majority of the seats of the Hungarian parliament in the Hungarian election of May 1939.^[10] It won 72 percent of the parliament's seats and won 49 percent of the popular vote in the election.^[11] This was a major breakthrough for the far-right in Hungary.^[11] The party promoted nationalist propaganda and some of its members sympathized with the Nazi Arrow Cross Party.^[11] 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.^[7] 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[edit]

National Assembly[edit]

Election	Votes			Seats		Rank	Government	Leader
Election	#	%	±pp	#	+/−	Rank	Government	Leader
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[edit]

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

[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] Sthttps://mult-kor.hu/ki-volt-grof-bethlen-istvan-miniszterelnok-20161005

[5] Gregory Curtis Ference. Chronology of 20th-century eastern European history. Gale Research, Inc., 1994. Pp. 226.

[6] Philip Morgan. Fascism in Europe, 1919-1945. London, England, UK: Routledge, 2003. Pp. 76-77.

[Payne-7] Payne, Stanley G. (1996). A History of Fascism, 1914-1945. Routledge. ISBN 0203501322.

[8] Philip Morgan. Fascism in Europe, 1919-1945. London, England, UK: Routledge, 2003. Pp. 76.

[9] F. L. Carsten. The rise of fascism. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California, USA: University of California Press, 1982. Pp. 173.

[10] Peter F. Sugar, Péter Hanák. A History of Hungary. First paperback edition. Bloomington, Indiana, USA: Indiana University Press, 1994. Pp. 341.

[Karasimeonov-11] Georgi Karasimeonov. Cleavages, parties, and voters: studies from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999. p. 70.

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