Hungarian People's Union

The Hungarian People's Union (, MNSz; , UPM) was a left-wing political party active in Romania between 1934 and 1953, claiming to represent the Hungarian community. Until 1944, it was called the Union of Hungarian Workers of Romania (Magyar Dolgozók Országos Szövetsége or Uniunea Oamenilor Muncii Maghiari din România, generally known under its Hungarian-language acronym MADOSZ).

In September 1932, a faction of the Magyar Party created a dissident movement around the weekly Cluj publication Fálvak Nepe ("Lumea satelor" or "The World of the Villages"). In June 1933, this movement coalesced into the Magyar Opposition (Opoziţia Maghiară), whose leadership included members of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR). The Opposition's local committees and the initiative committees of the Hungarian populace, organised around the Cluj magazine Nepákarat ("Voinţa poporului" or "The Will of the People") starting in September 1933, turned into committees of the new, legal organisation MADOSZ.

MADOSZ was formally established on August 20, 1934 at Târgu Mureş. The party programme called for defending the peasantry from higher taxes, an end to abuses against grape-growers and loggers, a joint struggle with ethnic Romanian workers for the granting of specific demands, and respect for democratic rights and freedoms. Sándor Szepesi was its president from 1934 to 1937, while Gyárfás Kurkó held the post from 1937 to 1938. Other notable members...
Read More