Kálmán Tisza

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Tisza, Kálmán (1830-1902) born to a Calvinist noble family, is considered one of the greatest prime minister during the age of Hungarian political and economic reformation, which turned Hungary from being a backward and subservient to Austria into an equal if not the stronger of the two partners in the dual monarchy system. His rise to prime minister (1875-1890) came after a period of suppression, by the Hapsburgs, after the 1848 Hungarian revolt. He is credited for the formation of a consolidated Magyar government, the foundation of the new Liberal Party (1875) and major economic reforms that would both save and eventually lead to a very successful government with populous support.

During youthful age of 18 Kálmán Tisza witnessed one of the greatest reformations of the political arena in Hungarian history. Hungary changed from being a feudalistic government into which a newly establish constitutional government that had many of the components of modern day governments. Legislations such as public Law III abolished the Royal Chancellery and the Residential Council and replacing them with a bicameral parliament (House of Lords and House of Representatives). Democratic seeds were also sown with Public Law V that allowed 6.5% of the population to vote (Janos 85). And finally the union of traditional Magyar lands under Public Law VI and VII allowed for a united Hungary. These powerful reforms led to a nationalist revolt that led to the overthrow of the Hapsburgs monarchs during the 1848 rebellion.

With the defeat of the Hungarians during the rebellion much, if not all, of the reforms were revoked and replaced with a military administration under Haynau. Though the counterrevolution ended the parliamentary style government of Hungary it didn’t destroy seeds that were planted by those reforms. During 1859 to 1860 after seeing the Hungarian popular support for the Italians during Austro-Italian wars, Austria began to try new constitutional experiments in Hungary. During this period Kálmán Tisza was first elected into the newly formed government. Then in 1867 Kálmán Tisza took part, with Parliament, into negotiations with Emperor Francis Joseph I that led to the Ausgleich or the Compromise of 1867. The importance of this document is that it restored the “Constitutional integrity of Hungary” (Janos 90), with the exception over the powers of defense and foreign relations. These minor concessions by the Emperor soon collated and restored the powers, concerning internal affairs, back to the Hungarians. These concessions soon laid the path that allowed Kálmán Tisza to rise to the position of Prime Minister. Then in 1875 Kálmán Tisza established the Liberal Party and was elected to the position of Prime Minister of Hungary. The efficiency of the government was quite weak and Kálmán Tisza actions during his 15 year reign mainly consisted of reforms of the government and the economy.

The newly born government bureaucracy of Hungary was inefficient and lacked a centralize government. One of the first things under the premiership of Kálmán Tisza was the consolidation of power and transforming the bureaucracy into a single powerful machine: “The bureaucracy was in charge of the elections and perpetuating the liberal majority, while parliament and the party would lend an aura of legitimacy to bureaucratic policies and provide a forum to articulate bureaucratic interests” (Janos 97). Kálmán Tisza achieved consolidating power within the government while Parliament simply acts to legitimize those actions. Consolidation of power also consisted of the reform of an incumbent parliament where members came held their seats regularly without challenge: Reform of the House of Lords in Hungary: 469 members were removed under the provisions of the Parliament Act. Members set at 369 members: 205 hereditary peers, 83 church dignitaries, and a new feature, 81 life members…Aristocratic titles were still given by the imperial power but hereditary and life peerages were to be awarded upon the advice of the prime minister who, in case of emergency, could seek the appointment of new members to secure the passage of a particular piece of legislation.(Janos 99) These reforms allowed the position of the Prime Minister to be the single most important actor in the Hungarian political arena. These reforms by Kálmán Tisza allowed him to consolidate power within the Hungarian government and also remove much of the influence extended by the Austrians. Kálmán Tisza helped to finally set in stone the shift of Hungarian political dependence away from the Austrians.

In the period between 1869 and 1875, with the founding of the new Hungarian political system, the Hungarians choose to model their economic system under a French model. The problem they ran into was that the political system they had was far too advanced in comparison to their archaic economic system. For example taxation of the people came in the form of quasi-military campaigns (1869) that only raised taxes by a mere 11% (Janos 106), while it embittered the rural populations. Thus these 6 years were known as a period of bad management of the economy by a failing government. When Kálmán Tisza came to power in 1875 he consolidated the economy in many ways similar to his power consolidation in government reform. He opened up taxation reforms that saved the state from bankruptcy. In 1887 Alexander Werkerle became the minister of finance worked with Kálmán Tisza to develop a new tax system that focused on taxation of land. The successes of these reforms were tremendous, even though land tax increased by 30% the revenues of the government increased by 330% (Janos 108) and between 1880-1895 public revenue doubled due to successful tax reforms. Though Tisza-Werkerle system saved the government from bankruptcy the tax system was way too harsh and eventually prevented the rise of a domestic market for the products produced by Hungary.

The contributions made by Kálmán Tisza during his 15 year reign were quite tremendous. He was born during the midst of a failing Austrian Imperial Government in Hungary and inheriting a failing Hungarian Constitutional government and yet he managed to turn Hungary into a modern state. He saved his country from going completely bankrupt and consolidated and created an efficient centralized political government. His legacy of reform and success gave confidence to a people that were once suppressed by the Austrians and a failing early constitutional government.

Bibliography

Andrew C. Janos, The Politics of Backwardness in Hungary 1825-1945, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982.