Betlena-Peyer’s Pact

The Betlin-Peier Pact ( Hungarian Bethlen-Peyer-paktum ) is a secret agreement between the leadership of the Social Democratic Party of Hungary headed by Karoy Peyer and the conservative hortist government of the Kingdom of Hungary Istvan Betlen , signed on December 22, 1921 . It was an important milestone of the “Betelenov consolidation” after the war , the revolutionary period , the suppression of the Hungarian Soviet Republic and the triumph of the right - wing counterrevolution

According to the pact, repression against the Social Democrats ceased, their leading activists were released from prison, and the party legalized and got the opportunity to participate in elections, but with significant restrictions - it allowed no more than 10% of the seats in parliament, general strikes and republican propaganda were prohibited, members SDPV could not be civil servants, railway workers and postmen.

Thus, in exchange for curtailed concessions, the Social Democrats pledged to use their international relations to support the government’s foreign policy, refused to strike and campaign among agricultural and railway workers. In addition, the anti-communist leaders of the Social Democrats, who belonged to the right-reformist wing of the party, agreed that the Hungarian Communist Party should remain banned.

Although the pact was strictly classified, the SDPV newspaper Népszava two years later, on December 31, 1923, made it public. Its contents caused violent clashes in the international labor movement, since the pact helped strengthen the authoritarian hortist regime in Hungary.