1924 Užhorod by-election

Elections for deputies to the Czechoslovak parliament from the Užhorod electoral district (i.e. Subcarpathian Ruthenia) were held on 16 March 1924 (to the assembly elected in the 1920 Czechoslovak parliamentary election).[1][2][3][4] Nine members of the Chamber of Deputies and four senators were elected.[5]

Užhorod electoral district

Background

As borders in Europe shifted at the end of World War I, the Ruthenian region of north-eastern Hungary was awarded to the new Czechoslovak Republic.[6] Subcarpathian Rus' (also referred to as Carpathian Ruthenia, Transcarpathian Ruthenia, Transcarpathian Ukraine, etc., today constituting the Zakarpattia Oblast of Ukraine) hosted about 3.5% of the population of the Czechoslovak Republic.[6] It was the least economically developed part of the Republic.[7]

The concepts of national identity of its Slavic population varied, some saw themselves as Russians, some defined themselves as Ukrainians and some argued that they constituted a separate Ruthenian nation.[6] Some 14% of the population was Jewish.[7]

Elections for representatives to the Czechoslovak parliament from Subcarpathian Rus' had been delayed for some time, as the area had been placed under a joint military-civilian administration.[7][8] Considering chaotic situation in the area with unstable borders, Romanian occupation until mid-1920 of large parts of the area and the lack of a regional assembly, the Czechoslovak government decided to delay voting for parliamentarians from Subcarpathian Rus'.[9] On 16 September 1923 local elections were held in the area.[10] Transitioning into civilian governance under the Czechoslovak Republic, Dr. Antonín Beskid was appointed governor of Subcarpathian Rus'.[10] On 23 February 1924 the Czechoslovak government reported to the League of Nations was about to be held on 16 March and that the Czechoslovaks would report the results to the League of Nations by June 16 the same year.[10]

Parties

Thirteen parties participated in the polls.[11]

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia

The Communist Party had a strong Jewish following in Subcarpathian Rus'.[7] In the September 1923 village council elections in Subcarpathian Rus' the Communist Party had received less than 10% of the vote.[12] For the 1924 by-election Communist Party ran an active campaign in spite of the prevailing repressive climate, with arrests of their agitators and ban on communist meetings.[12][13] According to government sources the Communist Party held more mass meetings than any of the other parties in the fray.[12]

Indigenous Autonomous Party

On 19 February 1924 opposition sympathizers held a meeting in Berehove, at which the list for the (Hungarian) Ruthenia Indigenous Autonomous Party was set. For the Chamber of Deputies the meeting nominated (in order on the list) Endre Korláth (Užhorod), Ákos Árky (Užhorod), Miklós Jaczik (Užhorod), István Polchy (Berehove), Lajos Szabó (Mukačevo), Bálint Tóth (Nove Selo), József Eperjessy (Užhorod), Pál Turda (Tekovo), János Földes (Časlovci), Ferenc Nagyidai (Perekresztye) and Zsigmond Boross (Užhorod). For the Senate the candidates nominated were Ferenc Egry (Maloye Geyovtse), Sándor Hatfaludy (Nyizsnyaja Apsa), Gyula Jaross (Perečín), János Spolarits (Veľká Sevljuš), Lajos Ács (Tyachovo) and Mihály Weisz (Verkhniy Koropets).[5]

Results

Chamber of Deputies
Party Votes % Seats
 Communist Party of Czechoslovakia100,24239.45
 Indigenous Autonomous Party28,11311.11
 Autonomous Agrarian Union21,1618.31
 Social Democratic Workers' Party in Subcarpathian Rus'/
Czechoslovak Social Democratic Workers Party		20,9988.31
 Carpatho-Russian Labour Party of Small Peasants and Landless/
Czechoslovak Socialist Party		20,0687.91
 Jewish People's Party17,9417.1
 Carpathian Republican Peasants Party15,0585.9
 Bread Producers Party11,1074.4
 Jewish Democratic Party9,9143.9
 Independent Hungarian Social Democratic Party2,8281.1
 Rusyn National Democrats/
Czech National Democrats		2,7801.1
 Hungarian Civic Party2,7481.1
 Smallholders Party1,2420.5
Total254,2001009

[5][14][15][16][17] All in all, parties supporting the Czechoslovak government obtained 40% of the vote.[18][19]

The deputies elected were József Gáti, Josef Kaminský, Endre Korláth, Iván Kurtyák, Iván Mondok, Jaromír Nečas, Andrij Hahatko, Emanuel Safranko, Vaszil Scserecki and Nyikolaj Szedorják.[20]

Senate

The senators elected were Bodnár Iván, Csehy Endre, Egry Ferenc and Riskó Béla.[20]

Aftermath

In the rest of Czechoslovakia the key vote bank of the Communist Party was found amongst industrial labourers, but in this region industrial workers were a smaller part of the electorate than in other areas.[21] Thus the result reflected wide-spread discontent amongst poor peasants in the area.[13] It also appeared that the party did well amongst the Hungarian and Jewish minorities.[22] In his report to the fifth congress of the Communist International Grigory Zinoviev stated that

Hitherto, even in agrarian countries, Communist parties have displayed remarkable inability in the matter of capturing the peasantry. [...] You know the result of the election in Carpathian-Russia. Many Czech comrades, Tausig, Gati, and others, particularly local comrades worked heroically and exposed themselves to great danger. I have the impression, however, that the Czech party on the whole does not appreciate the importance of the peasants' question in Czecho-Slovakia, and this proves the importance of being able to work among the peasants. [...] Instead of concerning themselves with "high politics," most of our Communist parties must be intent on carrying on Communist work among masses, forming Communist factory nuclei and adopting a correct attitude towards national and peasant question.

[23]

In response to the communist election victory, the Czech right-wing press demanded that the election be declared invalid.[22]

Neither of the Jewish parties won any seat, as the Jewish vote was split between two parties.[16]

References
  1. Czechoslovakia (1920). Prager Archiv für Gesetzgebung und Rechtsprechung. 2. H. Mercy Sohn. p. 365.
  2. Collegium Carolinum (Munich, Germany); Karl Bosl (1979). Die erste Tschechoslowakische Republik als multinationaler Parteienstaat: Vorträge d. Tagungen d. Collegium Carolinum in Bad Wiessee vom 24.-27. November 1977 u. vom 20.-23. April 1978. Oldenbourg. p. 231. ISBN 978-3-486-49181-4.
  3. Czechoslovakia. Státní úřad statistický (1926). Volby do Poslaneck ̌sn¿movny v listopadu 1925. Stt̀n ̕͠¿ad statistický.
  4. Yeshayahu A. Jelinek (2007). The Carpathian Diaspora: The Jews of Subcarpathian Rus' and Mukachevo, 1848-1948. East European Monographs. p. 156. ISBN 978-0-88033-619-2.
  5. Fedinec, Csilla. A kárpátaljai magyarság történeti kronológiája 1918–1944. MEK
  6. J. Krejcí; P. Machonin (7 January 2016). Czechoslovakia, 1918-92: A Laboratory for Social Change. Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 9, 11. ISBN 978-0-230-37721-9.
  7. Martin Wein (11 February 2015). A History of Czechs and Jews: A Slavic Jerusalem. Taylor & Francis. p. 136. ISBN 978-1-317-60820-2.
  8. Prague Economic Papers. Institute of Economics, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. 1993. p. 371.
  9. Harvard Ukrainian Studies. Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. 1990. p. 436.
  10. Peter George Stercho (1971). Diplomacy of Double Morality: Europe's Crossroads in Carpatho-Ukraine, 1919-1939. Carpathian Research Center. p. 100.
  11. Frank Moore Colby; Talcott Williams (1927). The New international encyclopædia. Dodd, Mead and company. p. 350.
  12. George D. Jackson (1966). Comintern and Peasant in East Europe: 1919-1930. Columbia University Press. p. 281.
  13. Edward Hallett Carr (1958). Socialism in One Country, 1924-1926. Macmillan. p. 177.
  14. Collegium Carolinum (Munich, Germany); Karl Bosl (1979). Die erste Tschechoslowakische Republik als multinationaler Parteienstaat: Vorträge d. Tagungen d. Collegium Carolinum in Bad Wiessee vom 24.-27. November 1977 u. vom 20.-23. April 1978. Oldenbourg. p. 238. ISBN 978-3-486-49181-4.
  15. Komunistická revue. 1. Komunistická strana Československa. 1924. pp. 153–154.
  16. Carpatho-Rusyn American. 17-19. Carpatho-Rusyn Research Center. 1994. p. 10.
  17. James A. Rogerson (1980). Slovak Republicans and Slovak Populists, 1923-1925. University of Chicago. p. 178.
  18. František Němec; Vladimír Moudrý (1955). The Soviet seizure of Subcarpathian Ruthenia. Hyperion Press. p. 45.
  19. Paul R. Magocsi (1978). Shaping of a National Identity: Subcarpathian Rus' 1848-1948. Harvard University Press. p. 206. ISBN 978-0-674-80579-8.
  20. Csilla Fedinec; Mikola Vehes (2010). Kárpátalja, 1919-2009. Argumentum. p. 70. ISBN 978-963-446-596-6.
  21. Ladislav Cabada; Zdenek Benedikt (14 September 2010). Intellectuals and the Communist Idea: The Search for a New Way in Czech Lands from 1890 to 1938. Lexington Books. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-7391-4378-0.
  22. Wlodzimierz Borodziej; Stanislav Holubec; Joachim Puttkamer (15 October 2014). Mastery and Lost Illusions: Space and Time in the Modernization of Eastern and Central Europe. De Gruyter. p. 245. ISBN 978-3-11-036431-6.
  23. Zinoviev, Gregory. Questions of Tactics. In Daily Worker July 29, 1924. p. 4
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