LASZLO DEME

The Committee of Public Safety in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848

I

In 1848 faced several major problems. Above all, the feu'dal socio-economic system, based on serf labor, needed radical reform. In addition, the country's subordinate position to within the Habsburg Empire was called into question. Thus, the problems of both social progress and national independence needed attention. The nation's political life centered around the two houses of the Diet in Pozsony.' The Upper House was comprised of high aristocrats (princes, counts and barons), high-ranking bureaucrats and ecclesias- tics, most of whom were conservative and desired little or no change. In the Lower House the deputies, representing primarily the lesser of the counties, were about evenly 'divided between conser- vatives and members of the liberal opposition. The opposition, led by Lajos , wished to liberate the serfs with compensation to the nobility, introduce universal taxation, grant civil to all and make the government responsible to the parliamentary ma- jority.2 Although the Diet had been in session since November, 1847, none of these demands had become law before the news of the February Revolution in Paris reached Hungary on March 1, 1848. Reacting to this news, on March 3 Kossuth made one of the most significant speeches of his political career in the Lower House. He called for thorough reform for the entire and suggested that the absolutistic system of "bureau and bayonet" be replaced by a constitutional structure granting to all nationalities. To solve Hungary's problems Kossuth called for the institution of the liberals' program outlined above, and added that Hungary's government should be "independent, national and free from any foreign interference. "3

1. Pozsony is known as Pressburg in German and today it is called . 2. Istvan Barta, ed., Kossuth Lajos az utols6 Tendi orszdggyiil6sen (, 1951), pp. 152-157. Complete text of the opposition program. 3. Ibid., pp. 619-628. Complete text. Kossuth's speech also had great repercus- sions outside Hungary. For its effect on the Viennese revolution see R. John Rath, The Viennese RevoLution of 1848 (Austin, 1957), pp. 36, 62-63. The Lower House immediately accepted Kossuth's proposals. The Upper House, however, was not in session. Fearing conservative op- position, Kossuth decided to use the pressure of public opinion as well. He approved the Opposition Circle, the most important liberal political club in Budapest, organizing popular support by circulating a petition demanding the same reforms he had asked for in the Diet .4 But in Budapest events took an unexpected turn." Against the wishes of the cautious moderate leadership of the Opposition Circle0 a relatively small number of young radical intellectuals agreed to organize a revolutionary demonstration on March 15. Among these young men, nurtured on the ideas of the French Revolution, we find the greatest Hungarian poet of the nineteenth century, Sandor Petofi, his close friend and Hungary's most popular novelist, Mor Jokai and the well-read young historian Pal Vasvari. They were sup- ported by students from the University of Budapest and other mem- bers of the intelligentsia - writers, journalists, lawyers, actors, etc.

On March 15, under Petofi's leadership, a large crowd, declaring for , overthrew the censorship, the most hated aspect of absolutism.7 Without benefit of the censor's permission two leaflets were printed. One was a poem by Petofi, National Song, which seemed to express what everyone felt: "We swear by the God of , we swear, we shall not be slaves anymore!"8 The other was the petition in support of Kossuth's parliamentary proposals of March 3 which became known as the Twelve Points.9

The demonstrators then decided that the City Council of Pest should also endorse the Twelve Points. Following Petofi, Jokai, Vas- vari and two prominent liberal politicians, Pal Nyari and Gabor Klauzal, who had meanwhile joined the demonstration, the crowd marched to City Hall. It found the City Council in session under the chairmanship of Pest's Vice-Burgomaster, Lipot Rottenbiller.

4. Daniel Iranyi and Charles-Louis Chassin, Histoire politique de la revolution. de Hongrie 1847-1849 (Paris, 1959-1960), II, 142. Iranyi, a lawyer, was a member of the Opposition Circle, later a radical deputy and historian. 5. In calling the largest Hungarian city "Budapest" the author follows a wide- spread usage already common in 1848. Actually the two original units of the city and Pest still had separate municipal councils at that time. The total population of Budapest, including the suburbs, was around 150,000. 6. A description of the Circle's meetings appeared in the contemporary press and was reprinted in a collection of documents by Denes Pap, ed., Okmanytdr Magyaroszdg fiiggetlensegi harczdnak t6rt6net6hez 1848-1849 (Pest, 1868-1869), I, 15-16. 7. Description of the demonstration in Petofi's diary dated March 17, Osszes pr6zai miivei es levelez6se (Budapest, 1960), pp. 402-409. See also the account of another participant, Alajos Degre. Visszaeml6kez6seim (Budapest, 1883), II, 5-6. 8. Petofi, C3sszes kdltem6nyei (Budapest, 1954), II, 223-225. 9. Pap, I, 12-13.