Hungary stocked its party with nonideological professionals to serve reform, not loyalty

Evidence

Thus, the Hungarian party deliberately pursued the cooptation of the intelligentsia and administrative technocrats, especially in the 1970s and 1980s. It offered considerable incentives to join the party to these groups, whose know-how and experience made them valuable in formulating and implementing the party’s reform policies. … After 1956, the party emphasized its recruitment of intelligentsia, as nonparty members were offered grants and positions in higher administration. At the same time, to advance in the Ministry of Interior, Foreign Affairs Ministry, or other important governmental departments, one had to join the party. … The result was that, despite occasional crackdowns, the party actually had an overrepresentation of intellectuals in its ranks, in stark contrast with the KSCˇ ‘s anti-intellectual bias – by 1989, over half of the Hungarian party members were white-collar workers. In short, the party promoted the rise of nonideological, experienced professional administrators, who would prove key to its post-1989 development. — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 309

Categorization

• XREF: Speaks directly to the reader’s divergence question: professed ideological conviction predicts nothing here — the party deliberately recruited people low on ideology and high on skill, so post-1989 conversion cost them nothing. — connects to: Hungary’s communist successor party won power through managerial competence — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 54

Broader Connections

• Hungary’s communist successor party won power through managerial competence #exemplifies (0.92) — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 54