CONSTITUTION of the People’s Republic of Hungary.—Budapest, 20th August, 1949
Chapter 1
The Hungarian People’s Republic
1. Hungary is a People’s Republic.
2.—(1) The Hungarian People’s Republic is a State of workers and working peasants.
(2) All power in the People’s Republic is vested in the working people. The workers of town and country exercise their power through elected delegates responsible to the people.
3. The State of the H.P.R. defends the liberty and power of the Hungarian working people and the independence of the country, fights against every form of exploitation of man, and organises social forces for the building of socialism. The H.P.R. realises itself in the close alliance of workers and the working peasantry led by the workers’ class.
Chapter 2
The Social Order
4.—(1) The bulk of the means of production in the H.P.R., being the property of society, is in the ownership of the State, the community or the co-operatives. The means of production may also be in private ownership.
(2) In the H.P.R. the directing force of the people’s economy is the State power of the people. The working class is gradually eliminating the capitalist elements and is consistently building the socialist order of economy.
5. The economic life of the H.P.R. is regulated by a State plan of the people’s economy. Supported by the State under takings, the national banking system and agricultural machine stations, the State power directs and controls the people’s economy in the interest of the development of productive power, the increase of public wealth, the constant raising of the material and cultural standard of the workers and the strengthening of the State defence force.
6. The following, which represent the wealth of the whole people, are the property of the State and the community:–
Any natural deposits, forests, waters, natural sources of power, mines, significant industrial undertakings, means of communication—railways, roads, waterways and airways,—banks, posts, telegraph, telephone, radio, State-organised agricultural undertakings, machine stations, irrigation works, etc.
