ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the structure, operation, and organization of the party, it is necessary to recall the role of the party apparatus in the administration of the state, the economy, and cultural life. The Young Communists have always had a particular, twofold "status": mass organization and semiautonomous organization of the party. In 1948, in order to overcome the inherent disadvantages of a mass party, the Hungarian Communist party (HCP) introduced a special category of members that of activists called "party workers." Apart from a few minor differences, the HCP is based on structures that are identical to those of other communist parties in power: basic cells in companies, administrative units, institutions, villages, or neighborhoods. At times, especially in 1945-1953, the autonomy of the provincial committees alarmed even the central leadership. The other mass organizations have, to the same extent, lost the little autonomy that they had in the transition period of 1945-1948.
