ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the afforestation campaign between 1949 and 1956 forms a juncture of Stalinist Sovietisation, de-Stalinisation during Imre Nagy’s government, and changing local conditions in Hungary. It is therefore organised into sections discussing each of these interactions, beginning with an outline of the relationship between the regime’s attempts at Sovietisation and the efforts of the National Forestry Association. The focus then turns to the way forestry-related regulations of the Nagy government contributed to the general goals of Nagy’s programme of July 1953, and what this meant for the history of afforestation. The last section looks at how afforestation influenced the relationship between farmers and regional forestry enterprises just before the decisive wave of collectivisation.
