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Figure 10. Structure of the Country Committee Apparatus, 1986

Source: Based on information from Hans-Georg Heinrich, Hungary: Politics, Economics, and Society, Boulder, Colorado, 1986, 55.

Intermediate party institutions embraced organs on the county and district levels. The structure of the party on these levels resembled that on the national level. In principle, at each level the most authoritative body was the conference, which was attended by delegates from lower levels. These conferences took place every two years to review reports, discuss the activities of the government and party bodies under their jurisdiction, and elect a party committee. The conference also elected delegates to the conference at the next highest level. District conferences thus selected delegates to the county party conference, and the county party conference elected delegates to the party congress. If a Basic Organization had more than 1,500 members, it elected delegates directly to the county party conference. In fact, the party leadership at each level nominated the delegates, and the party conferences merely confirmed these nominations.

Between meetings of the conferences, the party committee constituted the highest authority on the district and county levels. The committees on the county level met every three months, and those on the district level met every two months. These committees chose a bureau and a secretariat to manage the affairs of their jurisdictions between committee meetings. Party bureaus consisted of the first secretary, the head of the county or district government, and specialists in industry, economics, agriculture, and youth and ideology. The first secretary at each level was the most powerful official in the jurisdiction.

The secretariat of the county and district party bureaus coordinated and supervised the implementation of party policies in the party bureaucracy and the government (see fig. 10). The secretaries and the bureaus answered to their respective conferences and committees, but they also received directions from the organs above them, particularly the Secretariat of the Central Committee. However, the primary duty of the districtlevel apparatus was to supervise the Basic Organizations. This apparatus also approved the admission and expulsion of members by the Basic Organizations.

Data as of September 1989