The Jászi Ministry of Nationalities in the Autumn of 1918

Wilsonianism, the principle of the self-determination of nations, which appeared in the last years of the First World War, quickly spread among the politicians, intellectuals and nationalities of the later victorious great powers, the small nations that emerged victorious, and at the same time the politicians, intellectuals and nationalities of the defeated countries. The first Hungarian People’s Republic was born after the defeat of the war, and the Károlyi government and its minister for nationality affairs, Oszkár Jászi, sought to ensure the integrity and independence of the country. In order to preserve these, they put the “ideal of self-determination of nations” on the battlefield. Jászi believed that the ceded territories would be interpreted as a fait accompli” in the peace negotiations and that it would not be possible to enforce the right of the Hungarian side to a referendum. To avoid a fait accompli, he formulated a Hungarian interpretation of “limited national self-determination.” At the end of October and beginning of November 1918, the ministry in charge of coordinating the self-determination of the nationalities living in Hungary was quickly organised, given the circumstances. The ministry was very active in propaganda, both at home and abroad, especially in relation to the areas and nationalities that wished to secede. It launched propaganda campaigns in the country quite early in favour of preserving Hungarian integrity and applying the principle of plebiscite for the internal separation of nationalities. Most importantly, the Ministry of Nationalities from the outset embraced and encouraged the organisation of regional plebiscites to decide on the affiliation of territories. Gragger’s signature-gathering campaign, impressive even in its torso, played an important role in formulating Jászi’s plebiscite ideas. From the outset, the idea of a plebiscite for the inhabitants of Hungarian and German-majority areas played an important role in the Hungarian government’s preparations for peace. In the final Hungarian peace document, Albert Apponyi also put forward this idea as one of the most powerful arguments for saving the Hungarian majority areas that were condemned to annexation in the draft peace treaties.