A Zala Megyei Gazdasági Egyesület fellépése 1863-ban az alföldi szűkölködők megsegítésére

Absztrakt

In the past few decades Hungarian research into the history of civic societies and associations have contributed a great deal to our understanding of the spread of different types of societies and their social significance. Less was said about their potential to fulfil their planned initiatives, the kind of conflicts they faced during their work, the support they could rely on, and the forms of resistance that hampered their operation. The present study, thus, focuses on conflicts. The main question deals with the ways in which Hungarian agricultural associations were able (or unable) to act as the civil relief organisation at the time of the most severe humanitarian crisis of the 1860s, the draught and famine on the Great Plain. As demonstrated in the present case study, the poverty drives of the Zala County Agricultural Associations and their difficulties reveal the contemporary civic society’s potential for implementation within the restricted perimeters of civic action in the Interim Period. Upon a closer examination of the struggles between the association and the government, it becomes clear that despite its reservations about civil initiatives in general, in time of crisis the government could rely on their support to a great extent – perhaps because it was the only thing to be done to achieve anything at all.