"Tudóskáderek" attached to the Ministry of the Interior

The establishment and operation of the organisational framework and material conditions for operational psychological research within the Ministry of the Interior between 1969 and 1975

Abstract

From the second half of the 1960s, the leadership of the MSZMP (Hungarian Socialist Work-ers’ Party) initiated the establishment of a centralized system for scientific research and its organizational background in the Ministry of Interior. At the June and November 1969 meet-ings of the Central Committee, key discussions focused on the party’s science policy goals and development objectives. These meetings laid the groundwork for the study of the develop-ment, research, and education of operational psychological methods within the Ministry. From the second half of the 1960s onwards, the importance of psychology for state security work increased significantly, especially in light of Cold War dynamics. The Ministry estab-lished the Science Organization Department, the Scientific Council and they also created the Long-term Scientific Research Plan, which included operational psychology researches. The study follows the process of organising the background for these researches from the leading party’s discussions to realisation.