# The Village Intelligentsia

A significant number of village intellectuals originated from the peasantry, or perhaps can be traced back to it through several generations. Their situation was peculiar, since in most cases despite their origin they had to serve the often contradictory interests of the state and of the landlords. Because of their situation, in their mode of existence they imitated partly the landlord, partly the urban middle class. Their significance in the spreading of general culture is of very great importance, varying according to period, place, and often the individual.

The priest, the minister and the teacher usually rose from the peasantry, and this signified the first step in the escape from peasant life. These occupations were closely tied to each other, since during the last century exclusively, and even up to 1948, the great majority of schools were maintained by one of the churches. The role played by priests, ministers, teachers and cantors as intermediaries between literature and folk art was very important. This stratum played a great role in bringing about this mutual exchange. The priests, and especially the Protestant ministers, sought out foreign lands after they had finished studying theology at home and brought back with them not only religious but also a great deal of worldly knowledge as well. Thus they became acquainted with windmills in Holland in the 17th century, and the first domestic copies built were based on their findings. In the 18th and 19th centuries it again was the priests who acquainted their parishioners with several new forms of the plough. We must mention especially the Lutheran minister of Szarvas, Sámuel Tessedik, who not only brought to light the miserable conditions of the peasants of the Great Plain, but also established an agricultural school where the children of the peasants could learn the basic elements of farming. Those schools in Hungary where teachers, priests, and ministers were trained kept a lively contact with European culture, and became yet another channel through which European culture reached, though greatly delayed, the Hungarian peasantry.

Naturally, not every stratum acquired general culture. In this respect {76.} it is enough to mention that in 1881 more than 50 per cent of the population of Hungary over the age of six was illiterate. The distribution of illiteracy varied: in the central area the percentage was much smaller, while in the fringe areas it was much greater, and in some places almost reached 90 per cent.

The notary and the parish clerk were representatives of state authority, who, although officially elected in the village, still carried out the decisions and instructions of the county. Formerly a doctor could not be found even in ten villages because they preferred to settle in market towns, and the villagers had to try to cure themselves.

The village intellectuals came into contact with the peasantry only in an official capacity; social contact with them was rare. Perhaps they put in an appearance at some festive occasion such as peasant weddings.