Kádár, the powerful leader of the country and the state party MSZMP, he has had a much greater influence on cultural policy and day-to-day practice. He was in a close contact with important personalities of literary-intellectual life, like Zoltán Kodály, Gyula Illyés and György Lukács. On 12 April 1967, he was appointed secretary of the Central Committee of the MSZMP and was entrusted with the general control of cultural life in this capacity. In 1971, he became chairman of the newly formed cultural policy working group within the Central Committee, and held his office until 20 March 1974. Meanwhile, he was elected to the Political Committee of the MSZMP (Hu: Politikai Bizottság) on 28 November 1970. He was forced to leave the post under the pressure of the hardline leftist party faction opposing the 1968 economic-social reforms, but as "consolation" he was elected the Vice-President of the Council of Ministers (i.e. Deputy Prime Minister) the following day, on 21 March, as well as the chairman of the State Committee for the Kossuth Prize, and in 1980 the chairman of the National Council for Public Education. He resigned from all these positions in 1982, when he returned to his former position in the Central Committee on 23 July. Nevertheless, his career and influence was already in decline. Finally, he was dismissed on 28 March 1985. Subsequently, he was Director General of the Party's Social Sciences Institute (Hu: Társadalomtudományi Intézet) until his retirement in October 1989, and remained a member of the Political Committee until 22 May 1988, when he was not re-elected at the 1988 Party Congress. He played an important role in the failure of Károly Grósz in June 1989 at the Central Committee meeting although he was no longer a member of it. When the MSZMP was officially abolished on 7 October 1989, Aczél retired from politics and began writing his memoirs, but he could not finish it: he died on 6 December 1991. Not long before his death, Aczél rediscovered his Jewish roots and traveled to Israel. References Notes Bibliography 1917 births 1991 deaths Politicians from Budapest People from the Kingdom of Hungary Jewish Hungarian politicians Hungarian Communist Party politicians Members of the Hungarian Working People's Party Members of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party Government ministers of Hungary Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1947–1949) Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1949–1953) Jewish socialists Hungarian World