upon his release, he worked as a casual laborer and became active in the agricultural workers' union as well as in the social democratic party of hungary from the early 1920s. for this, he was put under police surveillance. in 1936 he switched to the independent smallholders' party and became a functionary in the kisalföld chamber of agriculture. although he was not a member of the communist party, he was arrested several times during the regency of miklós horthy.