Hungary : The Art of Survival

Hungary is Eastern Europe's odd man out. It is the only Comecon country whose shops include Pierre Cardin boutiques, which holds Formula One motor races, where Western newspapers are openly on sale, and whose citizens may work abroad for up to five years. So why do Hungarians regard themselves as history's losers? This book, by an author uniquely qualified to describe and comment on the Hungarian situation, is the first to look at Hungary from the post-Kadar perspective. Hungary was the first Soviet satellite state to be invaded by Soviet troops. Janos Kadar, its Party leader for thirty-two years, took office in 1956 at the head of a government determinedly submissive to Moscow. Hungarians thought he had sold out. Yet over the next quarter century, Kadar quietly extended the limits of Soviet tolerance by gradualist reforms. He did not rock the Moscow boat, but within the constraints of loyalty to the Warsaw Pact and to Moscow's supremacy, he proceeded to improve the quality of Hungarian life. Just how this happened is the subject of this book. Hungary now has greater freedom of speech than any Eastern European country except Poland. Its economy has been freed from centralized control. But there are contradictions in a society with an increasingly capitalist economy, which remains committed to socialist ideals. In recent years, Hungary has suffered inflation and poverty - ironically, just as Gorbachev adopted the Hungarian way for glasnost and perestroika. Kadar lost office because in the end he was not prepared to go far enough. But where Hungary led yesterday, today Moscow follows. So does Hungary point the way for Eastern Europe?