Lenin’s figure in the public culture in the 20s
Lenin as the so called symbolic figure of "socialism" invited very diverse emotions during history. Through highly specific documents, reports on the atmosphere of the time, the article shows how Lenin and the Bolshevik leadership were seen by masses of people in the 1920s.
No. 16 | (Winter 1992)
After Immanuel Wallerstein and Andre Gunder Frank, now writings of Samir Amin are on the line to present the classics of the New Left in Eszmélet. It is a special honour to us that Amir has sent us 12 of his articles both published and unpublished, out of which four is presented in this issue. He has also sent his book The Empire of Chaos that is valued here by Imre Márton. The next to be presented is Giovanni Arrighi, of whom we publish a longer article here and an additional one in the following issue. Publishing the works of classic authors, to whom Étienne Balibar can also be counted, does not mean at all that we respect them without any criticism. That is why we have been pleased by the contribution of László K. Zalai who is arguing with the standpoint of Wallerstein. The very aim of us publishing the works of outstanding thinkers is to inseminate the theoretical thinking in Hungary.
The section under Variations on a Theme now is a selection of articles from Marx Centouno discussing the Gulf-War and its consequences.
Table of contents
- Samir Amin : Thirty years of criticism of the Soviet system (1960-1990)
- Bodács Emil : Europeanism – yesterday and today. Changes in the historical and geopolitical idea of Europe
- Samir Amin : The Third World is once again a storm zone
- Andre Gunder Frank : The political economy of the North-South conflict
- Marco Bonzio : The “Gulf” imperialism. Thoughts and assumptions on the present stage of development of the capitalist mode of production
- Roger Burbach : The tragedy of the American democracy
- Pip Hinman : War against the environment in Central America
- Thesis of an alternative European development
- Michel Husson : The liberal decade: Towards a capitalism in polarisation
- John Ross : The rise of world poverty
- Alexande Adler : East and South: the triumph of the human rights or the defeat of the human reason??
- Samir Amin : Notes on transnationalisation
- Samir Amin : A note on the concept of delinking
- Giovanni Arrighi : The illusion of development. Renewal of the concept of semi-pheriphery
- Étienne Balibar : From class struggle to struggle without clases
- Zalai K. László : The myth of reality. On the ideological-methodological shortcomings of Wallerstein’s development criticism
- k. g. : What is the thing for which the heroes of “world freedom” have sacrificed their lives?
- Marton Imre : Are the historical possibilities of the left getting exhaused?
- Andor László : Schumacher in Hungary
- One up for science
Genocide and mass murder: cultural-social and psychological origins
The outstanding Hungarian born American social psychologist discusses the psychological conditions of genocide in this study which was so successful at the 2nd European Congress of Psychologists. He primarily relies on the experiences of the massacre of the Armenians early this century, the Cambodian reign of terror, the Argentine military dictatorship and the persecution of Jews in fascist Germany. He shows the process by which groups under social frustration get to the relief of murder inhibitions – arriving there step by step from the stage of the devaluation of scapegoat groups -, and on the other hand, he analyses the psychological changes of the "bystanders", as the passivity of these people is an important precondition of carrying out the aggression. At the end, he calls attention to the fact that the same mechanisms can be mobilised against the minority selected to be the scapegoat, be they ethnic, religious or political groups.
Constitutional transformation in Hungary
The author analyses the history of the past few decades of Hungary and the consequences of the change of system from the point of view of constitutional law. He discusses the relationship between the civil society and the legal system and the theoretical background of the category of "law-based state", and then analyses the gaps of the law-based state in the legal system of state socialism (in contrast to summary judgements) and by widening them how did the old system gradually and necessarily grow into the political-legal democracy after the turn. Discussing the constitutional legal system after the turn, he states that it strengthens the state against society. He provides a short criticism of the contradiction of the government's law making activities.
Privatisation in Western and Central-Eastern Europe – some lessons
Starting out from the fact that privatisation is a world trend, the study discusses the theoretical basic elements and functions of privatisation. The author compares the different privatisation practices of the various West European countries and stresses that the East European privatisation starting out from a completely different basis, should be considered to be different. He underlines the sources of conflicts involved and reviews the privatisation practice of each East European country. He concludes that privatisation in East Europe is not guided by economic rationality rather it serves the redistribution of power.