No. 72 | (Winter 2006)
Having the 50th anniversary of the 1956 uprising, this issue of Eszmélet focuses on interpreting its events. The selection of articles was influenced by the fact that almost all aspects of official commemorations failed to mention the anti-capitalist, socialist and self-governing colour of the events. Books published, conferences and events organised for the anniversary – to serve the legitimation of the present system – emphasized the role of bourgeois, openly anti-socialist forces and classified them as "revolutionary". Because of this, our articles probably present a more differentiated picture both in political and theoretical sense. The one dimensional presentation of the "sorrowful October events" whether we call it revolution, counter-revolution or (popular) uprising does not led to proper theory and methodology. Eszmélet has the mission to show the colours not presented or distorted by others. On the one hand, the official classification in the Kádár regime was a "fascist counter-revolution" exaggerating the events on Köztársaság square, on the other hand, recently only bourgeois democratic elements are emphasized or even the current lead by Mindszenty is put in the front as it were part of the democratic movements. Eszmélet wants to present parts of the whole and the whole in parts.
Further articles address different issues ranging from social policy through the ideology of the (extreme) right political forces in the Baltic states, the 1981 Polish crisis to the Hungarist devotedness of the " rediscovered" Transylvanian writer count Albert Wass.
Table of contents
- Tütő László : 1956 as a language problem
- Mark Pittaway : Rethinking the Hungarian Revolution: Industrial Workers, the Disintegration and Reconstruction of Socialism, 1953-1958
- Krausz Tamás : About the 1956 workers councils
- Dobos Gábor : Reasons of the soviet military intervention based on documents of CPSU Central Committee
- Dömény János : 1956 and the Hispanic world
- Lugosi Győző : 1956 and interstate relationships in the cold war system On Charles Gati: Failed Illusions: Moscow, Washington, Budapest and the 1956 Hungarian Revolt
- Bartha Eszter : The film on Mansfeld and those who reject it
- Thoma László : An accurate handbook On Political transition in Hungary 1987-1990 by Zoltán Ripp
- Kéri Elemér : Capitalism – Japanese style On Japanese road /conditions/ I-II by Bertalan Pethő)
- Marcello Musto : Karl Marx: indiscreet fascination of the unfinished On Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe
- Mitrovits Miklós : The eve of introducing the martial law in Poland, December 1981 (a historic document: the “notebook” of General Viktor Anoshkin)
- Artner Annamária : Chances of employment policy in respect of labour market laws
- Ékes Ildikó : Economic theories and the changing world
- Efraim Zuroff : Eastern Europe: anti-Semitism in the wake of holocaust-related issues
- Nagy László : Albert Wass and hungarism
- Polonyi Péter : Dear editors,
Is the dragon sick? Internal problems of China and solution attempts
Although modernisation in China resulted in dramatic social changes, huge geographical and social polarisation and increasing uncertainty of subsistence for many, it still can be seen as a success – the regime is stable. One of the determining factors for this is that changes increased the average life standard regardless to tensions. Another important reason is that dissatisfied people mainly attribute the responsibility for problems to local elites while the trust in the benevolence and competence of the central authority is mostly not broken.
Environment for intellectuals’ criticism in China
"In China, one of our main problems is that there is no connection between intellectuals and the object of their worry – the people. This is partly due to the negative effect of the ‘Cultural Revolution' when same conditions were forced to both intellectuals and blue collar workers, which induced conflicts between the two social groups. In China, intellectuals either withdraw to their ivory towers, where they make research on scientific topics or become consultants of multinational companies, public organisations or maybe the World Bank". The author gives a picture in his essay on the situation, strategy and opportunities of Chinese intellectuals, especially the ones with critical attitude.
Reflections at the turn of the century on “Rural issues in three dimesions”
According to the author, the most important problem in China is the problem of agriculture – the growing excess of agricultural labour force and the shortage of resources. Chinese authorities have an alternative, he thinks, either realising a kind of Chinese ‘New Deal' directing the huge excess labour force produced in agriculture to infrastructure projects or approving the establishment of a well functioning agriculture sector based on small-scale property and rural communities.
China: Rural problems and uneven development
The study gives detailed data on questions of demography, labour migration and unemployment in China. "What concerns market economy and privatisation, the present tendency is in fact the establishing of a competitive economic structure, and making optimal resource allocation by market forces. But … how can hundreds of millions of rural inhabitants integrate to the market? How can they become potential competitors? If it is a ‘rule of nature' that stronger ones inevitably exclude all losers from competition then it is very likely that those losers will come from rural areas." .