During the early period of the systemic change, workers' ownership was seen as the right solution to the crisis of state ownership. Subsequently, employee share programs emerged as the only feasible form of workers' ownership, and, despite the surviving optimism of some, they hardly fulfilled the hopes that had been entertained before. (First published in Nepszava, Hungary.)

In the early 1990s, we have heared that socialism was the longest path between capitalism and capitalism. It was often forgotten, however, that the new capitalism would be a peripheral one, just like the one before the emergence of state socialism in Eastern Europe.

Western philosophical literature presents Lukacs as „an authentic follower" of Karl Marx. The paper tests this hypothesis by comparing the conceptual frameworks of the two authors, and focusing on categories like labour, production and society.

"Cultural struggle" is said to have been the blind alley that caused the derailing of the systemic change after the promising start of 1989. Tendencies of the early 1990s have also reappeared after 1998. The editorial board asked the renowned literary historian to provxle an analysis of the situation.

In early 1988, a study announced the end of the system change but actual developments have refuted this revelation. The new government had new ideas concerning ownership rights and the employee ownership programs have been put on the agenda again. The so-called Russian crisis has shaken all East Europe that can cause long lasting political consequences. Meanwhile a new turning point has been reached in the permanent system change in the western part of East Europe in the EU and NATO integration. This issue of Eszmélet addresses these topics and questions.

Table of contents

1. Rácz Margit, Csapody Tamás : NATO and EU accessions. Between the rock and the hard place
2. Bárdos-Féltoronyi Miklós : From periphery to periphery
3. Agárdi Péter : Conservatism or concentration of power?
4. Kiss Aranka : Ten years of employee ownership in Hungary
5. Len Krimerman : The uncertain future of employee ownership
6. Somogyi Csaba : The future of Mitbestimmung in Germany
7. Corey Rosen : ESOP in the US
8. Chitra Somayaji : Workers’ cooperatives
9. John Ross : Privatisation scandals in Russia
10. David M. Kotz : Capitalsut collapse
11. Németh György : Dilemmas of the pension reform in Hungary
12. Krausz Tamás : Ferencvaros, 1956
13. Benjamin Barber : McWorld versus democracy
14. Bernard Cassen : Ten commandments of the superiority of citizen interests
15. Gilbert Keith Chesterton : Private property versus individual enterprise
16. Sándor Karikó : Lukacs and Marx