The system change and also Eszmélet has its 10 year anniversary. To celebrate it we have organised an international conference on September 24-26, 1999 at Kossuth Klub, Budapest. Some of the speakers (Kate Hudson, Stephen Eric Bronner, Peter Gowan and Elmar Altvater) have sent us their contribution in advance that can be read in the current issue as well as the study sent to us by Immanuel Wallerstein.

One of the major topics of our ten year past was the problem of the “third way”, now discussed by Hungarian experts in this issue.

Table of contents

1. Stephen Eric Bonner : Sicness onto death – International communism before the Flood
2. Immanuel Wallerstein : Globalisaton or the age of transition?
3. Kate Hudson : Ten years after 1989 – The emergence of a new European left
4. Peter Gowan : The twilight of the European project
5. Elmar Altvater : Bombs and human rights or the militarization of politics
6. Régis Debray : The letter of a traveller to the President of the French Republic Jacques Chirac
7. Bárdos-Féltoronyi Miklós, Hajdu Tibor, Szalai Erzsébet, Jemnitz János, Forgács Iván, Jakócs Dániel, Krausz Tamás, Harsányi Iván : The Nato war against Yugoslavia
8. Krausz Tamás : History of the short 20th century
9. Andor László : Historical moovie
10. Horváth Gizella : System change and social criticism
11. Szigeti Péter, Ferge Zsuzsa, Síklaky István, Szalai Pál, Tamás Pál : The relevance of the ‘third way’
12. Síklaky István : A conceptual framework for the Third Way
13. Eszmélet : A MEGA hit
14. Eszmélet : The first ten years of Eszmelet

Globalization, in connection with the fall of the Soviet regime, is portrayed as a brand new phenomenon by the dominant ideologues. On the basis of a long-term view on the world system, however, we can say that the processes summarized under the phrase globalization are at least 500 years old. What we have to decide is not just weather to subordinate ourselves to these processes but also what to do when those are falling apart.

The emergence of a New Left in Western Europe and the mass support for the post-communist parties in Eastern Europe shows that vast numbers of the world population do not accept the existing social order. What began in 1989 resulted in losses for many. In that light we have to pay attention to the new and radical tendencies of the international left ignored by many analysts and professional political scientists.See the coming published version in Kate Hudson: European Communism since 1989: towards a new European left, Macmillan Publishers, 1999.