The Austrian author of the article analyses the nature of the emergence of the debt system after the Second World War. She pinpoints how the debt dependence developed in accordance with the interests of the capi­talist centres and which was the point when it turned into a debt trap as soon as those interests required that. In an indirect way, the article ques­tions the well known, even fashionable allegation that the indebtedness which developed during the Kadar era is a "crime of the communist regime against the nation".

The historian briefly characterises the foreign and domestic policy of those years of the Kadar regime in which a speech by János Kádár, car­ried as a document, was delivered. The speech is published for the first time now, in our paper and according to the editors' views ft can be a contribution to the better understanding of the "main actor" and the oper­ation of the whole Kadar era.

Mandel discusses the collapse of Soviet socialism on the one hand. He states that the collapse would be foreseen after the development of the world centres diverted from the earlier heavy industry-centred model. He expounds his standpoint that – perhaps with the exception of Hungary – Eastern Europe does not have many chances for the successful integration into the capitalist world system (but rather for sinking back to a semi-colonial state). On the other hand, he also analyses the crisis of the capitalist economy. One form of its expressions is the debt trap.

In connection with four books, the author outlines his opinion that one of the preconditions of the renewal of the left wing is the necessary breach with the opportunism of the representatives who have become officials.