The article is about the common root of the various leftwing trends and some of the causes why they became separated and opposed to one another. Starting out from the crisis of the left wing, it sees the way out in a new synthesis of the left. However, the supporters of such a synthesis cannot avoid the question of what the common denominator of these new trends could be. The authors of the article see self-government as one of the possible common denominators.

When thinking about the idea of self-government, first we have to determine what we mean by this category. The participants of the discussion – a member of the council of the Alliance of Free Democrats, one of the most interesting figures of contemporary Hungarian economics, a founding member of BAL (Left Alternative) and a leader of Néppárt (People's Party) – first analyse how they interpret self-government and then outline their arguments for and against it. They try to determine the sphere where the principle of self-government can be applied, as well as its conditions and limitations. The round table discussion will continue in the next issue of the periodica.

The author analyzes the rural self-governments led by anarchists that existed for a relatively long period of time during the Spanish civil war, interpreting the given historical situation of the 1930s and confronting it with the present conditions. In the appendix, there is the resolution adopted at the peasant congress on the collectivization of the land.

Short history of the workers' council established in '56 and their relation to the shaping Kadarist leadership. It discusses self-government as an untapped possibility. The author publishes two documents from among the materials of the workers' councils (one of them is printed for the first time.

The French author starts out from the rejection of the economic reduction of Marxism, the illusion of a synthesis of interests avoiding tension and the individualized capitalist society which has used up its possibilities, and raises the possibility of a development towards self-government both in the East and West.