Category Archives: Periodical
No. 2 | (Summer 1989)
Table of contents
- Kapitány Ágnes, Kapitány Gábor : The split left wing – ethnic character, Marxism, anarchism and self-government
- Tütő László, Juhász Pál, Lengyel László, Varga Csaba, Kapitány Gábor : Round table discussion on self-government
- Harsányi Iván : Self-government in the fighting Spanish Republic (1936-1939) From documents of collectivisation in Catalonia and Aragon
- Feitl István : The Hungarian workers’ councils and self-government in 1956
- Felix Damette : Transformation, management – the issue of self-government (excerpts)
- Factory constitution and workers’ self-government in the FRG
- Harris Collingwood, John Hoerr : We are not going to sit around and allow the company management to waste things
- Havas Ferenc : Excerpts from the programme of the West German Greens
- Borisz Kagarlickij : The dialectics of change – The Soviet new left
- Marton Imre : Traps of history
- Statement by the National Association of Council Self-Governments
- The Self-Government Movement
- Exploitation
- Social ownership
- Market economy
The split left wing – ethnic character, Marxism, anarchism and self-government
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.
Round table discussion on self-government
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.
Dedication
The relation between theory and practice, Marxism and politics has been very problematic for decades with times of total rupture because a primitive, fake Marxist ideology edged in between the two, which served only for legitimation. Since neither the serious Marxist research nor the results of the really Marxist social science could question the rule of this ideology, the public holds Marxism responsible for our current economic and political crisis. For the same reason politics and Marxism are likely to follow admittedly different paths in the foreseeable future – and for the time being this will be not only inevitable but also undoubtedly advantageous for Marxism. The group of young scholars, who enthusiastically support the foundation of this journal, does not wish to be engaged in purely academic philosophy, saloon Marxism and professorial science. On the contrary, this journal intends to demonstrate that Marxist thought is able to inspire the disciplines even today and this has and will continue to have an ideological and political significance. We trust that our articles can give reliable information and points of reference to many thinking people, and we can contribute to the gradual improvement of the present intellectual and political life.
After the above introduction it may be needless to stress: this journal does not belong to any political party, movement or society. Its colleagues and authors express only and exclusively their individual opinion. There will be debates in the journal, the editorial board is open to many different approaches and ideas in the spirit of a "scientific and artistic journal" entitled "Eszmélet" (Consciousness), founded in 1956, which could count George Lukács among its first editors.
I dare not say that Eszmélet will have a "sweeping success" in the Hungarian intellectual life. We cannot expect this today from any other intellectual current. When I recommend this new journal to the Reader, I do this in the hope that it won't disappoint anybody and it will be worthy of the attention of those interested in a moderate voice even in the face of fierce competition characteristic of today's media.
(translated by Eszter Bartha)