This issue of Eszmélet focuses on ‘gender studies'. Articles address how gender policy and gender studies acquired their institutions in East Europe and examine why this process is not linked with little potential for social criticism. On the other hand, articles prove that it is possible to master gender studies with critical thinking on our society – addressing questions in past and present day Hungary. Illustrations of the current issue show women movement and women emancipation fights in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.

Other articles not matching the main gender topic include a comprehensive study on the contemporary Hungarian films, explaining the anti-art feature of the (neo)capitalism in Hungary through the film culture after the system change. The recent death of excellent football player Ferenc Puskás inspired an article on the lethal intertwining of football with politics and business.

Table of contents

1. Claudia von Braunmühl : Gender mainstreaming: Reconstruction of a trip around the world
2. Susan Zimmermann : The institutionalization of women’s and gender studies in higher education in Central Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet space. Asymmetric policies and the local-global constellation
3. Loutfi Anna : Hungarian family law and the struggle for “gender order”, 1848-1913
4. Hock Bea : Mrs. Bridgeman who herself builds no bridges. Women and/in Hungarian cinema (industry) in the past sixty years
5. Varga Anna : Films: one hundred years of solitude. The hostile policy of Hungarian
6. Bartha Eszter, Konok Péter, Székely Gábor : “Childhood disease … in communism?” Leftist radicalism in the 20th Century
7. Krausz Tamás : Futball = politics and business? To the death of Ferenc Puskás
8. Zsigmond Anna : Miscarriage of Justice
9. Domány András : Poland 1981. Remarks on the article of Miklós Mitrovits
10. Mitrovits Miklós : Answer to András Domány

The article provides a comprehensive picture – focusing on the developed countries – on the performance and currents of the left-of-centre social thought after the collapse of state socialist regimes. According to the author, although ‘Marxist politics has either disappeared or become completely marginalized' in almost all the world ‘but left-wing intellectual creativity has not ceased.' The Marxian theory still is an important reference for many leftwing social analysts and in addition to various post- and neo-Marxian currents also the classical sense Marxian social science produced relevant works in the past one an a half decades. "Capitalism still produces, and will continue to produce, a sense of outrage. … New cohorts of anti-capitalist social scientists will certainly emerge, many will read Marx, but it may be doubted whether many will find it meaningful to call themselves Marxists."

The New Left Review 43 (Jan.-Feb. 2007) published the original article.

The author critically analyses and sums up the main points in Lenin's Marxism the ones that contributed to the development of Marxism in the 20^th Century. The relationship of dialectics, theory and practice, that was in focus of Lenin's theoretical thinking, is not dead but a relevant historical lesson. The article gives an overview of Lenin's general approach, history perception and the starting points and conclusions, contradictions and the relevance to the present of Lenin's thoughts on revolution and socialism. "Lenin's heritage" is a centre of evil to many of the representatives of the ruling ideology, with a solid ground in fact, since this heritage cannot be integrated by the promoters of the capitalist system, because it is a clear social alternative against capitalism. The progressive and forward looking elements of Lenin's Marxism – after getting rid of the "Marxism-Leninism" of Stalinism and post-Stalinism – has been integrated into the further development of Marxism by Gramsci, Lukács and many others.

The article is only available in Hungarian. You can order a copy of the issue.

The essay of the Marx researcher has deep thoughts: first it confronts the systematisation of the heritage of the founding father with the openness of dialectics; second, he sees that political needs won over science in the reception in Russia. Facts of social practice have been replaced by the needs of scientific analysis as it happened with Kautsky – contrary to the efforts made by Gramsci at the same time.

It had a revelation to read and "discover" Gramsci in Hungary in the 1970s but since than there is undue silence about him although the 70^th anniversary of his death launched a new wave of research into his theoretical and political grand oeuvre.

The article is only available in Hungarian. You can order a copy of the issue.