Magyar szociológiatörténeti füzetek, 2. (Budapest, 1986)

Summary

serious illness. Tolstoy's influence played an important part in his recovery. This is the time when he became familiar with the views of Oswald Spengler and the anthroposophy of Rudolf Steiner, whose eclectic nature soon became obvious to him, after a short period of enthusiasm. In the first years of his emigration it was the friendship of Oscar Jászi which meant a lot to him, although there emerged differences in their way of thinking soon which caused their later estrangement.

In the articles he published during his exile in Vienna, he considered his most urgent task the elaboration of the new ideology of socialism. He disapproved the ethics and ideal of communism; he refused the righteousness of aggression and terror. At the same time he disagreed with bourgeois thinkers who broke radically with bolshevism: he was convinced that the defeat of the Russian revolution would hinder the workers' movement toward the freedom in the whole of Europe and would cut back their aspirations for emancipation. Polanyi's expectations were, at this time, directed towards "guild- socialism", whose realization was, he was convinced, England's job.

During the time of his emigration in Vienna he wrote for the Bécsi Magyar Újság ('Vienna Hungarian News'), later acted as foreign policy consultant to the 'Der Österreichische Volkswirt'. This was the time when his attention turned toward international political and economics issues.

180