1987. szeptember (101-111. szám) / HU_BFL_XIV_47_2

nőt increased fór a decade and the majority of the population work far too much."

The authors of the open letter came down harshly on the govemment's tax reform plán which parallels declining living standards and is nőt linked with the rescission of the economy's administrative restrictions. Therefore new taxes can cause dangerous social upheavals. The economic leadership is pursuing a mistaken strategy: it does nőt open up to the world markét bút propagates closer cooperation with the COMECON. It does nőt revise expensive investment programmes such as the Bős- Nagymaros hydro-electric plánt, it never thinks of decreasing military, police and administrative expenditure, and never attempts to open up politically without which consistent economic reforms cannot be established.

After this the one hundred signatories drew up detailed proposals fór a programme which would extricate the country from its crisis. These proposals reflect the influence of two documents which were drawn up last year, the economic account entitled "Change and Reform" commissioned by the Patriotic Popular Front and the programme entitled "Social Contract" which appeared in the samizdat publication Beszélő ("The Speaker").

The signatories proposed a radical change in economic politics. They said it was necessary to have a programme in which:

"All economic activity will come under the markét control except energy and public Services. This programme will unanimously support economic competition between different forms of ownership and will nőt discriminate against the priváté sector. It will open up to the world markét and it will only depend on the COMECON within reasonable economic limits. This will first of all allow fór a decrease in the expenditure of State and social apparatuses so that it is within reasonable economic limits. It will only restrict consumption as much as it is necessary. Before the tax reform is realised it will consider whether it can establish this conception consistently and whether the profit expected from these measures is in proportion to its social expenditure. Éven in a difficult situation it is possible to take consistent steps towards improving national health and securing the livelihood and piacé in society of the those stratas in jeopardy and the unemployed."

The open letter then stated that such a programme cannot be established without political reforms. Therefore it demanded that democratic safe- guarding organisations should be established and there should be right of assembly. The freedom of the press must be ensured and bureaucratic control of culture must be pút to an end. The open letter alsó maintained that the strengthening role of parliamentary state power would be safe-guarded as would the population's basic freedoms - that is civil

rights which oppose State administration organs.

Finally the signatories expressed the opinion that external conditions were never so favourable fór establishing the necessary radical reforms which would ease the serious economic and political difficulties as "now when tension between the two world powers is slackening and the Soviet Union has entered an age of reform. It would be a sin to miss this opportunity".

During the Autumn session of parliament, which ended on Saturday, a number of representatives introduced similar proposals to those in the open letter. The prime minister Károly Crósz declared, in a press conference on September 18, in answer to a Washington Post reporter's question, that he knew about the letter from Hungárián intellectuals. "I understand the intention, he said, we must follow the advice that asks us to be responsible about the future of our country, bút I could nőt- 2 -