Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1976 (4. évfolyam, 9-12. szám)

1976 / 10. szám

Camus, Jemo Kenyatta, Milovan Djilas, DimitriShepilov, and Cardinal Mindszenty. Lists of cabinet members of the various governments of the uprising, and postrevolutionary assessments by international authorities and a select bibliography conclude the volume. The some 180 photographs, drawings, etchings, and contemporary cartoons constitute a unique feature of the publication which was compiled by Francis Laping, a photographer and President of Alpha Publications, and edited by Hans Knight, a writer for the Philadelphia Bulletin and Time Magazine.

Macartney, C.A. HUNGARY; A SHORT HISTORY. Edinburgh U. Press, 22 George Square, Edinburg, England, 1962. 262 pages, maps, illust. $8.75 cloth. (In the U.S. order from Biblio Distribution Center, 81 Adams Drive, Totowa, N.J. 07512.) This widely known comprehensive presentation of Hungarian history by the nestor of Hungarian historians has been reprinted for the third time in 1974 in unaltered fprm by offset.

Puskas,J(ulianna). EMIGRATION FROM HUNGARY TO THE UNITED STATES BEFORE 1914. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1975. 41 pages, tables, figures, biblio. $ n.a. paper. (No. 113 in the Studia Historica series of the H.A.S.)

This slim booklet contains a wealth of information on Hungarian immigration of the period. Emigration started with craftsmen, merchants, and miners, only to grow into a mass migration of peasants. The movement intensified in the last two decades of the 19th century and reached its peak in 1907 when a total of 209,169 persons entered the country from Hungary. This was followed by the relatively largest wave of repatriates in 1908.

Puskas tries to view U.S. oriented emigration in a larger context of migratory movements within Hungary and to the neighboring countries. She finds no features uniquely Hungarian. Hungary not unlike many other European countries suffered from agrarian overpopulation and chronic unemployment. Intensified industrialization began to absorb a growing number of migrants domestically. The 1890s seemed to be the most dynamic period of internal mobility, a phenomenon that correlated negatively with overseas emigration. It is interesting that the most intensive emigration coincided with a period of economic improvements in Hungary. This makes one think that non-economic factors which elude the statistician played an important role in the motivation and decision-making process. At times, decisions to migrate are made belatedly after the major causes for change have passed or lessened, and if the “pull” does not lose its intensity even after the “push” diminishes, migration figures may show “illogical” trends. The influence of successful migrants as a “pull" factor can be stipulated from the fact that at the time of the most intensive immigration 82 percent of the total number of immigrants had relatives in the U.S. However, there are such unexplored causes as the unsolved nationality problem in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy or the differences in attitudes toward mobility, factors which should be considered in addition to economic and demographic pressure. Although some reference is made to correlations between the number of nationalities in Hungary and the nationality composition of immigrant groups, the paper begs for a systematic exploration of this particular area. Dr. Puskás is on the staff of the Ministry of Education.

BOOKS (Continued)

NO. 10, 1976, HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER

Spira, György. A HUNGARIAN COUNT IN THE REVOLUTION OF 1848. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1975.346 pages, maps, figures, illust., appendices. $14.00 cloth.

The book covers six months (March to September 1848) of Hungarian history as viewed through the life of Count István Széchényi (1791-1860), a man whose ideals, pronouncements, and deeds earned him the title The Greatest Hungarian. He made his appearance in the public arena in 1825 when he offered a year’s income of his estate for the founding of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His influence on modernization were unparalleled in Hungarian history. He promoted and accomplished among others water control along the Danube and Tisza rivers, the construction of the first permanent bridge on the Danube between Buda and Pest (he was the first to have used the name Budapest), modernization of agriculture and industry, building of a modern transportation network, and founding of the National Theatre. The liberal count had many followers in the reformist movements of the time, a good number of whom having less patience for gradualism advocated immediate and radical change. Széchenyi was fearing that violence would destroy not only the accomplished reforms but the country itself. However, when in March 1848 the revolution appeared to be irreversible, Széchenyi made a dramatic adjustment to the new scene. After years of vehement opposition to Kossuth and his advocacy of revolution as the route of political independence and social change, Széchenyi decided to take advantage of the revolutionary momentum and joined Kossuth, for a short period even as a cabinet minister. He responded with satisfaction to the Lower House’s resolution on universal taxation and supported the release of the peasantry from serfdom. The causes and consequences of this change of heart, or at least change in method, indeed, Széchenyi’s “victory over himself” is the subject of this book, which originally appeared in Hungarian in 1960 as 1848 Széchenyije e's Széchenyi 1848-a (The Széchenyi of 1848 and Széchenyi’s 1848).

Dr. Spira is a member of the Institute of History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Starr, Robert, ed. EAST-WEST BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS. Praeger Publishers, 111 Fourth Avenue, New York, NY 10003. 1974. 577 pages, $32.50 cloth. Published in Praeger’s Special Studies in International Economics and Development.

This volume tries to shed light on some of the legal problems that arise from business contacts between East and West. This is welcome since “Some Western companies appear reluctant even to explore trade opportunities with state-planned systems” because of restrictions on entry, travel, and maintenance of offices and facilities, concern about protection of industrial property rights, difficulties in obtaining full payment in hard currency, etc. Such concerns are at times unjustified and could be spared if adequate information on the systems would be available. Part I. of the book provides a comparative analysis of the regulatory framework for East-West transactions; Part II. gives an analysis of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon) and a series of country profiles; and Part III examines functional aspects of East-West trade. The Hungarian profile (pages 219-249) was written by Joseph Varró, Head of the Office of International Business Law of the

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