Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1982 (10. évfolyam, 31-34. szám)
1982 / 33. szám
ARTICLES (j PAPERS Balassa, Bela, ‘‘The Hungarian Economic Reform, 1968-1981. ” World Bank Staff Working Paper No. 506, February 1982. 31 pages. This paper reviews the Hungarian experience with the New Economic Mechanism introduced on January 1, 1968. It draws on the author’s earlier writings (see HSN no. 3,p.6; no.16,p.9; and no.22,p.4) with additional data on agriculture, on the “second economy,” and on the policy measures introduced in 1980 and 1981. A brief description of the antecedents of the reform is followed by analyses of the reform measures introduced in 1968concerning agriculture, decision-making by industrial firms, price determination, the exchange rate, export subsidies, import protection and investment decisions, further indicating their effects on the Hungarian economy. The tendencies toward re-centralization after 1971, and in particular, after the external shocks of 1973 are examined, with consideration given to their economic effects. The reversal of these tendencies in 1980 and 1981, are the subject of the concluding section of the paper. The author is prof, of political economy at the Johns Hopkins U., and consultant at the World Bank. □ BOOKS (Continued) humiliations he and his family had to endure only because they were Hungarians. Thus, the author uses the framework of an American novel to reveal a piece of history in which the word Vlach is not associated with Dracula but rather with deep and dangerous ethnic emotions as viewed through the story of one family. The author explicitly says that “The story of our family is the typical story of our entire country.” The author is a well-known writer and publisher of some 42 books most of them novels related to the history of the people of Transylvania. He is also a retired prof, of the U. of Florida. Werbell, Frederick E. and Thruston Clarke. LOST HERO: The Mystery of Raoul Wallenberg. McGraw-Hill, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020, 1982. 284 pages, notes, biblio. illus. $12.95 cloth. Turbulent times provide opportunities for both, nobel deeds and high crime. This volume describes how a lighthearted Swedish diplomat reacted to a once in a lifetime challenge, his heroic accomplishments and inevitable doom in a cruel system of secrecy and bureaucratic manipulation. It is estimated that Wallenberg saved the lives of some 30,000 Hungarian Jews by issuing Swedish passes and by removing prisoners from death-marches or condemned ghettos. Near the end of the war, Wallenberg was arrested by Soviet authorities and taken to various prisons and camps in the Soviet Union. There is reasonable evidence for assuming that he died in the mid-1960s. Negotiations on the highest governmental level and intensive searches by those who owed their life to his courage and resourcefulness resulted in no definite answers as to the exact place and time of his death. Though the book is on the man and on his deeds, it provides delicate insights into life during the tragic days of foreign domination in war-torn Hungary. Werbell is a Swedish-born American rabbi, and Clarke is a writer and author of such books as By Blood and Fire, Dirty Money, and The Last Caravan. Erdély, Stephen. “Traditional and Individual Traits In the Songs of Three Hungarian-Americans.” Selected Reports in Ethnomusicology. 3:1 99-151. This well illustrated paper in ethnomusicology reviews the traditions of Hungarian folksong research, citing such distinguished figures as Zoltán Kodály and Bela Bartók. The author reports his findings after four years of intensive study of the language and songs of three Hungarian-Americans. “The singers were drawn from the Hungarian community in Cleveland: Steve Martin, Mariska (Mrs. Gáspár) Szabó, and the late Janos Vásárhelyi, all three emigrants from the period of World War I.” The article is rounded out by presenting the music and English translation of thirty-six folksongs, the basis of the study, as well as including documentary photoqraphs of the three singers and their environment. (SMN) □ Hitchins, Keith, “The Nationality Problem in Hungary: István Tisza and the Rumanian National Party, 1910-1914.” Journal of Modern History 53 (December 1981) 619-651. “This paper examines what turned out to be the final effort at compromise: the negotiations between the Hungarian government and the Rumanian National Party from July, 1910 to November, 1914. The direction they took offers considerable insight into the nature of the nationality problem in Hungary and suggests why it had become intractable.” The talks were initiated by Tisza, who wished to strengthen the Hungarian state by winning over the minorities living in Hungary, mainly the Romanians (16%of thetotal population). As his go-between Tisza selected loan Mihu. Other participants in the first round of negotiations were Alexandru Vaida, luliu Maniuand Vasile Goldis. The Romanians wanted full political, administrative, religious, educational and economic autonomy, in short to be a sovereign state within a state. Tisza agreed to many of the points during the course of the debates, but his dream to transform “multinational Hungary” into a “Magyar national state” kept him from making too generous concessions. Negotiations were resumed in 1913, but ended as before, by both parties rejecting the proposals of the other. Tisza’s final effort was a letter to the Romanian orthodox clergy in the fall of 1914, which brought an unfavorable reply, frustrating both parties in their efforts to creating harmony. “In the final analysis, the negotiations between Tisza and Rumanian leaders failed because both parties had become convinced that theirs was no ordinary political giveand-take or constitutional touching-up, but that national survival was at stake.” In 1918 the Romanian national issue was settled through the union of Transylvania and the Kingdom of Romania, which ironically brought about an environment suitable for harboring the same grievances, only that the roles have changed. (SMN) □ Királyfalvi, Béla. “Lukács’ View on Artistic Freedom.” The British Journal of Aesthetics 21:2 (Spring 1981) 151-158. The matter of artistic freedom and the role of the artist in society is of world-wide concern. The author unfolds the historical and current state of the unresolved question by conveying the thoughts of Hungarian Marxist philosopher, György Lukács, on artistic freedom in pre-modern and modern societies, emphasizing the difference between the artist’s role in capitalism and socialism. Lukács distinguishes art in primitive society, where the artist was in close contact with his audience but bound by the laws and limitations of (Continued on Page 6) NO. 33, AUTUMN 1982, HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER 5
