Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1984 (12. évfolyam, 39-42. szám)
1984 / 42. szám
HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER No. 42 ISSN: 0194-164X WINTER, 1984-85 Published quarterly by the Hungarian Research Center of the American Hungarian Foundation: Winter, Spring (two numbers included), and Autumn. Founder and editor: Bela Charles Maday; Communications concerning content should be addressed to the Editor, 4528-49th Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20016. Communications concerning subscriptions, advertising, and circulation should be addressed to American Hungarian Foundation, 177 Somerset Street, P.O. Box 1084, New Brunswick, N. J. 08903. Annual Subscription in the U.S.A. $5.00. Abroad $7.00. Current single copy $3.00: back issues $3.50 each. BOOKS (Continued) says: "Works in Western languages now provide adequate coverage of the diplomatic, political, intellectual, social, and economic histories of the peoples of East Central Europe." Some comprehensive accounts of the non-military aspects of regional history have been elaborated on, but few studies have been published on national defense systems in any language. Thus, the series and the volume before us, are pioneering works. In the first of six parts, the studies center on East European Revolutionary Armed Forces and Society during the American and French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Era; Part II comprises but one essay on the Embodiment of the East Central European Revolutionary Warrior: General Józef Bern, 1794-1850; Chapter III discusses The Polish November Insurrection, 1830-1831;the studies in Chapter IV deal with East Central European Society, Revolution, and Warfare during the First Half of the 19th Century; out of the 10 essays in Part V., 9 focus on Hungarian aspects of the revolutions of 1848-1849; and the final Part contains one essay on the Russian Balkan Policy in the Era of Revolutions. Konrad, George. ANTIPOLITICS: An Essay. Trl. by Richard E. Allen. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 757 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, 1984. 243 pages. $12.95 cloth. Once in a while a book comes along with a perspective that is global and personal at the same time. It matters little whether you agree with the writer or not, you will be involved and your entrenched frame of reference will be challenged. This is one of those books. The author believes that most of the political ills of our days can be traced back to the spirit and provisions of the 1945 Yalta Agreement. One consequence has been the thorough politicization of most every aspect of every-day life. Though a state with limited powers is necessary, the state should be kept within clearly defined boundaries and should not act upon matters which concern the society alone. The author believes that the alternative to nuclear war is gradual internal reform achieved through continuous dialogues between elites of nations especially between those of the superpowers. “We have learned that it is impossible to persuade the Russian elite to dissolve itself or to stand passively by while the empire dissolves. Nor is it possible to fool them; we cannot act as if the issue were something other than our wish for greater independence from them: that is what we want; that is what we have to talk about.” He believes that the “demolition of the Yalta edifice” is of primary importance "because otherwise we East Central Europeans will never be free.” Within the East Central European sphere Hungary constitutes a special case where 2 confines of political freedom slowly expand and a certain limited pluralism seems to emerge. The Hungarian censor is less narrowminded now than he was before, still he woud not permit the publication of this volume in Hungary. The author is a distinguished writer who lives in Budapest. Nagy, László, THE SOCIALIST COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT. Budapest: Akadémiai, 1984. 258 pages. $18.00 cloth. A “collective agreement” as used in sociological studies is the result of “collective bargaining,” a term and concept first used by Beatrice Potter in The Cooperative Movement in Great Britain (London: Swan Sonnenschein, 1891, p. 217). The term was to describe the arrangement by which a number of workmen agree that in making their individual contracts of employment they shall observe common terms as a minimum, and through representatives negotiate those terms with the employer. . .” (E. H. Phelps Brown). After a light treatment of historical development of the collective agreement in the pre-socialist society, the author presents a comprehensive picture of its development in socialist countries. He emphasizes the fact that changes have occurred in the societies at large especially in countries like Hungary where the economic structure and production has changed dramatically. The author analyzes the various views on the part of jurisprudence concerning the legal character of the collective agreement and its position in legal regulations. He also elaborates on how legal institutions created under capitalism retained their name but changed their content. Finally, he critically reviews the existence of a “uniform socialist collective agreement.” The author is prof, of labor law at the József A. U. Simons, William B. and Stephen White. THE PARTY STATUTES OF THE COMMUNIST WORLD. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1984. Distributed in North America by Kluwer Academic Publishers, 190 Old Derby Street, Hingham, MA 02043. No. 27 in the Law in Eastern Europe series; gen. ed. F.J.M. Feldbrugge. viii + 545 pages. $92.00. This volume of sixteen constitutions (statutes, by-laws), each prefaced by an analytical essay, complements The Constitutions of the Communist World published in 1980 and issued under the auspices of the Documentation Office for East European Law of the U. of Leyden Law School. A brief preface and an essay on the status of the CPSU within the Soviet legal system are followed by translations of each statute and an appropriate discussion of the historical setting in which it occurred. The statutes of the Hungarian communist party were translated and discussed by William Sólyom-Fekete (senior legal specialist in the Law Library of the Library of Congress, Washington). He traces the development of organized industrial labor to 1868 when the General Workers’ Society was founded. The first significant party based on Marxist principles, the Universal Workers’ Party of Hungary, was founded in 1880. It changed its name to the Social Democratic Party of Hungary in 1890. With the help of Hungarian emigre communists in Moscow, likeminded groups united in the Party of Communists of Hungary under the leadership of Béla Kun (1918). Political and structural constellations changed frequently in the evolutionary process, some lasting longer, others for shorter periods of time. The communist party was outlawed during the interwar period when the social democrats played a dominant role among parties leftofthecenter. Theauthortriestoanswera frequently asked question: “How did the communist party in Hungary acquire and maintain its dictatorical power?” and says that one reason for the dominance may be found in the NO. 42. WINTER 1964-1965, HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER
