Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1986 (14. évfolyam, 47-50. szám)
1986 / 47-48. szám
1 IN MEMÓRIÁM Tibor Bodrogi 1924-1986 introduction that “the gap in income levels between Hungary and the advanced industrial nations had narrowed steadily in the post-war period, [but] Hungary still remains a poor country compared with the West, and further progress will depend very much on how successfully she is able to meet the challenge of the more difficult market conditions of the future.” Berend is professor of economic history at the Marx K.U. in Budapest; and Ra'nki is a member of the Institute of History, HAS. Braham, Randolph L.and Bela Vago eds., THE HOLOCAUST IN HUNGARY: FORTY YEARS LATER. Social Science Monographs and Inst, for Holocaust Studies of the CUNY and the Inst, of Holocaust Studies, U. of Haifa Distributed by Columbia U. Press, 562 West 113th Street, New York, NY 10025,1985. 235 pages. $25.00 East European Monographs, no. 190. “The (15) studies included in this volume aim to identify and analyze the many historical, cultural, political, and socioeconomic factors that may have contributed to this tragic end of Hungarian Jewry, once one of the most prosperous and flourishing Jewish communities in East Central Europe. The first part covers the antecedents of this tragedy, beginning with an analytical article by Nathaniel Katzburg of Bar-Man University on the tradition of anti- Semitism in Hungary. This is followed by a literary-historical overview of the Jewish question in Hungary by György Száraz, the editor-in-chief of Kortárs (The Contemporary) of Budapest and the author of Egy előltelet nyomában (On the Tracks of a Prejudice), a highly acclaimed work of the origins of anti-Semitism. The next two essays complement each other. Professor Iván T. Berend of the Marx Karoly U. of economics (Marx Ka'roly Egyetem) of Budapest expertly describes the ideological and political background of Hungary on the eve of the Holocaust, while Professor István Deák of Columbia University skillfully dissects the peculiarities of Hungarian fascism differentiating itfrom both Italian fascism and National Socialism. Professor Gyula Juhász, an associate of the Institute of History of the Hungarian Academy of Science (A Magyar Tudoma'nyos Akadémia Történettudoma'nyi Intézete), discusses with great erudition the attitude of Hungarian intellectuals to the Jewish question with emphasis on the interwar period," writes Braham in the preface. Braham is professor of political science at CUNY; Vago is prof, of history, U. of Haifa. Galasi, Peter and György Sziráczki eds., LABOUR MARKET AND SECOND ECONOMY IN HUNGARY. Campus Verlag, Myliusstrasse 15, 6000 Frankfurt/Main, West Germany 1985. 339 pages, tables, biblio. 58.00 German Marks. The ten studies in this volume include theoretical writings, enterprise case studies and analyses based on representative samples and statistical data. The studies are grouped into three clusters: the first group focuses on labor market, labor shortage, and differences in wages. The second group presents three studies re: the functioning, the stucture and the scope of the “second economy.” The third group of essays is concerned with the employers’ and employees’ strategies which emerged in the well-structured labor market of the 1970s. The authors of these studies analyze the different bargaining processes as well as their outcome including the use of labor in the second economy. The 1968 reform accelerated the expansion of the second economy. A large number of household plots have become commodity NO. 47-48, SPRING-SUMMER 1986 HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEW5LETTER producers. Households tended to have recourse to the second economy as an alternative way of satisfying their needs. Forthis reason, household participation in the second economy is massive. Another attraction of the second economy is the income disparity, i.e., the fact that the same amount of work yields higher consumable income than in the socialist sector. One has to note, that the concept of the second economy formulated is both broader and narrower than the definition given by Western scholars, who describe it as the sum of deviant and illegal transactions in the socialist system. Seen as an alternative field of income producing activity with its own autonomous reproduction mechanisms, the second economy is analyzed in its relations with the state and the labor market. Galasi is senior research fellow, Sziráczki a research fellow at the Dept, of Labor and Education Economics, Marx K. U. of Economics, Budapest. Király, Bela K. and Gale Stokes, eds., INSURRECTIONS, WARS, AND THE EASTERN CRISIS IN THE 1870s. Social Science Monographs no. 17, distributed by Columbia University Press, 562 West 113th Street, New York, NY 10025,1985. xxii + 421 pages, bio. index. $45.00. East European Monographs no. 197. Atlantic Studies, Brooklyn College studies on Society and Change no. 36. The 30 papers in this volume represent the content of an international conference on the great Eastern crisis of 1875- 1878. The conference took place at the Curie House of Scientists at Druzhba, Varna, Bulgaria, and was hosted jointly by the Brooklyn College Program on Society and Change and the Institute of Balkan Studies of the Bulgarian Academy of Science. The broad main theme provided an opportunity to crystallize two fundamental points of view: the internal view whose interest has been the accomplishment of national independence, and the international or non-Balkan view which focused on the international implications of the crisis, the role of the Great Powers, their gain and losses. Chapter II, “The Balkan Crisis and East Central Europe” contains two papers relevant to Hungary. “Austria-Hungary and the Balkan Crisis. An Ingenious Improvisation“ by Peter F. Sugár (U. of Washington), and “The Balkan Policies of the Habsburg Empire in the 1870’s,” by Zoltán Szász. For a time only Russia was willing and able to force a change in the Balkan situation. Austria was in no position militarily to effect a change even though Foreign Minister Gyula Andrássy hoped to find a way to thwart Russian efforts. He made attempts to devise an anti-Russian coalition, a move which reflected Hungarian popular antipathy toward Russia, because Russian interference in the 1948-49 war of independence. Béla K. Király is prof, emeritus, City U. of New York, and Gale Stokes is prof, of history at Rice U., Houston. Klaniczay, Tibor ed., OLD HUNGARIAN LITERARY READER; 11th-18th Centuries. Budapest: Corvina, 1985.303 pages. $19.50 cloth. The period of Hungarian literature up to the Enlightenment is usually referred to as the “old Hungarian literature.” The end of the 18th century is regarded as the point of time when (Continued on Page 4) 3
