Itt-ott, 1969. november - 1970. szeptember (3. évfolyam, 1-10. szám)

1970-02-01 / 3. szám

lölt profit" tehát édessé vált, vagy--helyesebben mondva »«-édes céllá vált, azok előtt iss akik valaha a nyelvükre is csak gyü'lö - lettel -vették. Persze, az uj mechanizmus beindítása alkalmából, kb. két évvel ezelőtt, a terv úgy volt beállítva 9 mintha valami uj találmány lenne, holott a kapitalista gazdálkodás és érvényesülés lényegében azonos elveken alapult. Az uj mechanizmus tehát a kapitalizmus régen ismert és elfogadott elveit kölcsönözte és alkalmazta: Az alábbi jelentés a NEWSWEEK dec.l-i számában jelent meg, a 76-78 oldalon, és igencsak örömmel töltött el, annak hallatán, hogy végre, talán a magyar gazdasági élet is jó irányban halad. Ennek következménye esetleg a Nyugattal való közelebbi kap csolat és a szovjet befolyás alól való távolodás lehet. Nem utol só sorban pedig, az otthon élő leikeink életszinvonalának felemelése. Én tehát a magam részéről további sikereket kivánok az uj mechanizmus működéséhez. Baráti üdvözlettel, Laci.

Hungary; The Rewards of Reform

It is now a little less than two years since Hungary embarked on what it discreetly calls the "New Economic Mechanism"--which, in fact, is a program of economic reform going far beyond anything yet attempted in the other Soviet-bloc countries. In a period that has seen the Russian crackdown on Czechoslovakia-- an echo of the bloodier crackdown on Hungary itself twelve years earlierimplementation of such a program, has meant walking a tightrope. How is it working out? NEWSWEEK's Alan Tillier, after a firsthand look at developments in Hungary, filed this report;

There is a choice of three kinds of taxis in Budapest these days. At the cab rank near the famous Vörösmarty coffeehouse, visitors can hail a Russian-built car—a Moskvich or a sturdy Volga--a French Peugeout or an Italian Fiat. The last, although the smal lest, are the most popular because the enterprising company that runs them has hired a flock of pretty, miniskirted drivers who weave their tiny vehicles with great dexterity in and out of Budapest traffic. All this represents quite a change from two years ago, when cabs in Budapest were both ancient and scarce, and their drivers invariably surly. The improvement can be simply ascribed to . competition. The companies themselves are still government owned, but they compete for profits in which thedrivers share.

The cabs are sybolic of some far deeper changes that have taken place in Hungarian economic life since the introduction of NEM-the acronym by which the reform program is generally known--at the beginning of 1968. The main reform has been a genuine decentralization of what for almost two decades had been a rigidly planned economy. The old Stalinist "tonnage" concept--which sought production for production s sake--has been abandoned. The new criteria are profitability, efficiency and incent_/es through profit-sharing. A new breed of plant managers has sprung up, responsible for showing profits and for improving the quality'of their products, especially those designed for export.

At the Red October factory in suburban 3udapest--the country's largest maker of men's clothing with an annual production of 1.2 million suits and a substantial export trade--the old slogan above the work benches still exhorts the workers "to live, think

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