Borvendég Zsuzsanna: Fabulous Spy Games. How international trade networks with the West developed after 1945 - A Magyarságkutató Intézet Kiadványai 24. (Budapest, 2021)
‘FABULOUS’ IN HUNGARY - End game
'FABULOUS' IN HUNGARY communist internationalism, so it follows that accusing Kádár of nationalism is equally unfounded and considered outright defamation according to their narrative. In spite of this, Kádár s propaganda mechanism was clearly tolerant of the narrative that went against its own convictions, because they knew this was what was needed to achieve their objectives in that context. At this point, the left-wing ideology dependent on the fight against fascism to gain an assumed moral superiority (even to this day) became embroiled in contradiction once again. End game Emil Hoffmann won the trust of Hungarian political circles by promising to write a book about Hungary, but we already know that the book had not been written by 1959. In 1961, however, a longer study by Hoffmann was published on the operation of Comecon as the third volume of the Major Markets of the World series.372 The author did not merely describe how Comecon worked, but compared it to the opportunities of the Common Market, clearly favouring socialist cooperation. His was the voice of a committed supporter of trade between East and West who was surprisingly well-informed about the internal situation of the countries of the Soviet Bloc, and his economic data and conclusions were accurate: “It is clear to see that a considerable proportion of the figures in the study are classified data. In the parts that have been checked, even the figures are absolutely precise,”373 an expert approached to evaluate the study said. It was clear that Hoffmann mined Comecon calculations and plans intended for internal use to gain information on the sizes and terms of loans the Soviet Union provided to individual countries. He also described in detail the technical-scientific cooperation of the member states and went into 372 Dr Emil Hoffmann: COMECON, der gemeinsame Markt in Osteuropa. C. W. Leske Verlag, Opladen, 1961 373 ÁBTL 3.1.5 O-12344/4-a p. 269 Note, 7 June 1962 139
