Borvendég Zsuzsanna: Fabulous Spy Games. How international trade networks with the West developed after 1945 - A Magyarságkutató Intézet Kiadványai 24. (Budapest, 2021)
‘THE HUNGARIAN MAFIA’ - The red octopus
'THE HUNGARIAN MAFIA' economic processes between the two countries merely moved into the shadows. The foreign trade offices enjoying diplomatic immunity were the cornerstones of interoperability between the two world orders. Foreign trade offices played a crucial role from the point of view of the secret services, particularly in cities where the given country happened to have no diplomatic representation. The sovietised system of the socialist countries turned trade into a state monopoly, bringing the companies involved under direct control and management. Recruitment and training of trade representatives by the secret services was easy to undertake, and the selection of those posted abroad, and their vetting for reliability was also carried out centrally. It is only typical that, following the foundation of the Soviet Union, the Bolshevik Party simply had to abandon state dominance in certain areas. Concessions and limited privatisations were authorised to help capital influx, but the powers that be still refused to give up the state monopoly on foreign trade.111 The explanation is straightforward. On the one hand, the Bolshevik Party pursued the ideal of a communist world revolution from the very beginning, which means they were readying themselves to conquer the world. To do so, they needed an extensive network to spread propaganda and gather information. In other words, to act as a secret service. Foreign trade nexuses and trade offices abroad were cut out for this very purpose. On the other hand, foreign trade went hand in hand with cash flow, the flow of capital, over which the Soviet power certainly did not wish to lose control. In the early 1920s, they came up with a system that became standard in the countries of the Bloc after 1945, and therefore also in Hungary. Trade offices, regarded by the Soviet leadership as a diplomatic mission, were established in various European countries, so they represented interests of the young communist country even before the host country officially acknowledged the existence of the Soviet Union. From the early 1920s, an office with a staff of some 800 operated in Berlin, conducting negotiations with countries in the region other than Germany, including Hungary.112 Several leaders of the Hungarian Soviet 111 Seres 2006, p. 82 112 Seres 2008, p. 420 45
