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’ - A Cold War Hungaricum
FABULOUS SPY GAMES capitalist thinking, as the financing of left-wing parties was only workable on the basis of capitalist logic. While the vision of building socialism was imposed upon millions, the ownership of the assets of an entire nation was the privilege of the chosen few. Through nationalisation, Lenins followers achieved the most extreme concentration of capital. In other words, they created the most extreme capitalism ever conceived without building any control into the system in the form of regulation of the market and competition, or even a real role for trade unions. The representatives of the political-economic elite of the socialist Bloc used their privileges to set foot in the capitalist world, where they found ample partners. Amidst the secret, tongue-in-cheek collusion of communist internationalism and capitalist globalism, Hungary was the link between the two as the ‘Venice of the Cold War’. In other words, it was the trade link between various points in the world and paved the way for the cold and hard rules of money, and the movement of capital. 96
