Baják László Ihász István: The Hungarian National Museum History Exhibition Guide 4 - The short century of survival (1900-1990) (Budapest, 2008)

Room 20. The Rise and Fall of Communism (1945-1990). István Ihász

Soviet and Hungarian party leaders: first secretaries Leonid llich Brezhnev and János Kádár (oil on canvas) phenomenon among the Eastern Bloc countries - although due to agricultural reorganisation there was not always a regular supply of meat. However, because of the pork and poultry plan initiated in the early 1970s, Hungary became the land of "goulash communism" through the production of the salami and sausages that were in themselves national symbols. The scope of economic development was significantly limited by the continued survival of the directive plan system within the framework of which, free of economic competitiveness and without any significant bases for development, production took place in an absence of interest due to equal company withdrawals. In approaching the limits of development, from the end of the decade the need for economic reform once again came to the fore. After the development of the economic system - the guiding principles of 1965 being implemented in 1968 - the compulsory central planned directives for companies and cooperatives were in practice abolished, profit orientation was introduced and three forms of pricing created. At the same time centralised decision-making on large-scale investment and central permits for imports and exports remained. The effect of the reforms was that the economy became more dynamic and the real income of the population increased. The new economic mechanism was hindered by the forced stifling, in which Hungary played a part, of experimental reform by the Czechoslovakians.