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

cultured, freest garrison in the socialist camp The relativeness of double values was the foundation of the popularity of Kádárism within the Eastern Bloc and among the somewhat highbrow, naive Western leftist! intelligentsia. The taking of long-term loans from the West resulted in an involuntary opening up toward the world economy. The microelectronic revolution of the 1970s (the Chip Age) accelerated the flow of communication and information at such an incredible pace as to shake the foundations of traditional political separation between the Western world and Eastern European politics. The regime of relative material wealth without political freedom, but with social security and guaranteed employment ate up all of the reserves of the national economy. World politics spoke of détente and disarmament and the Gorbachev type of Soviet leadership from 1985 made it clear that the Soviet Union no longer intended to intrude militarily, for it was becoming patently obvious that the first large-scale international experiment in surpassing capitalism had failed. The upswing of armament in outer space had brought with it the setting up first of military and then civilian satellite systems. The ability to receive Western channels occasioned an information explosion and contributed to the internal ideological decay of the eastern bloc. Adverts from the 1970s and 1980s on an advertising pillar (exhibition detail)