Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1955. január-június (4. évfolyam, 1-26. szám)
1955-03-31 / 13. szám
2g AMERIKAI MAGYAR SZÓ March Bl, 1955 TEN YEARS OF PROGRESS t Some Figures on the Development of the Hungarian People’s Republic (1945—J 955) The Second World War brought ruin and misery to Hungary; 600,000 people lost their lives. Losses in the manufacturing industry alone amounted to over two thousand million pengoes, corresponding to the total of fixed capital invested in the entire manufacturing industry. In agriculture, 63.5 per cent of the livestock perished; 1,404 bridges were destroyed or blown up during the war, and 35 per cent of the railway lines ruined. Some 355,000 houses—20 per cent of the country’s total—sustained damages. In consequence of the losses industrial production dropped to about 30 per cent of the pre-war level in 1945. In autumn 1945, the cereal crop amounted to 9 million quintals in contrast with the pre-war average of 30 million. The country had to be rebuilt from the very bottom of economic life, from the destructions of the war. The semi-feudal big capitalist, re actionary forces which had held Hungary, both politically and economically, in their grip for several decades, curbed and retarded the development of the productive forces for own selfish interest. Democratic Hungary shattered these fetters; it put an end to the semifeudal system of big landed properties. In 1945, 5.6 million cadastral holds (1 cadastral hold=rl.42 acres), 34.6 per cent of the entire territory of the country, were affected by the land reform. And 3.2 million cad. holds were divided up among 642,000 agricoltural workers, farm servants, and smallholders. < The creative force of the working people, primarily the working class made possible the successful execution of the Three-Year Plan, the rebuilding of the country and the speedy rise in the living standard. In 1949, at the end of the Three-Year Plan, the output of manufacturing industrial surpassed the 1938 level by 40 per cent. This large-scale development of production was accompained by a rapid rise in the number of workers employed. During the three years of the Plan, the number of employees (exluding ■civil servant) rose by 390,000. Not only was unemployment thus wiped out altogether, but there appeared e shortage in certain skilled workers, engineers and technicians. The living standard of the working people also rose considerably during the Plan period. In 1949, the average real wages of industrial workers exceeded those of prewar by more than 40 per cent. ★ As a result of the successful completion of the Three-Year Plan, the Hungarian People’s Republic, strengthened both economically and politically, was in a position to go ahead with the country’s industrialization. The main target of the first Five-Year Plan launched on January 1, 1950, was to transform the country, from an underdeveloped agrarian-industrial country into an industrial country with a highly developed agriculture. The crucial problem in creating a strong, technically developed industry was the rapid development of the manufacturing industry, and within it the heavy industry. In the course of the past four years a number of huge industrial projects have been realized, such as Sztalinvaros, the Inota Power Plant and the Chemical Works of Borsod. In addition, a number of new factories have been built in industrially underdeveloped areas of the country, as for example the Danube Valley Alumina* Plant,, the Electric Meter Factory at Gödöllő, the Medium-Weight Structural Iron Works at Kiskunfélegyháza, the Railway Points Factory at Gyöngyös, the Crushing Machine Factory of Jászberény, the Kaposvár Spinning Mill, the Clothing Factory of Zalaegerszeg, the Herpp Mill at Sarkad, etc. Strengthened by a number of new factories manufacturing 'industry developed by leaps and bounds.and the results of the past few years show that Hungary has indeed become an industrial country. Taking the 1949 volume as 100 per cent, output of the manufacturing industry was 136.9 per cent in 1950, 179.4 per cent in 1951, 225 per cent in 1952, and in 1953 it was close to three and half times the 1938 level. Within the scope of manufacturing industry, heavy industrial development was even more rapid, rising to about 150 per-cent in 1952 as compared to 1949. The structure of production in the manufacturing industry also underwent a change. The proportion of heavy industry in industrial output rose from 39.8 per cent in 1938 to 56.2 per cent in 1953. ★ The rise in the output of consumer goods will substantially contribute to the continued sound development of the Hungarian national economy and to a greater rise in the living standard of the working people. Since Liberation, Hungary’s agriculture has shown a substantial development as compared to the past. The working peasants, with heroic labour, succeeded in repairing the damage caused by the war. Average crops and the number of livestock not only reached the prewar figures, but even outstripped them in some places. Thus, for instance, in 1953 the sugar beet crop was three times above the average during the 10 years preceding the Liberation, and the production of vegetable oil was forty times higher. The cattle stcock figure wasc 380,000 higher in 1954 aá compared with 1938. Hungary’s working peasants have embarked on the road of socialist agriculture. In 1953 there were 4,677 cooperative farms with 263,000 members. In addition about 500 state farms had been established. Thirty-three per cent of the country’s arable land is owned by the socialist sector. The mechanization of agriculture helped a great deal toward strengthening the socialist sector of agriculture and raising its yields. A number of agricultural machines lighten the labour of the working peasants. As early as 1951, 50 per cent of the barley crop, and 55 per cent of the oat crop was machine-harvested. From 1950 to the first half of 1953 8,237 tractors, 8,164 tractordrawn ploughs, 3,102 tractor-drawn seed drills, 2,858 sheaf binders, 1,351 combines, 5,262 tractor-drawn disc-harrows, etc., were put to work. The continued development of agriculture will provide the material foundation for a steady rise in the living standard by assuring an ample supply of bread, meat, lard, milk, wine, fruits and other foodstuffs for the population. After Liberation health services, social welfare and the satisfaction of the cultural requirements of the rural working people basically changed and is constantly improving. The Three-Year Plan provided for the electrification of 455 villages and 450 additional villages were electrified in 1950—52. In 1952, there were already 1.640 rural culture centers and films were regularly shown in 2,426 villages. The State Rural Theatre performed in 2,025 rural communities; most of them had never before seen a theatrical performance. Budapest fashions are popular throughout Europe The above creation won first prize at the Leipzig International Fair Alongside the substantial progress of the national economy, the Hungarian people made great strides ahead in the field of culture. In recent years, millions of people have begun to study, and education is no longer the monopoly of the former ruling classes. In the Hungarian People’s Democracy every child is required by law to attend school from the age of 6 up to the 14th year. This alone is a great step forward, for in the past compulsory education was only 6 years. In the past, the children of workers and peasant could not afford to study. During the Five-Year Plan, more than 1.200.000 children are attending elementary schools every year. At the same time, the number of secondary school students is two and a half times above that of 1938, and the number of university and college students is four times above that of 1938. In addition to the progress/in public education the cultural needs of the working population are served by about 1,200 factory cultural centers and by a number of community and rural cultural centers. There are 8,000 to 9,000 cultural groups with 70,000 to 80,000 performers. Nearly 24.000 amateur groups competed at the 1952— 54 cultural competitions, with about 240,000 members. In four years (1949—52) the number of theatre-goers rose by nearly 50 per cent and atendance at the Opera was six times above that of 1938. There are more than 4,000 factory libraries and 3,400 in rural communities. In 1954 20 million copies of books were published, almost four times the number in 1938. In 1954 there werq 2,900 motion picture theaters about six times as many as before the Liberation. Following the 33 per cent reduction in ticket prices in 1953, the number of cinema- goers increased by almost 50 per cent, reaching 98 million during the year, which is five times above that of 1938. Together with-the development of culture, the health services of the working people are also improving. In 1938 in Hungary, 2,800,000 persons were covered by social insurance. The number of beneficiaries has more than doubled since and, by the end of 1954, 62 per cent of the entire population wras covered. Working men and women can now spend their holidays in the country’s loveliest resorts. In 1949 112,500 persons spent their holidays in resorts under the trade union holiday scheme; in 1950 this figure rose to 158,000, in 1951 to 178,000, and in 1954 to more'than 200,000. £ Health institutions are also being expanded steadily. There are more medical centers in Budapest than there were in the entire country in 1938. The capacity of the thermal baths in Budapest rose from 3.9 million in 1938 to 8.5 million in 1953. It is due to the improved health services, for instance, that tuberculosis, which in Horthy Hungary was called Morbus Hungarian because of its frequence, takes almost 60 per cent fewer lives than in 1938. The natural population increase per 1,000 also rose, reaching in 1953 the highest peak in forty years. Simultaneously, the death rate is steadily decreasing, and is lower than in England or in Austria. In Horthy’s Hungary the country had a shame ful reputation for its high infant mortality rate and for the deplorable state of its child health services. In 1938, 13 out of 100 infants died be- for reaching the age of one. By 1954, infant mortality decreased to about half the 1938 rate. Today almost fourteen times as many children are cared for in creches as in 1938, and about 150.000 tots receive care in nurseries and nursery schools while their parents are at work. The Hungarian People’s Democracy has built up a strong industry and a strong country in ten years. The people of Hungary are working with enthusiasm and confidence because their cause is identical with the most precious treasure of hundreds of millions of people all over the world: the cause of peace. A MAGYAR SZÓ HIVATÁSA, AZ IGAZSÁG MEGÍRÁSA. TANULJON ÖN IS BELŐLE, LEGYEN ELŐFIZETŐJE.
