Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1982. január-június (36. évfolyam, 1-25. szám)
1982-03-18 / 11. szám
Thursday, March 18. 1982. AMERIKAI MAGYAR SZO 11. Erna Fodor: LIVING IN SECURITY I am willing to admit that Hungary has not as yet reached the standard of living of the USA but as far as the fundamental objective of a socialist country to create security of existence, it has reached it, and in many points it has even surpassed it. In socialist terminology, security of existence covers material existence including livelihood and a certain level of living standard. The actual possibility of permanent work and suitable remuneration for the work performed must be kept open for all healthy persons capable of working. The Hungarian constitution guarantees employment. The possibility of working cannot depend on the given economic situation or on various other economic considerations but it is treated as a fundamental and natural human right for all. It is considered as rightful and taken for granted that everyone should be able to choose work corresponding to their qualifications and abilities regardless of where they were born. In the socialist interpretation of the term, security of existence is not complete if they do not provide everyone with basic health protection including free medical and hospital care as the right of all citizens. It is intolerable that the illness of even a single member of a family should impose material burdens on the family which fundamentallv threaten the members’ security of existence. In Hungary it is the task of society to provide for the old, the disabled and for the ill who have no one to care for them. Social security covers all citizens. No one should find himself in a situation where his existence is threatened because of a physical or mental handicap. The health organs and workplaces must make provisions in time for the rehabilitation of the disabled. The possibility of setting up a family is part of security of existence and in this connection so are mother and infant welfare. In sofar as security, class origin, skin color, or sex must not be a disadvantage for anyone. Public security, including security ol life and limb and of property aquired through work and in other legal ways is also in the vital interest of all citizens. NO UNEMPLOYMENT IN HUNGARY Due to the fact that practically all the means of production in Hungary are owned by society as a whole and the economy is under planned state guidance, there are no economic crises causing mass unemployment and threatening the existence and future of hundreds of thousands and millions from one day to the next. The principle that who wishes to work should be able to find a job has been constantly applied with the result that full employment has been achieved since the first stage of the building of socialism. There has not been even a temporary unemployment. They were able to eliminate even the urban and rural unemployment they inherited from the past. The trade unions supported and even urged industrial development, since they were in favor of full employment right from the start. The number of active earners in Hungary rose from 3.9 million in 1949 to 5.1 million in 1980, The number of dependents per 100 active earners dropped from 132 to 110 persons. The number of secondary school students has doubled and the number of students in higher education has increased 2.4 fold. The rapid increase in the number of employed played a major role in raising the poA Hungarian trade-union resort with a new workers’ holiday-home under construction in the background. pulation’s standard of living. Another very important and sensitive sector for security of existence are the women. The number of women employed in the Hungarian national economy has increased by over a million in 30 years. Women have the same opportunities as mentő enter employment. At present 78 % of women of working age are active earners. Great progress has been made toward eliminating the wage discrepancies unfavorable for women. Despite the unfavorable external economic influences, the national economy continues to develop in a planned manner and provide full employment for the Hungarian workers; The Sixth Five-Year Plan that has just been launched anticipates that although the rate of economic growth will be more modest than earlier, it will be maintained in the future too and the young generations will be able to find jobs and permanent work without difficulty. The planned guidance of the Hungarian national economy and the humanitarian nature of the state system exclude the possibility of jobs being eliminated on a mass scale overnight affecting thousands of workers, facing them with total insecurity of existence. If an enterprise is closed down because of unprofitable production or for some other reason, the workers released in this way are taken over by the legal successor or by a similar enterprise struggling with shortage of manpower while retaining the rights they have already aquired. This means, for example, that there can be no reduction in their earnings for their reclassification, and they retain continuity of employment with all the rights this involves. Hungary is maintaining economic relations with the capitalist countries and on the basis of equal rights and mutual advantages, are even further developing them but it is not at their mercy. They don’t deny that the crisis in the capitalist world economy have caused and may continue tó cause them losses, through the deterioration in the terms of trade - but they cannot create insecurity of exis- tance in Hungary. The planned state guidance of the economy makes it possible to take defensive measures against the influences of the capitalist crisis. The centralized control over economy in the use of energy and raw materials is making the structure of exports more profitable. The Hungarian workers as well as the enterprises have an interest in holding back the growth of production and marketing costs, etc. One can say that security of existence is an aspect of life that is taken for granted in socialist Hungary. Besides full employment, free health care, contributes to this The right to a pension and institutionalized care for children and mothers are now Alii THAT ENDANGERS All LIFE ON EARTH In these dangerous times we should not waste time on the small lies. It is the biggest of all lies that is the target of this column. It is the lie that endangers the life of every living being on earth, including the dogs, cats and elephants, and gives excuse for attacking the living standards of the people to get the money to prepare for nuclear war. It is the Big Lie that the “Western’’countries are facing attack by the Soviet Union and must therefore prepare for nuclear counterattack. The fear of that “defensive” nuclear counterattack, so the Big Lie goes, would be the only thing that would keep the Soviet Union from attacking. Their present forces are much stronger than the “West”, so goes the fairy tale, so the Reagan Administration must take a TRILLION AND A HALF DOLLARS out of our hides for the next five years for “defense”, to “catch up.” An immediate question arises. If the Soviet Union is planning to attack the “West”, and they are stronger why don’t they attack immediately instead of waiting for an enormous new arsenal of nuclear and neutron bombs and poison gas to be developed, manufactured and put in place against them during the next five years? Not only is the whole Soviet “threat” a lie but there are clear indications that our nuclear lunatics know it is a lie. First, it is obvious that the Reagan armament program is laid out for five years without expectation of interruption. Second, a more specific indication. Reagan has sworn repeatedly that he will not accept any reduction in the military budget. However, he readily accepted the money saved by putting the new MX- missiles (each with ten nuclear warheads) into the old Minuteman silos without spending the money to protect the new missilies by extra hardening of the silos. Why spend the money to harden the silos if you know you are going to be the one who will start a nuclear war without the other side firing a shot? In line with this attitude the Administration rejected out of hand the Soviet proposal brought to the U.N,by Gromyko a few weeks ago that the two sides sign an agreement that neither one will be the first to fire a nuclear weapon. The fact is that all the preparations under way point to a maniacal concept for a Blitzkrieg, this time to take 6 minutes instead of 6 weeks. The idea is to rain enough nuclear bombs on the Soviet Union in those 6 minutes to destroy the country completely with no time for retaliation. That is why the nuclear missile emplacements in Europe, six minutes from Soviet targets, are considered so necessary by the nuclear phanatics. From the U.S.A. a missile takes 15-20 minutes to the Soviet Union. It is this lunatic dream that endangers the existence of all life on earth, that we, the people of the United States, are being pressured to give up all the gains in living standards won over the last two generations. Joseph Budish general. The living conditions of the classes and main sectors of society are now in equilibrium. Socialist democracy encourages peoples political development and the flowering of their creative powers.
