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 with the West. To date, accurate information has been available regarding Austria, so it seems safe to say Hungary participated in almost two-thirds of cooperation agreements between the Soviet satellite states and Austria in the early 1970s.247 It is even more revealing that Hungary had a stake in 33 of the 53 joint ventures operating in Austria and with links to Comecon countries. 248 Not counting Yugoslavia, which had the status of an associate member, the economic organisation had ten member states in addition to Hungary, so the other member states had two companies each in neutral Austria on average. These telling proportions are highly informative and indicate a fundamental difference in the operations and structure of the Hungarian economy compared to the other countries of the Soviet Bloc. It is hardly a surprise, therefore, that the American secret services also deemed it important to study this phenomenon. 247 Pogány 2009, p. 149 248 Ibid. p. 151 249 The CIA described the increase in the trade volume between the two countries between 1965 and 1972. The total volume of trade between Hungary and the US totalled 11.4 million dollars in 1965, which soared to 35.3 million dollars in 1972. CIA, FOIA, Intelligence Memorandum - Trading and Cooperation with Hungary, March 1973 https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP85T00875R001700050031-1 .pdf (Downloaded on: 31 August 2019) 250 CIA, FOIA, Eastern European Intelligencer, 5 October 1972 https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP79B00864A001200020050-2.pdf (Downloaded on: 31 August 2019) Although the volume of foreign trade between Hungary and the United States was not substantial,249 the legal change in 1972 quickly attracted the attention of the American administration. In 1972, János Fekete headed a financial delegation visiting Washington, where he announced that the establishment of joint ventures was soon to be permitted, probably with Hungarian majority ownership maintained in these firms.250 Although the real upsurge in the establishment of joint ventures came after 1972, the American intelligence services were already stating at the time that, besides Yugoslavia, Hungary was playing a pivotal role within the Bloc in establishing joint ventures. They also added that there was a profound difference in legislation, as Yugoslavia allowed western companies to make investments within the country, while Hungary refused to do so. 92
