In this analysis of Hungarian political and economic developments over the past 30 years, Andrew Felkay focuses particularly on the role played by the country’s long-time communist leader, Janos Kadar. Basing his study on a critical analysis of the official Hungarian press, ideological journals, relevant documents, and other statistical reports from 1956 to the present, Felkay argues that Hungary’s rapid recovery from the cataclysmic events of 1956 was the direct result of Kadar’s ability to overcome the alienation of his compatriots without incurring the displeasure of the Soviet Union. Felkay’s reliance on primarily Hungarian Communist sources offers the reader a window on Kaldar’s political emergence as a pragmatic and unusually successful Communist leader. Felkay begins with a brief history of Hungary and Soviet-Hungarian relations to the end of World War II, setting the context for the detailed political case study which follows. Subsequent chapters detail Kadar’s youth, his early involvement with the Communist party, and his installation by the Soviets as Hungary’s leader in the wake of the 1956 uprising. Felkay demonstrates that despite the circumstances of his selection and his lack of domestic support, Kadar emerged as an effective political leader in his own right. His introduction of innovative non-Marxist structural economic reforms, Felkay argues, enabled Kadar to create one of the most efficient economic systems within the Soviet bloc. The book continues with chapters covering the Czechoslovak crisis of 1968, the slowing of reforms, the effects of worldwide price explosions in the early 1970s, and the mounting economic problems that confronted Kadar and the Hungarian people inthe 1980s. The concluding chapters address the most recent developments, including Kadar’s removal from office and the impact of Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika, and predicts likely future trends.
