Figure 1.-- This photo was taken in Hungary during the Goulash Communist era (1972). We have no other information. We see three primary school children on an improvised winner's podium. They look to be about 6-10 years old. The children are holding some diplomas or award certificates earned at school. You can see the emblem of the Hungarian People's Republic. They are photographed at home rather than at school. We cannot make out the text. Looking at the children's dirty feet with some insect bites, we suspect they live in a rural area. With several failed attempts, after the failed Revolution (1956), the Communists finally collectivized agriculture (1959-61). The dwelling in the background looks like it might be on a cooperative farm. Communist authorities prioritized state farms. But to make collectivization work, authorities began to gradually support the cooperatives as well. this is something the Soviets never did.

The Soviet repression of the Hungarians was severe. There were execution and wide-spread arrests. Over time, however, their were changes. After the repression that followed and the final collectivization of agriculture (1959-61), more liberal outlook took hold in Hungary. János Kádár implemented policies with the very unorthodox objective of creating a high standard of living for the people of Hungary with the with some needed economic reforms. This is interesting given that Kádár was the man the Soviets chose to purge the country of anti-Soviet Hungarians. Kádár did this in the immediate aftermath of the Revolution, but once Hungary was firmly back in the Warsaw pact, Kádár began pursuing very un-Stalinist economic policies. We are unsure about the how the Kremlin leaders viewed this. They certainly were not doing this with the Soviet economy. But there was no intervention. The Soviets for whatever reason decided that as long as there was no effort to break from Soviet control, a degree of economic reforms meaning market reforms could be tolerated. Kádár's reforms have been termed Goulash or Refrigerator Communism. They succeeded in achieving a degree of well-being and cultural freedom in Hungary. The country acquired the reputation of being 'the happiest barracks' in the Soviet Bloc. 【Nyyssönen】 Kádár fashioned a system with some elements of market albeit regulated economics and substantially improved human rights record--especially in terms of Soviet Bloc countries. Hungary as a result of stagnating economic growth, introduced the New Economic Mechanism (NEM) (1968). It was a shift self-sufficiency to market reforms. Hungary partially reopened to foreign trade with the West. Market mechanism were introduced to an extent. Some small businesses were permitted to operate, mostly in the services sector. There were notable improvements, but Hungarian industry was still not competitive outside the COMECON barter system. Hungary also moderated colonization to greatly improve on Soviet results. This include dc American methods, share cropping, expanding family plots and the individual keeping livestock, improved policies toward cooperatives as opposed to state farms, and other measures. 【Varga】 Hungary had developed one of the most liberal and economically advanced economies in the Soviet Empire. This was still the situation when Communism fell (1989). While the economic failings of Communist Hungary were well known, before the fall of Communism, what was not know was the environmental devastation wrought by failing to impose environmental constraints on state-owned industrial concerns. of the former Eastern Bloc, both agriculture and industry began to suffer from a lack of investment in the 1970s.

Sources

Nyyssönen, Heino. "Salami reconstructed, Cahiers du monde russe Vol. 47, Nos. 1–2 (June 2006). pp. 153–72.

Varga, Szuzsanna. Trans. Frank T. Zsigó. The Hungarian Agricultural Miracle? Sovietization and Americanization in a Communist Country (Lexington Books: 2020), 354p.

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