Top

Public Choice

Published in:

18-05-2020

1956 in Hungary: as I saw it then and as I see it now

Author: János Kornai

Published in: Public Choice | Issue 1-2/2021

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

Many scholars and commentators have discussed the events of 1956 in Hungary, revealing the identities of the participating groups they claim to represent in those events, for which they likewise are entitled to be competent advocates. This essay challenges those biased claims from the perspective of one who actually was there. Instead of calling the events a “revolution”, one should take smaller steps. Rather than, arousing revolutionary fervor, convince the self-styled revolutionaries and counterrevolutionaries of the merits of reform.

previous article Introduction: a special issue in honoring Janos Kornai

next article Marx after Kornai

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

A huge literature has accumulated on 1956. I would like to single out the summative work of Rainer (2016). Presumably, future historians will want to deal with 1956. Above all, I recommend my writing to them.

Sadly, the text of our proposal is lost.

Now I see that my expectations about the benefits to come from capitalism and democracy were unrealistic. More than six decades later, the image formed in me is much more sober. I know how much injustice and inordinate income-inequality is born of capitalism. The institutions of democracy are unable to prevent the abuse of power and corruption, albeit to different degrees in different countries.

Twenty-three years later the situation was very different. My conscience was clear when I wrote my Passionate Tract on Hungarian Economic Transition, which undertook precisely that: to outline the economic program of the first democratic government about to be formed (Kornai 1990).

Kornai, J. (1990). The road to a free economy. Shifting from a socialist system—The example of Hungary. New York: W. W. Norton.

Kornai, J. (2006). By force of thought: Irregular memoirs of an intellectual journey. Cambridge: MIT Press.CrossRef

Nádas, P. (2017). Világló részletek. Emléklapok egy elbeszélő életéből (“Bright details: Memory pages from the life of a narrator”). Budapest: Jelenkor.

Rainer, M. J. (2012). Búvópatakok (“Underground streams”). Élet és Irodalom. Vol. 56/6. 10 February 2012. Retrieved from April 18, 2020, Available in Hungarian online: https://www.es.hu/cikk/2012-02-10/rainer-m-janos/buvopatakok-bevezetes.html.

Rainer, M. J. (2016). Az 1956-os magyar forradalom (“The 1956 Hungarian revolution”). Budapest: Osiris.

Title: 1956 in Hungary: as I saw it then and as I see it now
Author: János Kornai
Publication date: 18-05-2020
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Public Choice / Issue 1-2/2021
Print ISSN: 0048-5829
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7101
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-020-00810-9

Springer Professional

Abstract

Please log in to get access to your license.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Other articles of this Issue 1-2/2021

Kornai on the affinity of systems: Is China today an illiberal capitalist system or a communist dictatorship?

Janos Kornai: a non-mainstream pathway from economic planning to disequilibrium economics

Hungary's U-turn in Kornai's system paradigm perspective: a case for national authoritarian capitalism

Disruptive innovation and R&D ownership structures

Is there a demand for autocracies in Europe? Comparing the attitudes of Hungarian and Italian university students toward liberal democratic values inspired by János Kornai

Introduction: a special issue in honoring Janos Kornai