Re: [Marxism] Soros, Hungary

[mihaly koltai <komb83@xxxxxxxxx>]

Louis Proyect wrote:

> Btw, I think I speak for the whole list in giving a hearty welcome to if
> not our first Hungarian subscriber, at least the first who has posted to
> the list.


Well, thanks Louis.

Hungary is very much on my mind now since I am doing some intensive research
> on George Soros, the Hungarian-born hedge fund manager who played a
> significant role in promoting market solutions for Hungary's problems.


What you wrote about Soros is very interesting. I have never done any
systematic research on the topic but the influence of Soros, mainly through
his eponymous foundation cannot be missed in Hungary. (I was 5 in '89, so
evidently I don't have any personal experiences about this either)
In the late eighties and early nineties virtually everyone in the liberal
intelligentsia were awarded once (or sometimes multiple times) a
Soros-scholarship, mostly in the form of foreign work, studies in England or
the US and so on. Ironically, some of these people became right-winged
nationalists later on, most famously Hungary's former (and next) PM Orban
Viktor, who spent a semester in Oxford studying (quite hilariously) the
history of British political liberalism. I have to say Soros's investment to
build up a pro-capitalist intellectual coalition had been a tremendous
success, with a rate of return that even his hedge funds can't rival I
guess: the country's political scene is completely dominated by fanatic
neoliberals, whose only adversaries are parochial right-wing extremists.
This has the effect that in Hungary neoliberals (many of whom are also
ex-apparatchiks of the pre-89 system) are often referred to as "left",
believe it or not.
With the crisis hitting hard the country's ultra-globalised economy (exports
to the EU (mostly Germany) amount to something like 80% of GDP, and are
produced by a small number of Western manufacturing firms) a new group of
influential neoliberal economists and bankers has emerged (calling
themselves the "Reform Alliance", with the word reform being used as a
sacrosanct, unquestionable term for pro-capital policies) who are calling
for radical cutbacks in transfer payments, education, privatisation of the
health system and so on (they also have the complete support of the media).
The government is more than happy of course, as they have been trying to
push through these policies all the time, but couldn't do it because of
popular uproar, now seeing the crisis as an opportunity to "do it".
Of course, most people hate these proposals, but so far the only popular
reaction to the worsening economic situation has been anti-Roma hysteria and
a proliferation of new extreme right groups (have a look at this:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5821924.ece or
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,609669,00.html). It should
be said that the Roma of Eastern Europe were absolutely devastated by the
capitalist restructuring of the 90s, as the industries they were employed in
were the the fist to be downsized - or completely eliminated. This resulted
in unemployment rates of 50 or 70% amongst the Roma, and the ghettoisation
of entire regions of the country, especially former industrial regions, with
the ensuing rise in crime rates, ethnic tensions and so on.
To be honest, it's hard to see how anything good could come out of all this.
A revival of the left would of course be a priori logical in an economic
crisis, but due to the balance of forces in Eastern Europe (not just in
terms of economic power, but also of intellectual hegemony) it seems very
unlikely.
BTW, for those interested in Eastern Europe I would very much recommend the
writings of the Hungarian Marxist philosopher GM Tamás, especially his
essays titled "Counter-revolution against a counter-revolution" and "A
Capitalism pure and simple" (both of them are available online at:
http://www.grundrisse.net/grundrisse23/counterRevolutionAgainstCounterRevolution.htm
and  http://www.grundrisse.net/grundrisse22/aCapitalismPurAndSimple.htm )

Mihaly Koltai
________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: 
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40archives.econ.utah.edu