State Socialism in Eastern Europe: History, Theory, Anti-capitalist Alternatives (Marx, Engels, and Marxisms)

This volume brings together a diverse set of scholars to address the long theoretical, conceptual and political debate on the interpretation of “actually existing” socialism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. While the major paradigms – totalitarianism, neo-totalitarianism, revisionism, post-revisionism, modernization, and the world-system analysis – are well known in the Western (English-language) literature, the concept of state socialism, which has strong theoretical roots in Hungary (going back to the works of György Lukács and István Mészáros) received less international attention. This book contributes to a productive discussion about viable alternatives to capitalism by introducing and theoretically elaborating on the concept and practice of state socialism, highlighting the historical significance of Hungary's experiment with the “new economic mechanism” of 1968. It generates a common point of reference for various generations of anti-systemic thinkers, scholars, and activists to move beyond Cold War simplifications and ideological divides, and contributes to the discussion about anti-capitalist alternatives, which are relevant today for the global left. The chapter “Dance Around a ‘Sacred Cow': Women's Night Work and the Gender Politics of the Mass Worker in State-Socialist Hungary and Internationally” is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International License via link.springer.com. Titles Published Titles Forthcoming Abbreviations Contents Notes on Contributors From Socialism to Neoliberalism: Lessons from Eastern Europe and Hungary Introduction The Old and New Program of “Catching-Up” Development The Renaissance of Totalitarian Theory Eastern Europe as a Neoliberal “Laboratory” The Marxist Renaissance of the 1960s, Its Context and Its Legacy Beyond the Cold War Discourse Hungary and Eastern Europe: A “Third Road” Experiment and Its End About the Contributions State Socialism, Gender and the Western “Magnetic Field” The Collapse of State Socialism and Its Aftermath State Socialism in the Official memory—And a Proposed Counternarrative Notes A Third Road in Eastern Europe? The Interdependence of Socialist Hungary’s External and Internal Balances: The Bridge Model and the Consolidation of the Kádár Era The Evolution of the Hungarian Bridge Model Hungary’s Efforts to Restore External Balance up to the Oil-Price Shock of 1973 Hungary’s Efforts to Restore Internal Balance up to the Oil-Price Shock of 1973 The Effects of the Global Crisis of the 1970s on Hungary’s Internal and External Balances Conclusion Notes The Neoliberalism as a Legal Project in State Socialist Hungary Theoretical Frameworks Capitalism and Law: The Commodity Form Theory of Law Neoliberalism as a Legal Project The Kádár Regime and the Capitalism Mediated by Law The Dominance of Socialist Public Law and Socialist Normativism The Private Law Revolution The Reform Economists as the New Organic Elite Consequences: Neoliberalism, Law and Hegemony Notes Dance Around a “Sacred Cow”: Women’s Night Work and the Gender Politics of the Mass Worker in State-Socialist Hungary and Internationally Hope for Grand Reform Domestically and Internationally, and Work with the ILO on Paper in the 1960s The Heyday of Gendered Workerist Women’s Politics Around 1970 and Immediate Challenges The Woman Mass Worker Transformed into an Economic Being The Road to Denunciation Conclusion Notes Emancipated or Excluded? Women Workers and the Gender Regime in State Socialist Hungary Introduction Testing the Borders: Labour Studies in the Kádár Regime Female Strategies: Those Who Resigned from a Better Life ...and Those Who Attempted to Break Out Conclusion Notes System Change and the Alternatives System Change and Property Relations: On Perestroika’s Historical Experiences State Ownership as Historical Determination and the Perestroika The ‘Shatalin Plan’ as the Document of Introduction of Private Property Debates and Fights Concerning the Restoration of Capitalism The Market—Against Self-Management and Workers’ Property Conclusion Notes The Rise and Fall of Red Halas, 1944–2019 Introduction The Unwelcome Revolution: 1940s–1960s Reform and Development: 1960s–1980s Case-Study: KUNÉP Collapse and Nostalgia: 1990s–2010s Conclusion Notes The New Canon Imagining State Socialism in Slovakia After 1989: Public Discourse and History Education Practices Introduction Repeated Regime-Based Changes of Narratives in School History Education Remembrance of the Socialist Past Teaching About Socialism in Schools Conclusion Notes Between Goulash Communism and Dictatorship: The Image of Hungarian State Socialism in Secondary School Textbooks (Published After 1990) Introduction Narratives of the Mainstream (1990–2010) Right- and Left-Wing Perspectives (1990–2010) Summary and Post-2010 Developments Notes Concluding Essays The Socialist Transition in the Materialist View of History and the State Socialist Systems Introduction Marx and Engels on the Socialist Transition State Socialist Systems in the ‘Short Twentieth Century’ Conclusion Notes State Socialist Experiments—Historical Lessons Introduction The Description of State Socialism, The Borders of Its Historical Validity and Its Typical Characteristics Direct Socialization, Communality in the Transitional Period Planned Economy—New Economic Mechanism (NEM)—Theories of Commodity Relations—Proprietorship A Theoretical Attempt: The Mobilization of the Sui Generis Sources of Legitimacy of State Socialism. The Political Mechanism and the Institutional Levels of Decision-making of a Dialectical Democracy-concept Notes Index