ACTA HISTORICA - A MTA TÖRTÉNETTUDOMÁNYI FOLYÓIRATA TOM. 13 (1967)
13. kötet / 1-2. sz. - ÉTUDES - I. T. BEREND: Contribution to the History of Hungarian Economic Policy in the Two Decades Following the Second World War
Contribution to the History of Hungarian Economic Policy in the Two Decades Following the Second World War by I. T. BEREND Nichts ist zarter wie Vergangenheit; Rühre sie an, wie ein glühend Eisen: Denn sie wird dir sogleich beweisen, Du lebst auch in heißer Zeit. Goethe What can the scholar concerned with contemporary history say to these profound lines of Goethe? If we have so much faith in the validity for our age of the lessons derived from the past, how extensively we may benefit from studying recent periods. Moreover, our conscious and sober present demands such analysis, and the scholar of modern history is as it were driven by an inner force to write about his own age to his contemporaries. Naturally a wellfounded evaluation of economic history is still hampered by many factors. First of all, numerous economic processes are still in progress, and, though immense groups of archival documents have been made available for study1 important historical sources are not open to research. For lack of adequate historical perspective erroneous conceptions have also to be reckoned with, while prevailing views — nolens volens — unavoidably influence judgment. Finally there is no way to elude the disparity that on some issues — particularly those connected with the period preceding the year 1953 — conclusion may be drawn from the analysis of masses of actual facts, whereas in other cases we can get no further than to point out processes or to raise questions, especially when it comes to dealing with the periods following 1953 and 1956. I should like to draw the reader's attention to the circumstance that the present summary, endeavouring to shed light on consecutive periods, is unable to deal with the totality of even the principal fields of economic policy, and has to concentrate in the first place on the development of conceptions concerning economic policy. I The first stage of the economic policy applied in the two decades after the Second World War is represented by the economic policy evolving in the yearp between 1945 and 1948. . .e^-iaV . fiJc.inim 1* 1 The material of ministries and the party archives from the years been made accessible to historians. l0 JnomiinqoCl Acta Historica Academiae ScientiaruM-'itbhg&iielfb, 'Г9&7