ECONOMIC REFORMS IN HUNGARY (LATE 1950s – 1960s.)

The article is devoted to the characteristics of economic reforms in the Hungarian People's Republic carried out in the late 1950s-1960s by representatives of the reformist wing of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (HSWP) under the leadership of J. Kadar. It is noted, in particular, that the ultimate success of the ruling communist regime was the economic reform, the main provisions of which came into effect on January 1, 1968, having received the name "a New economic mechanism." The reform anticipated the transition from a centralized directive-planning system to an indicative one, i.e., the elements of market-based relations were introduced along with the existing socialist planned economy. As the study pointed out, liberal transformations in Hungary resulted from J. Kadar's policy of consolidation and social harmony after the revolutionary events of 1956, and their goal was primarily to increase the population's welfare. Both the best Hungarian economists and political figures took an active part in developing essential reforms under the chairmanship of the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party Rezső Nyers, Prime Minister Jenő Fock, Vice Prime Minister Lajos Fehér. It is emphasized that the economic reforms in the Hungarian People's Republic brought the following changes: mandatory planning tasks were canceled, material incentives appeared, pricing practices changed, liberalization of agriculture took place, and small-scale production with the simultaneous functioning of large cooperative farms originated. Based on the developed scientific material, it was concluded that the most significant successes were in agriculture. However, after the events in Czechoslovakia in 1968, the liberal changes in Hungary, which destroyed the directive management system, caused dissatisfaction among the communist leaders of the countries of the socialist camp and in the Kremlin. There were also many opponents of reforms in the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party and in the party-state apparatus, which ultimately led to the collapse of the New economic mechanism in 1972–1973. Based on the analysis of specialized domestic and foreign publications, the author points out that the amount of scientific literature on the studied issues in modern Ukrainian historical science is insufficient.