Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T02:32:01.107Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Military Industry versus Military-Related Firms in Socialist Hungary: Disintegration and Integration of Military Production during the 1950s and Early 1960s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2015

Pál Germuska
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The article presents some new evidence concerning the conversion program in Socialist Hungary that constituted an exceptional case not only in the Socialist Bloc, but also in the early period of the Cold War. The Hungarian military industry—step by step—was reintegrated into the civil economy between 1953 and 1961. The war plants developed a dual production structure, which helped them stand the storms of the lengthy transitional period. Companies with a double profile diversified their production with a wide scale of civilian goods, new constructional and R&D departments were established. The article examines at the firm level the strategies, the changes in behaviours of the top-managers, and the consequences—what did the switch-over have for Hungarian society, to what extent contributed the increase in consumer goods to political stabilization of the system.

Type
Articles
Information
Enterprise & Society , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , June 2010 , pp. 316 - 349
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2010. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Business History Conference. All rights reserved.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bibliography of Works Cited

Books

Almquist, Peter. Red Forge: Soviet Military Industry since 1965. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990.Google Scholar
Berend, Ivan T. Gazdasági Utkereses 1956–1965. A szocialista gazdaság magyarországi modelljének tortenetehez. Budapest: Magvetd Kiado, 1983.Google Scholar
Bystrova, Irina V. Sovetsko voenno-promyslennyj kompleks: problemy stanovlenija i razvitija, 1930–1980-e gody. Moscow: Rossijskaja Akad. Nauk, 2006.Google Scholar
Borhi, Lászió. Hungary in the Cold War 1945–1956. Between the United States and the Soviet Union. Budapest: CEU Press, 2004.Google Scholar
Dimitrov, Dimitar. The Restructuring and Conversion of the Bulgarian Defence Industry during the Transition Period. Bonn: Bonn International Center for Conversion, 2002.Google Scholar
Hanson, Philip. The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Economy: An Economic History of the USSR from 1945. Edinburgh: Pearson Education, 2003.Google Scholar
Honvári, jános. XX. századi magyar gazdaságtörténet. Budapest: Aula, 2006.Google Scholar
Judt, Tony. Postwar: A History ofEurope since 1945. New York: Penguin, 2005.Google Scholar
Kiss, Erika. A Hútógépgyar es Jászbrény fel évszázada. Jaszberény: Gépipari Tudomanyos Egyesület, 2003.Google Scholar
Kiss, Judit. The Defence Industry in East-Central Europe: Restructuring and Conversion. Solna: SIPRI, 1997.Google Scholar
Kiss, Judit. The Transformation of the Defense Industry in Hungary. Bonn: Bonn International Center for Conversion, 1999.Google Scholar
Kornai, Janos. The Socialist System: The Political Economy of Communism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992.Google Scholar
Kornai, Janos. Overcentralisation in Economic Administration: A Critical Analysis Based on Experience in Hungarian Light Industry. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.Google Scholar
Millward, Robert. Private and Public Enterprise in Europe: Energy, Telecommunications and Transport, 1830–1990. Cambridge Studies in Economic History. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2005.Google Scholar
Okvath, Imre. Bastya a beke frontjan. Magyar haderoes katonapolitika 1945¬1956. Budapest: Aquila, 1998.Google Scholar
Paczkowski, Andrzej. Fel evszazad Lengyelország tortenetebd, 1939–1989. Budapest: 1956-os Intezet, 1997.Google Scholar
Rainer, Janos M. Nagy Imre. Politikai eletrajz. I. kotet. Budapest: 1956-os Intezet, 1996.Google Scholar
Rainer, Janos M. Nagy Imre. Politikai eletrajz. II. kotet. Budapest: 1956-os Intezet, 1999.Google Scholar
Toninelli, Pierangelo Maria. The Rise and Fall ofState-Owned Enterprise in the Western World. Comparative Perspectives in Business History. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2000.Google Scholar

Articles and Essays

Barber, John, Harrison, Mark, Simonov, Nikolai, and Starkov, Boris. “The Structure and Development of the Defence-Industry Complex.” In The Soviet Defence-Industry Complex from Stalin to Khrushchev, edited by Barber, John, Harrison, Mark, 3–29. New York: Macmillan / London: St. Martin’s Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Bähr, Johannes. “Oberspreewerk 1945-52.” Zeitschrift fur Un-ternehmensgeschichte 39, no. 3 (1994): 145–64.Google Scholar
Galev, Todor. “Military-Related Technological Innovations in Bulgaria during Socialism: Beyond Ideological and Political Borders. The ARCUS Military Plant Case.” In Proceedings from the Second Plenary Conference of the Tensions of Europe Network “Technology and Rethinking European Borders”, digital reprint, CD-ROM issue.Google Scholar
Germuska, Pail. “A magyar hadiipar a hatvanas evek elejen.” In Mult századi hetkoznapok. TanulmányokaKadár-rendszer kialakulásának idoszakáról, edited by Rainer, Janos M., 90–128. Budapest: 1956-os Intezet, 2003.Google Scholar
Germuska, Pail. “From Commands to Coordination: Defence Industry Cooperation within the Member-States of the Warsaw Pact, 1956–1965.” In Multina-ti nal Operati ns, Alliances, and Internati nal Military C perati n. Past and Future. Proceedings of the Fifth Workshop of the Partnership for Peace Consortium’s Military History Working Group, Vienna, Austria 4-8 April 2005, edited by Rush, Robert S. and Epley, William W., 101–8. Washington D.C.: Center of Military History United States Army, 2006.Google Scholar
Germuska, Pail. “A magyar hadiipar 1956-ban.” In Tanulmányok es emlekmozaikok az 56-os forradalomrol, edited by Szabo, Ferenc A., 89–113. Budapest: Zrinyi Miklos Hadtudomanyi Alapítvany, 2007.Google Scholar
Germuska, Pail. “Military-Economic Planning in Socialist Hungary: The History of the General Organisational Department of the National Planning Office, 1948¬1971.” Europe-Asia Studies 60 (july 2008): 809–30.Google Scholar
Kluge, Arnd. “Betriebsgeschichte in der DDR—ein Riickblick.” Zeitschrift fur Unternehmensgeschichte 38 (1993): 49–62.Google Scholar
Okvath, Imre. A magyar hadsereg haboms haditervei, 1948–1962. Hadtorténeti Kozlemenyek 119 (March 2006): 34–53.Google Scholar
Yudanov, Andrei. “USSR: Large Enterprises—the Functional Disorder.” In: BigBusiness and the Wealth ofNations. edited by Chandler, Alfred Dupont, Amatori, Franco, and Hikino, Takashi. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.Google Scholar
Zachmann, Karin. “A Socialist Consumption junction: Debating the Mechanization of Housework in East Germany, 1956–1957.” Technology and Culture 43 (january 2002): 73–99.Google Scholar

Archival Materials and Official Reports

A Danuvia Szerszámgepgyár hadiipari tevekenysege. d. n. [Undated] Kezirat [Manuscript], Hadtortenelmi LeveMr, Magyar Nephadsereg (HL MN) Különgyujtémeny. [War History Archives, Special collection of the Hungarian People’s Army].Google Scholar
Eszakmagyarországi Vegyimuuvek 1948–1980. evi hadiipari tevekenysegenek torteneti feldolgozása, Kezirat, 1984, HL MN Különgyujtémeny.Google Scholar
Grohe, Karoly. Az Altalános GeptervezoIroda tortenete, Kezirat, 1985, HL MN Kulongyujtemeny.Google Scholar
Javor, Ervin. A magyar honvedelmi gazdaságpolitika es a hadiipar fejlodestortenete 1945–1980. Kezirat, 1986, HL MN Különgyujtémeny.Google Scholar
Karoly, Janosne. A speciális híradástechnika kialakulásának torteneti leírása. A hadiipari gyártás alakulása a Videotonnál. Kezirat, 1985, HL MN Különgyujtémeny.Google Scholar
A Magyar Dolgozok Pártja III. kongresszusának rovidített jegyzkonyve. 1954. május 24–30. Budapest: Szikra, 1954.Google Scholar
A Magyar Szocialista Munkáspárt VII. kongresszusának jegyzkonyve. 1959. november 30-december 5. Budapest: Kossuth Konyvkiado, 1960.Google Scholar
Nagy, Karoly. Nitrokemia Ipartelepek, Kezirat, 1984, HL MN Különgyujtémeny.Google Scholar
Posafalvi, Andrs & Potor, Bela. AHajdusági Iparmuvek hadiipari tortenete 1953–1980, Hadhazteglas. Kezirat, 1985, HL MN Különgyujtémeny.Google Scholar
Reiner, Robert. A FEG ipartortenete, 1935–1980. Kezirat, 1985. HL MN Kulongyujtemeny.Google Scholar
Sulyok, Zoltan. AMatravideki Femmuvek hadiipar kialakulásának, tevekenysegenek torteneti feldolgozása, 1984, Kezirat, HL MN Különgyujtémeny.Google Scholar
Szemelvenyek a Hiuttúgepgyár tortenetebd, 1984, Kezirat, HL MN Kulongyujtemeny.Google Scholar
Thurmer, Gyula. AMagyarNephadsereg Vezerkara Anyagtervezesi es KozgazdasUgi Csoportfonoksege tortenete. Kezirat, HL MN Különgyujtémeny.Google Scholar

Dissertation

Nagy, Tamaís. “Fordulattoíl—forradalomig. A Magyar Dolgozoík Paírtja katona-politikaíja 1948–1956.” PhD-doktori disszertaícioí [PhD thesis], Budapest, 2003.Google Scholar