Some Aspects of the Socialist Transformation in Hungarian Agriculture

During the past two decades, Hungarian agriculture has been radically changed, mainly in respect of the conditions of property in land, and in its working-structure. Before the World War II, the feudal elements had a very strong influence in Hungarian agriculture, The feudal conditions had been maintained in the country for more than 800 years, and the capitalist development in the Hungarian economy had taken place much later and also at a much slower pace than in Western European countries. However, the peasantry was not able to achieve complete liberation even in the capitalist society, because the Hungarian capitalist class was in alliance with the landowners. This alliance preserved the feudal conditions in respect of landed property and thus a great part of the peasantry was unable to acquire land.