ABSTRACT
Hungary is the CMEA country with the longest history of economic reform. The first reformist changes took place in the early 1960s in agriculture. Then, In 1968, there followed the radical step of abolishing mandatory plan targets and of creating a system of indirect enterprise guidance by means of monetary instruments. On July 2,1987, the Central Committee (CC) of Hungary’s Communist Party passed a “Program for economic and social evolution”. The Program has been a reaction to growing criticism inside and outside of Hungary, deprecating the leadership’s inability to show a way out of Hungary’s precarious economic situation caused by the uncontrolled expansion of debt in convertible currencies since 1985. The leadership changes that took place at the May 22 Conference of Hungary’s Communist Party are remarkable in various respects. To start with, the changes were sweeping.
