ABSTRACT
By mid-1987 in Hungary, the parallels with the summer before the revolution of 1956 seemed inescapable. Once again the state's administrative bodies and the party's local organizations were in disarray. The disarray and enfeeblement of the state administrative system was most visible in the economic sphere. The economic reform, had attempted to change the structure by moving a mixed economy toward greater decentralization, technological progress, and heavier reliance on free-market forces. Many Western analysts felt that the Mikhail Gorbachev era offered a chance for Hungary to continue its reform and that the Soviet Union could use the Hungarian model as an example and so support the reformist forces in Hungary. There were the party's own reformers, many of whom had been actively working for the revitalization of the party, and specifically of the kisz. Economic renewal and the reforms needed to catch up with the West and to create a liberal, democratic consensus remained a distant prospect.
