ABSTRACT
The revival of autonomous and family enterprises has proved to be especially strong and effective in rural society. The rural population, being disfavoured in almost all orthodox economic and social spheres, has been able to ease a part of those disadvantages by means of autonomous enterprises. This chapter describes the revival of those enterprise modes and forms that have made Hungary different from other countries in Eastern Europe, and have led to important changes in society, power and politics. It discusses the concrete forms of countryside enterprises. The chapter provides a review of social-political changes related to the revival of such enterprises. In Hungary agriculture still presents the greatest opportunities for autonomous forms of production and private enterprise. Production-for-sale by small-scale agricultural units is severely impeded by the legal regulation of the private ownership of, and private market in, land. Although self-provisioning of food is an important objective, the quantity of marketed products may well exceed that of traditional self-consumption.
