ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book introduces the socio–economic structure of the prewar village, elements of which went into the building of the system. It describes the post–war years preceding the more active campaigns of collectivization. In post–war Hungary the collectivization of agriculture was pivotal in the planned recasting of the economy and society along socialist lines. Collectivization implies fundamental change from the peasant system; it involves tens of thousands of individual units of production which require the full cooperation of the peasantry in order to remain operational. The book examines economic and production activities of the villagers outside the collective and outside agriculture. It discusses the place of plot faming within the national and domestic economy, its official and popular status; they examine the form and function of plot farming, together with the division of labour within the family.
