Political and social conflicts arising from the transformation of property relations in Hungary

An instructive element that charts developments in the new Hungarian political system is the competition among social groups over property ownership. The main groups involved are the ‘new technocrats’ emerging under the old regime in the ruling party and state bureaucracies, the managers of state enterprises, industrial workers, and the political elites of the new political parties. Privatization and the growth of a market economy can be seen as the outcome of the complex interrelation of these groups competing for power and position during the course of the fall of the old regime and the establishment of the new one.