Agrarian reform and the restructuring of rural society in Hungary

Abstract

Agrarian reform in central and eastern Europe prompts some important questions relating to the continuing interdependence of urban and rural society. In Hungary, for example, a substantial volume of worker-peasant commuter movements had created important bridges between the rural and urban economies; moreover, the ancillary household plot had become a key feature permeating all sections of the economy and an important means of raising household incomes and participating in the consumption society for both urban and rural populations. The paper explores the issues surrounding the privatisation of land and the future of the large-scale co-operative enterprises in Hungary where, to date, the expected transformation of agricultural production structures has been far from complete. Threats of massive redundancies in both the agricultural and urban-industrial employment sectors, particularly affecting the ‘worker peasant’, raise questions about the future stability of rural society and the security of rural living standards.