Review of The Hungarian Writings by Karl Polanyi

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn the current times of political crisis, a giant thinker such as Karl Polanyi will return to the forefront of intellectual debate. Many of his important early articles have only been available in Hungarian or in German. With the publication of The Hungarian Writings (2016), edited by Gareth Dale (Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Brunel University London), a major gap in Polanyi studies has been filled. These essays, published for the first time in English, provide a key to understanding Karl Polanyi’s later works. The range of issues that are reviewed in these writings is astounding. Everything from Marxism to politics, economics and sociology is examined by the extraordinary mind of the author. Events such as the Russian revolution and the significance of Bolshevism are also explored. Lastly, a section of correspondence to such eminent intellectuals as Georg Lukaćs and Istvan Meszaros gives the reader an inside look into the socialist worldview of Karl Polanyi. This book truly shines a new light on many aspects of Polanyi’s critique of capitalism developed in his magnum opus, The Great Transformation (1944). Various aspects of The Hungarian Writings will be explored in depth in this critical review.