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Since the period of liberalization began with Kádár's "New Course" in 1961, Hungarian theoreticians have been increasingly able to express their own opinions on the subjects and problems of their choice. Due to the regime's simultaneous launching of the "ideological offensive", these theoreticians are also provided with the incentive to undertake detailed studies into the diverse fields and problems of Marxism-Leninism. As a result, Hungarian-made Marxism-Leninism has become both intrinsically interesting and significant, the latter by virtue of its relative autonomy within the Communist bloc. But, works of intrinsic interest, representing sincere and qualified thinking on the part of their authors and adding up to a relatively autonomous stand on questions of the ideology, are merely one part of the total ideological output in Hungary. In addition to works meriting publication due to their own values, there are many other works published which reach print in view of ulterior considerations (e.g. the position of the author, the orientation of the contents, etc.). The problem is to distinguish the more or less compulsory publications from those which appear because of their intrinsic merit and interest.

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-010-3542-2_3

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