184
PARTISAN REVIEW
William Phillips:
Mrs. Schwartz.
Joan Schwartz:
Do you get all the journals you might want from other
countries?
Gyorgy Hidas :
There has been a free flow since 1986, when, at the
European conference in Budapest, you could buy foreign newspa–
pers at newspaper stands. Not every newspaper stand has them; but
you can buy, for example,
The International Herald Tribune, The New
York Times,
and others. Yet they are very expensive. For example,
you can buy a Hungarian journal for 1.80 forints, and you can buy
The International Herald Tribune
for 70 forints.
Abe Raskin:
I'm sorry to say that I'm left a little confused as to the
message. You have described the situation as potentially explosive:
there apparently is a vacuum of authority; while the authority is still
nominally there, it is not being exercised. There is, first of all, a
dreadful economic situation, a great surge among the people for
some real expression. What is the message we should get from this as
to what we in the West can do to accelerate liberalization? And is it
indeed an explosive situation, or is it better left alone, as you sug–
gested in your closing remarks?
Gyorgy Hidas:
Well, the situation is confusing. And I don't have such
a good overview of the whole situation. But I think, for example,
that if the Hungarian government wishes for more and more joint
ventures, Hungarian-American and so on, they have to change the
bureaucratic measures which hinder such joint ventures.
If
they only
pay lip service and say, "Okay, we will set up the joint ventures we
need," and then they can't achieve them, there is a double bind. I
think in such a case, the Chase Manhattan Bank, for instance, could
say that they can't discuss anything until there is more than bureau–
cratic lip service.
Abe Raskin:
Are you saying that the real progress for liberalization
will come from joint ventures betokening the advent of capitalism?
Gyorgy Hidas:
Not quite. I say that you could object to this double
bind; ask the government to be really open rather than indulge this
double-talk.
Judith Szekdcs:
I don't know if I'm correctly recalling this story, so I
ask the rest of us to help me out. You know the Soros Foundation
was mentioned by Edith as one of the sponsoring agencies of our
visit. The Soros Foundation has been something extraordinary in
Hungarian cultural life during the last five years. You can apply for
a grant at Soros as an institute or as an individual; you can work in
scientific research or cultural studies; libraries are applying for
