NID: HUNGARY: LEADERSHIP PROPOSES SWEEPING REFORMS

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe: A 30-Year Legacy
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06826737
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 26, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 10, 2019
• Publication Date: April 22, 1989

Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826737
HUNGARY: Leadership Proposes Sweeping Reforms
The liungarian Politburo this week made several decisions that.
if adopted by the Central C'ommittee nest month. will reduce the
party's ability to control the political and economic systems. The
Politburo voted to give up party control of appointments to
important nonparty posts, including government ministries. The
leaders also decided to shift the !bens of the party's local activities
from enterprises to neighborhoods, arguing that the party should
be engaged in politics, not production management. The Politburo
apparently handed General Secretary Grosz a personal defeat by
refusing to back his public opposition to formal tics among "reform
Circles" in party organizations�that is. the supporters of his rivals
Imre Pozsgay and Rerso Nyers.
Comment: The proposed changes directly attack the power and
prerogatives of the party's hidebound apparatus. Grosz's principal
source of support. Opponents of reform are sure to put pressure on
the Central Committee to defeat or water down the proposals. but
concerns that reformers might bolt the party and take with them
a majority of its members will be a strong counterweight. The
Politburo's decisions suggest that some of Grosz's former supporters
recognize that momentum is with Pozsgay, Nycrs, and the reform
camp.
NR Record
9
WM,
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TCS 2793/89
22 April 1989
Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826737