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Eugen Varga

March 16, 2024

Eugen Samuilovich "Jenő" Varga (born as Eugen Weisz, November 6, 1879 – October 7, 1964) was a Soviet economist of Hungarian origin.

Eugen Varga
Personal details
Born
Eugen Weisz

(1879-11-06)6 November 1879
Budapest, Austria-Hungary
Died7 October 1964(1964-10-07) (aged 84)
Moscow, Soviet Union
Parent(s)Sámuel Weisz
Julianna Singer
ProfessionPolitician, economist

Biography edit

Early years edit

He was born as Jenő Weiß (Hungarian orthography: Weisz) in a poor Jewish family,[1] as a child of Samuel Weisz - who was a teacher in the primary school of Nagytétény - and Julianna Singer. Eugen "Jenő" Varga studied philosophy and economic geography at the University of Budapest. In 1906, he started writing in socialist and academic journals, mainly on economic subjects. Before World War I he gained some fame by discussing with Otto Bauer about the origins of inflation in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In this period he belonged to the Marxist Centrists, of whom Karl Kautsky and Rudolf Hilferding were the most prominent spokesmen.

Hungarian revolution edit

In February 1919, Varga joined the newly created Hungarian Communist Party. During the short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919, led by Béla Kun, he was People's Commissar for Finance, and then Chairman of the Supreme Council of National Economy. After the overthrow of the Soviet Republic he fled to Vienna.[2]

Soviet emigration edit

In 1920 he went to the Soviet Union with Arthur Holitscher.[3] Here he started working for the Comintern, specializing in international economic problems and agrarian questions.[4] In years 1922-1927 he was working at the department of trade in the Soviet embassy in Berlin. In 1927-47, he was director of the Institute of World Economy and World Politics. In the 1930s he became an economic adviser to Joseph Stalin. He survived the purges of the 1930s, during which Bela Kun and other Hungarians were executed.

During World War II he advised the Soviet Government in matters of post-war reparations. He attended the Potsdam Conference of 1945 as an expert. Like most of his compatriots living and working in Moscow, he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, but he also remained active in the Hungarian Communist Party.

He authored the economic reports the congresses of the Comintern discussed between 1921 and 1935. A large number of his writings were studies of the international economic conjuncture, in which he made great effort to assess quantitative trends in output, investment and employment using official economic data from numerous countries. He also extensively studied German imperialism.

Personality edit

In 1922, Alexander Barmine, a Soviet diplomat who later defected to the west, travelled by train to Moscow with delegates to the Fourth Congress of Comintern, including Varga, who "showed the most revolting lack of consideration" by demanding a private railway compartment. Barmine considered that he should have content with a berth in a first class carriage. He wrote: "The little luxuries of power go to men's heads."[5]

Another Soviet defector Abdurakhman Avtorkhanov, writing under the pseudonym Alexander Uralov, left a humorous description of Varga, whom he described as having "the pedantry of a German official, the obstinacy of a Russian accountant, and the suppleness of an Oriental fakir", and of his institute, where "share fluctuations were followed more attentively than in any London or New York bank. The most brilliant member of the Stock Exchange would have envied the way in which Varga was kept informed."[6]

Post-War Controversy edit

In 1946, Varga published The Economic Transformation of Capitalism at the End of the Second World War, in which he argued that during the war, western governments had accumulated great power over the management of capitalist economies, which brought them closer to socialist economies and more likely to last. He was praised by Kremlin watchers in the west as a 'person with a Western orientation' and a 'defender' of the Marshall Plan, but "these implications were highly distasteful to Soviet conservatives" who believed that capitalism was heading for an extreme and possibly terminal crisis.[7] During a closed meeting of economists called by USSR Academy of Sciences and Moscow University, in May 1947, "Varga was attacked for his writings by most, if not all, of the participants."[8]

He was also attacked by Nikolai Voznesensky, then a powerful figure as Chairman of Gosplan and a member of the Politburo, who wrote a book in which he accused 'certain theoreticians' of having 'empty opinions which deserve no consideration'. Varga's book was condemned at a meeting of economists and political experts in May 1947, and the institute he headed was closed and subsumed into Gosplan.[9] [10] Though he remained a leading academic economist, his prestige had diminished - in the second edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia he was qualified as a "bourgeois economist" - but the fact that he was not dismissed or arrested implies that he had powerful protectors. In March 1949, Voznesensky was arrested, and two days later, on 15 March, Varga published a self-critical letter in Pravda.[11]

Years after Stalin edit

After Stalin's death in 1953, Varga reappeared on the scene. In February 1956, he wrote the article in Pravda that rehabilitated Bela Kun. The new leaders in the Kremlin, believing in the virtues of peaceful co-existence, were not interested in Varga's predictions of the outbreak of a "necessary" economic crisis in the United States. After his death, his selected works in three volumes were published in the Soviet Union, Hungary, and East Germany.

Varga never returned to living in his native Hungary. Because he was very close to Mátyás Rákosi, he was several times invited as an economic advisor to Hungary. In this period (1945-1950) he had specialized in economic planning, pricing and monetary reforms, i.e. reforms the Hungarian Communists now in power were carrying out. After the fall of Rákosi caused by the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and the take-over by the Kádár team, Varga's advisory work was no longer fashionable.

Awards edit

Footnotes edit

  1. ^ Michael Löwy (1992). Redemption and Utopia: Jewish Libertarian Thought in Central Europe : a Study in Elective Affinity. Stanford University Press. p. 174. ISBN 9780804717762. Redemption and Utopia: Jewish Libertarian Thought in Central Europe : a Study in Elective Affinity.
  2. ^ Tokes, Rudolf L. (1967). Béla Kun and the Hungarian Soviet Republic: The Origins and Role of the Communist Party of Hungary in the Revolutions of 1918-1919. New York: Frederick A. Praeger.
  3. ^ Holitscher, Arthur (1921). Drei Monate in Sowjet-Rußland von Arthur Holitscher (in German). Berlin: S. Fischer.
  4. ^ Lazitch, Branko, in collaboration with Milorad Drachkovitch (1973). Biographical Dictionary of the Comintern. Stanford, Cal: Hoover Institution Press. pp. 424–25. ISBN 0-8179-1211-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Barmine, Alexander (1945). One Who Survived. New York: G.P.Putnam's Sons. p. 123.
  6. ^ Uralov, Alexander (1953). The Reign of Stalin. London: The Bodley Head.
  7. ^ Hahn, Werner G. (1982). Postwar Soviet Politics, The Fall of Zhdanov and the Defeat of Moderation, 1946-53. Ithaca: Cornell U.P. pp. 91, 84–85. ISBN 0-8014-1410-5.
  8. ^ Ra'anan, Gavriel D. (1983). International Policy Formation in the USSR, Factional 'Debates' during the Zhdanovschina. Hamden, Connecticut: Archon. p. 65. ISBN 0-208-01976-6.
  9. ^ Conquest, Robert (1961). Power and Policy in the U.S.S.R. London: MacMillan. pp. 88–91.
  10. ^ Spriano, Paolo (1985). Stalin and the European Communists. London: Verso.
  11. ^ Conquest. Power and Policy. p. 91.

Further reading edit

  • Gerhard Duda, Jeno Varga und die Geschichte des Instituts für Weltwirtschaft und Weltpolitik in Moskau 1921-1970. Berlin, 1994.
  • Charlene Gannage, "E. S. Varga and the Theory of State Monopoly Capitalism," Review of Radical Political Economics, vol. 12, no. 3 (Fall 1980), pp. 36–49.
  • Peter Knirsch, Eugen Varga. Berlin, 1961.
  • Laszlo Tikos, E. Vargas Tätigkeit als Wirtschaftsanalytiker und Publizist in der ungarischen Sozialdemokratie, in der Konimtern, in der Akademie der Wissenschaften der UdSSR. Tübingen, 1965.
  • André Mommen, Eens komt de grote crisis van het kapitalisme. Leven en werk van Jeno Varga. Brussels, 2002.
  • André Mommen, Stalin's Economist. The Economic Contributions of Jenö Varga. London: Routledge, 2011.
  • Kyung Deok Roh (July 2011). "Rethinking the Varga Controversy, 1941-1953". Europe-Asia Studies. 63 (5): 833–855. doi:10.1080/09668136.2011.576026. S2CID 145328496.

External links edit

  • Eugen Varga on Marxist Internet Archive
  • Twentieth Century Capitalism by Varga, 1962.
  • Politico-Economic Problems of Capitalism by Varga, 1968.
  • Newspaper clippings about Eugen Varga in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
Political offices
Preceded by People's Commissar of Finance
1919 		Succeeded by

March 16, 2024
eugen, varga, eugen, samuilovich, jenő, varga, born, eugen, weisz, november, 1879, october, 1964, soviet, economist, hungarian, origin, personal, detailsborneugen, weisz, 1879, november, 1879budapest, austria, hungarydied7, october, 1964, 1964, aged, moscow, s. Eugen Samuilovich Jeno Varga born as Eugen Weisz November 6 1879 October 7 1964 was a Soviet economist of Hungarian origin Eugen VargaPersonal detailsBornEugen Weisz 1879 11 06 6 November 1879Budapest Austria HungaryDied7 October 1964 1964 10 07 aged 84 Moscow Soviet UnionParent s Samuel Weisz Julianna SingerProfessionPolitician economist Contents 1 Biography 1 1 Early years 1 2 Hungarian revolution 1 3 Soviet emigration 2 Personality 3 Post War Controversy 3 1 Years after Stalin 4 Awards 5 Footnotes 6 Further reading 7 External linksBiography editEarly years edit He was born as Jeno Weiss Hungarian orthography Weisz in a poor Jewish family 1 as a child of Samuel Weisz who was a teacher in the primary school of Nagyteteny and Julianna Singer Eugen Jeno Varga studied philosophy and economic geography at the University of Budapest In 1906 he started writing in socialist and academic journals mainly on economic subjects Before World War I he gained some fame by discussing with Otto Bauer about the origins of inflation in the Austro Hungarian Empire In this period he belonged to the Marxist Centrists of whom Karl Kautsky and Rudolf Hilferding were the most prominent spokesmen Hungarian revolution edit In February 1919 Varga joined the newly created Hungarian Communist Party During the short lived Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919 led by Bela Kun he was People s Commissar for Finance and then Chairman of the Supreme Council of National Economy After the overthrow of the Soviet Republic he fled to Vienna 2 Soviet emigration edit In 1920 he went to the Soviet Union with Arthur Holitscher 3 Here he started working for the Comintern specializing in international economic problems and agrarian questions 4 In years 1922 1927 he was working at the department of trade in the Soviet embassy in Berlin In 1927 47 he was director of the Institute of World Economy and World Politics In the 1930s he became an economic adviser to Joseph Stalin He survived the purges of the 1930s during which Bela Kun and other Hungarians were executed During World War II he advised the Soviet Government in matters of post war reparations He attended the Potsdam Conference of 1945 as an expert Like most of his compatriots living and working in Moscow he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union but he also remained active in the Hungarian Communist Party He authored the economic reports the congresses of the Comintern discussed between 1921 and 1935 A large number of his writings were studies of the international economic conjuncture in which he made great effort to assess quantitative trends in output investment and employment using official economic data from numerous countries He also extensively studied German imperialism Personality editIn 1922 Alexander Barmine a Soviet diplomat who later defected to the west travelled by train to Moscow with delegates to the Fourth Congress of Comintern including Varga who showed the most revolting lack of consideration by demanding a private railway compartment Barmine considered that he should have content with a berth in a first class carriage He wrote The little luxuries of power go to men s heads 5 Another Soviet defector Abdurakhman Avtorkhanov writing under the pseudonym Alexander Uralov left a humorous description of Varga whom he described as having the pedantry of a German official the obstinacy of a Russian accountant and the suppleness of an Oriental fakir and of his institute where share fluctuations were followed more attentively than in any London or New York bank The most brilliant member of the Stock Exchange would have envied the way in which Varga was kept informed 6 Post War Controversy editIn 1946 Varga published The Economic Transformation of Capitalism at the End of the Second World War in which he argued that during the war western governments had accumulated great power over the management of capitalist economies which brought them closer to socialist economies and more likely to last He was praised by Kremlin watchers in the west as a person with a Western orientation and a defender of the Marshall Plan but these implications were highly distasteful to Soviet conservatives who believed that capitalism was heading for an extreme and possibly terminal crisis 7 During a closed meeting of economists called by USSR Academy of Sciences and Moscow University in May 1947 Varga was attacked for his writings by most if not all of the participants 8 He was also attacked by Nikolai Voznesensky then a powerful figure as Chairman of Gosplan and a member of the Politburo who wrote a book in which he accused certain theoreticians of having empty opinions which deserve no consideration Varga s book was condemned at a meeting of economists and political experts in May 1947 and the institute he headed was closed and subsumed into Gosplan 9 10 Though he remained a leading academic economist his prestige had diminished in the second edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia he was qualified as a bourgeois economist but the fact that he was not dismissed or arrested implies that he had powerful protectors In March 1949 Voznesensky was arrested and two days later on 15 March Varga published a self critical letter in Pravda 11 Years after Stalin edit After Stalin s death in 1953 Varga reappeared on the scene In February 1956 he wrote the article in Pravda that rehabilitated Bela Kun The new leaders in the Kremlin believing in the virtues of peaceful co existence were not interested in Varga s predictions of the outbreak of a necessary economic crisis in the United States After his death his selected works in three volumes were published in the Soviet Union Hungary and East Germany Varga never returned to living in his native Hungary Because he was very close to Matyas Rakosi he was several times invited as an economic advisor to Hungary In this period 1945 1950 he had specialized in economic planning pricing and monetary reforms i e reforms the Hungarian Communists now in power were carrying out After the fall of Rakosi caused by the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and the take over by the Kadar team Varga s advisory work was no longer fashionable Awards editThree Orders of Lenin 1944 1953 1959 Order of the Red Banner of Labour 1945 Medal For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War 1941 1945 1945 Lenin Prize 1963 Footnotes edit Michael Lowy 1992 Redemption and Utopia Jewish Libertarian Thought in Central Europe a Study in Elective Affinity Stanford University Press p 174 ISBN 9780804717762 Redemption and Utopia Jewish Libertarian Thought in Central Europe a Study in Elective Affinity Tokes Rudolf L 1967 Bela Kun and the Hungarian Soviet Republic The Origins and Role of the Communist Party of Hungary in the Revolutions of 1918 1919 New York Frederick A Praeger Holitscher Arthur 1921 Drei Monate in Sowjet Russland von Arthur Holitscher in German Berlin S Fischer Lazitch Branko in collaboration with Milorad Drachkovitch 1973 Biographical Dictionary of the Comintern Stanford Cal Hoover Institution Press pp 424 25 ISBN 0 8179 1211 8 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Barmine Alexander 1945 One Who Survived New York G P Putnam s Sons p 123 Uralov Alexander 1953 The Reign of Stalin London The Bodley Head Hahn Werner G 1982 Postwar Soviet Politics The Fall of Zhdanov and the Defeat of Moderation 1946 53 Ithaca Cornell U P pp 91 84 85 ISBN 0 8014 1410 5 Ra anan Gavriel D 1983 International Policy Formation in the USSR Factional Debates during the Zhdanovschina Hamden Connecticut Archon p 65 ISBN 0 208 01976 6 Conquest Robert 1961 Power and Policy in the U S S R London MacMillan pp 88 91 Spriano Paolo 1985 Stalin and the European Communists London Verso Conquest Power and Policy p 91 Further reading editGerhard Duda Jeno Varga und die Geschichte des Instituts fur Weltwirtschaft und Weltpolitik in Moskau 1921 1970 Berlin 1994 Charlene Gannage E S Varga and the Theory of State Monopoly Capitalism Review of Radical Political Economics vol 12 no 3 Fall 1980 pp 36 49 Peter Knirsch Eugen Varga Berlin 1961 Laszlo Tikos E Vargas Tatigkeit als Wirtschaftsanalytiker und Publizist in der ungarischen Sozialdemokratie in der Konimtern in der Akademie der Wissenschaften der UdSSR Tubingen 1965 Andre Mommen Eens komt de grote crisis van het kapitalisme Leven en werk van Jeno Varga Brussels 2002 Andre Mommen Stalin s Economist The Economic Contributions of Jeno Varga London Routledge 2011 Kyung Deok Roh July 2011 Rethinking the Varga Controversy 1941 1953 Europe Asia Studies 63 5 833 855 doi 10 1080 09668136 2011 576026 S2CID 145328496 External links editEugen Varga on Marxist Internet Archive Twentieth Century Capitalism by Varga 1962 Politico Economic Problems of Capitalism by Varga 1968 Newspaper clippings about Eugen Varga in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBWPolitical officesPreceded byPal Szende People s Commissar of Finance1919 Succeeded byBela Szekely and Gyula Lengyel Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Eugen Varga amp oldid 1185085338, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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