Jenő Fock (; 17 May 1916 – 22 May 2001) was a Hungarian

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

politician who served as

Chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the

Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Hungary The Council of Ministers of the Hungarian People's Republic was the cabinet of Hungary during the era of Communist rule. It was created in 1949, with the enactment of a new constitution that formally created the People's Republic of Hungary. Alon ...

from 1967 to 1975.

Career

Fock joined the Communist Party of Hungary in 1932. During the Second World War, he was imprisoned for his Communist activities from 1940 to 1943. After the founding of the People's Republic of Hungary on 20 August 1949, he participated in communist governance from 1952 to 1954 as Minister for Steel Industry. In 1957 he became secretary of the Central Committee of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (MSZMP) and in 1961, he served as Deputy Prime Minister. From 1957 to 1980, he was also a member of the

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states. Names The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...

of the Central Committee. Jenő Fock & Nicolae Ceaușescu

On 14 April 1967, he became the successor of Gyula Kállai as prime minister. During his tenure, he unsuccessfully tried to introduce some

market economy A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand, where all suppliers and consumers ...

elements. Formerly the Central Committee of the MSZMP announced János Kádár’s plans for the reform of the economy, known as the New Economic Mechanism (NEM).Balassa, Bela. ''The Economic Reform in Hungary''. Economica, New Series, Vol. 37, No. 145. (Feb. 1970), pp 1–22. The reform is considered as "the most radical postwar change" of any Comecon country.Granick, David. ''The Hungarian Economic Reform''. World Politics, Vol. 25, No. 3. (Apr. 1973), pp. 414–429. The plan, which became official on 1 January 1968, was a major shift to decentralization in an attempt to overcome the inefficiencies of central planning. The NEM represented a move away from the Joseph Stalin economic system of compulsory plan indicators in favor of a policy that states profits as the enterprises main goal. The new economic policy was a "comprehensive reform of the economic system", creating market relationships among companies, using prices as allocative functions and companies responding to prices to maximize profits, and using profits to budget new investments. These attempts failed, because of the resistance from the Comecom states and the Soviet Union. As a result, Fock finally withdrew in favor of

György Lázár György Lázár (; 15 September 1924 – 2 October 2014) was a Hungarian Communist politician who served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1975 to 1987. He retired from politics in 1988. Early life He was born into a labour family i ...

on 15 May 1975. Between 1945–1947, 1958–1967 and 1971–1985 he was a deputy in the National Assembly of Hungary. Later he was president of the ''Association of Technical and Professional Societies (MTESZ)''.

Publications

* ''A szocializmus építésének gazdaságpolitikája''. Kossuth, Budapest, 1973.

Death

Fock died in Budapest on 22 May 2001, five days after his 85th birthday.

References

Sources

* ''Akadémiai kislexikon I. (A–K).'' ed. Mihály Beck, Vilmos Peschka. Budapest. Akadémiai Kiadó. 1989. __NOTOC__ {{DEFAULTSORT:Fock, Jeno 1916 births 2001 deaths Politicians from Budapest Hungarian Communist Party politicians Members of the Hungarian Working People's Party Members of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party Prime ministers of Hungary Members of the National Assembly of Hungary (1945–1947)