Jenő Fock (; 17 May 1916 – 22 May 2001) was a Hungarian Communist politician who served as

Chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, 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 gro ...

of the Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Hungary from 1967 to 1975.

Career

Fock joined the Communist Party of Hungary in 1932. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 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 of the Central Committee. On 14 April 1967, he became the successor of Gyula Kállai as

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

. During his tenure, he unsuccessfully tried to introduce some market economy 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 Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

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 The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. As a result, Fock finally withdrew in favor of György Lázár 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 Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

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)