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

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

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 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. Alo ...

from 1967 to 1975.

Career

Fock joined the

Communist Party of Hungary The Hungarian Communist Party (, , abbr. MKP), known earlier as the Party of Communists in Hungary (, , abbr. KMP), was a communist party in Hungary that existed during the interwar period and briefly after World War II. It was founded on Novem ...

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 The Hungarian People's Republic (HPR) was a landlocked country in Central Europe from its formation on 20 August 1949 until the establishment of the current Republic of Hungary on 23 October 1989. It was a professed communist state, govern ...

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 The Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (, , MSZMP) was the ruling Marxist–Leninist party of the Hungarian People's Republic between 1956 and 1989. It was organised from elements of the Hungarian Working People's Party during the Hungaria ...

(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 highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

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

Gyula Kállai Gyula Kállai (; 1 June 1910 – 12 March 1996) was a Hungarian communist politician who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1949 to 1951, Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) from 1965 to 1967 and Speaker of the Natio ...

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 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. The major characteristic of a mark ...

elements. Formerly the Central Committee of the MSZMP announced

János Kádár János József Kádár (; ; né Czermanik; 26 May 1912 – 6 July 1989) was a Hungarian Communist leader and the General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, a position he held for 32 years. Declining health led to his retireme ...

’s plans for the reform of the economy, known as the

New Economic Mechanism The New Economic Mechanism (NEM) () was a major economic reform launched in the People's Republic of Hungary in 1968. Between 1972 and 1978, it was curtailed by the prevailing winds of Eastern Bloc politics. During the subsequent decade, until the ...

(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 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 The National Assembly ( ) is the parliament of Hungary. The unicameral body consists of 199 (386 between 1990 and 2014) members elected to four-year terms. Election of members is done using a semi-proportional representation: a mixed-member m ...

. 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)