Description
Book SynopsisIn the turbulent years between 1944 and 1947, Hungarian politics was marked by constant conflict between the two most powerful parties in the governing coalition - the Independent Smallholders Party and the Communist Party. The history of this struggle reads like a series of moves in a dramatic chess game, where no one could predict the outcome.
Trade Review"[Chess Game for Democracy] sets new standards in the English-language historiography of post-war Hungary. It will become essential reading for anyone interested in the process by which the Communist Party came to power in that country in the aftermath of the Second World War." Debatte: Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe " Ma ria Palasik makes a valuable contribution to the debate. She is a conscientious scholar, extremely well acquainted with the Hungarian archival materials, and has read the available secondary sources. On the basis of her work we can make informed judgments concerning the establishment of Communist rule in Hungary and, by extension, the development of Soviet foreign policy in the immediate postwar years." Journal of Cold War Studies " A major contribution to our understanding of the process of Sovietization in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the changing relations between the superpowers. By highlighting the efforts of those that led the struggle to establish a multiparty democratic system, she counters the myth that communism was introduced immediately after World War II and that there was no chance for democracy. Her book will be essential reading for those interested in the unique period from 1945 to 1948 and the process by which the Communist Party came to power in Hungary." H-Net Reviews
