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


Biography


Early years

He was born as Jenő Weiß (Hungarian orthography: Weisz) in a poor
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
family, 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 A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...
. In 1906, he started writing in socialist and academic journals, mainly on economic subjects. Before
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
he gained some fame by discussing with
Otto Bauer Otto Bauer (; 5 September 1881 – 4 July 1938) was an Austrian politician who was one of the founders and leading thinkers of the Austromarxists who sought a middle ground between social democracy and revolutionary socialism. He was a member of t ...
the origins of inflation in the
Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...
. In this period, he belonged to the Marxist Centrists, of whom
Karl Kautsky Karl Johann Kautsky (; ; 16 October 1854 – 17 October 1938) was a Czech-Austrian Marxism, Marxist theorist. A leading theorist of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Second International, Kautsky advocated orthodox Marxism, a ...
and
Rudolf Hilferding Rudolf Hilferding (; 10 August 1877 – 11 February 1941) was an Austrian-born Marxist economist, Socialism, socialist theorist,International Institute of Social History, ''Rudolf Hilferding Papers'': http://www.iisg.nl/archives/en/files/h/1075 ...
were the most prominent spokesmen.


Hungarian revolution

In February 1919, Varga joined the newly created Hungarian Communist Party. During the short-lived
Hungarian Soviet Republic The Hungarian Soviet Republic, also known as the Socialist Federative Soviet Republic of Hungary was a short-lived communist state that existed from 21 March 1919 to 1 August 1919 (133 days), succeeding the First Hungarian Republic. The Hungari ...
of 1919, led by
Béla Kun Béla Kun (, born Béla Kohn; 20 February 1886 – 29 August 1938) was a Hungarian communist revolutionary and politician who in 1919 governed the Hungarian Soviet Republic. After attending Franz Joseph University at Kolozsvár (today Cluj-N ...
, he was People's Commissar for Finance (March 21-April 3), and then Chairman of the Supreme Council of National Economy. After the overthrow of the Soviet Republic he fled to Vienna.


Soviet emigration

In 1920 he went to 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 ...
with Arthur Holitscher. Here he started working for the
Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...
, specializing in international economic problems and agrarian questions. In the years 1922-1927 he was working at the department of trade in the Soviet embassy in
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
. 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 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 ...
. He survived the purges of the 1930s, during which Bela Kun and other Hungarians were executed. During
World War II 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 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 The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...
, but he also remained active in the
Hungarian Communist Party 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 ...
. 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 German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
imperialism.


Personality

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." 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."


Post-War Controversy

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 The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred $13.3 billion (equivalent to $ in ) in economic recovery pr ...
, but "these implications were highly distasteful to Soviet conservatives" who believed that capitalism was heading for an extreme and possibly terminal crisis. During a closed meeting of economists called by the USSR Academy of Sciences and Moscow University, in May 1947, "Varga was attacked for his writings by most, if not all, of the participants." He was also attacked by
Nikolai Voznesensky Nikolai Alekseevich Voznesensky (, – 1 October 1950) was a Soviet politician and economic planner who oversaw the running of Gosplan (the USSR's State Planning Committee) during the German–Soviet War of 1941–1945. A protégé of And ...
, then a powerful figure as Chairman of
Gosplan The State Planning Committee, commonly known as Gosplan ( ), was the agency responsible for economic planning, central economic planning in the Soviet Union. Established in 1921 and remaining in existence until the dissolution of the Soviet Unio ...
and 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 ...
, 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. 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 ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, 'Truth') is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most in ...
''.


Years after Stalin

After Stalin's death in 1953, Varga reappeared on the scene. In February 1956, he wrote an article in ''Pravda'' that rehabilitated Béla Kun. The new leaders in the
Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin (fortification), Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Mosco ...
, 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 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 ...
,
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
, and
East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
. Varga never returned to living in his native Hungary. Because he was very close to
Mátyás Rákosi Mátyás Rákosi (; born Mátyás Rosenfeld; 9 March 1892 – 5 February 1971) was a Hungarian communism, communist politician who was the ''de facto'' leader of Hungary from 1947 to 1956. He served first as General Secretary of the Hungarian ...
, 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 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; ), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by ...
and the take-over by the
Kádár Kádár (Hungarian, ' cooper', ) is a Hungarian surname which may refer to: * Ján Kadár, Slovak-Hungarian film director * János Kádár (1912–1989), Hungarian politician, top leader during the communist era * Flóra Kádár (1928–2002), Hun ...
team, Varga's advisory work was no longer fashionable.


Awards

* Three
Orders of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...
(1944, 1953, 1959) *
Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...
(1945) * Medal "For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (1945) *
Lenin Prize The Lenin Prize (, ) was one of the most prestigious awards of the Soviet Union for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was originally created on June 23, 1925, and awarded until 1934. During ...
(1963)


Footnotes


Further reading

* 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. *


External links


Eugen Varga on Marxist Internet Archive''Twentieth Century Capitalism'' by Varga, 1962.''Politico-Economic Problems of Capitalism'' by Varga, 1968.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Varga, Jenoe 1879 births 1964 deaths 20th-century Hungarian politicians Politicians from Budapest Budapest University alumni Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin Members of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society Recipients of the Lenin Prize Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Comintern people Finance ministers of Hungary Marxist theorists Hungarian communists Hungarian economists Hungarian emigrants to the Soviet Union Hungarian Jews Hungarian revolutionaries Jewish socialists Russian socialists Soviet economists Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery