Date: Tue, 17 Dec 1996 21:41:30 -0500 (EST)
From: louisgodena-AT-ids.net (Louis R Godena)
Subject: M-I: Professor Flyweight's "Response" (Was: Re-Figuring Hungarian Socialism)


        

Professor Barkley,   clearly,   does not want the untenured loose in his field:

>Louis [G],  you hold your own pretty well in debating on [sic]
>China.    But on this matter,  you are in over your head,  and
>that is an opinion that is also a fact.

Professor Barkley,  it should be said,  began all this nonsense several days
ago when,  in the course of a particularly inopportune and asinine
discussion around decentralization in Hungary,  let slip that he -- of all
people-- had "special knowledge" of Gorbachev's thinking on the vicissitudes
of reform in Budapest.    Mere mortals,  however,  would have to take his
word for it,  as not a word of it has been printed anywhere,  not even in
his own book which he now -- lamely -- urges us to read.    Furthermore,  to
reveal his "sources" would presumably expose them to some danger.

Today,  he relents somewhat on this last point. 

> So, Louis, you want names, well here's a few.  

Well,  actually,  only one

>Last night I spoke with M.R. Vcherashnaya who worked 
>closely in the early to mid-80s with Evgeny Primakov 
>and Alexander Yakovlev, who were succeeding directors 
>of the Institute of World Economy and International 
>Relations, which did long-range planning for the CPSU. 
>Primakov today is Russia's Foreign Minister and 
>previously headed the Russian Foreign Intelligence 
>Service.  Yakovlev today heads Russian state TV and 
>was Gorbachev's Agitprop chief and by all accounts, 
>closest adviser on glasnost and perestroika.
> Direct Quote:  "The Hungarian model was very in."
> I shall also name Eva Ehrlich and Gabor Revesz of 
>the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, both of whom have 
>written numerous books on the Hungarian economy.  
>Ehrlich, in particular, was brought in regularly 
>during the 80s to advise on Soviet economic reforms.  
>She reported to me ten years ago that the great debate 
>was between the Hungarian and the East German models, 
>with such figures as Gorbachev and Yakovlev favoring the 
>Hungarian while Ligachev and others favored the East German...

Now,  surely,  this is hardly evidence,  even by Professor Barkley's fluid
standards.    Perhaps the Professor,  like so many of his ilk,  is jealously
guarding some Special Secret which,  if divulged,  would render him as
ordinary as the rest of us.    I,  on the other hand,  only go by what I
read and,  while my sources may not be as catholic or as highly placed as
the Professor's,   I'll stand by what I said.     Gorbachev's actions,  in
my view,  were dictated largely by ideas and traditions that grew out of the
experience of the reaction to Stalinism in the period 1956 - 1967;  indeed,
the origins of many of them predate the death of Stalin himself.    This is
precisely the view of people who,  like Jerry Hough and Alec Nove,  have
studied the Soviet Union at least as long as our own Professor Barkley and
whose credentials -- to the disinterested observer -- may even carry a bit
more weight than his in certain circles.    Of one thing I am sure --and
this is true,  I believe,  of just about everyone I've named -- they are all
secure enough in their own reputations to answer argument with argument,
without resorting to the pompous pulling of rank that characterizes
Professor Barkley's latest effort.

And no,  I have not read Professor Barkley's book;  I have not seen referred
to in the literature and,  in fact,  had not even heard of it before
tonight.    I will look for it in January.       

Then this bit of tom-foolery:

>(yes, Louis, I brought up the GDR, not 
>you, because I know about it and you don't).           

If it's alright with you,  Professor,   I will continue to pursue this
matter in my own highly imperfect way,  forming and re-forming my opinions
as the evidence dictates.

And,  even if it isn't alright with you.


Louis Godena 



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