Cucumbers and Courgettes: Rural Workfare and the New Double Movement in Hungary

Abstract

Intersections. EEJSP 2(2): 38-56. DOI: 10.17356/ieejsp.v2i2.180 http://intersections.tk.mta.hu AbstractThe paper is an application of the economic anthropology of Karl Polanyi to contemporary rural Hungary. After addressing the influence of Polanyi's critique of market society and his standing in the discipline of anthropology, the main focus is the community of Tázlár on the Danube-Tisza interfluve. The paper traces the history of the 'fictitious commodities' of land and labour in this relatively isolated settlement, which was not fully integrated into the national society until the socialist era. The innovative symbiosis of household and cooperative farming was destroyed in the 1990s. In the depressed economic climate of today, workfare schemes are popular because they treat villagers as human beings rather than as commodities to be exploited for maximum profit. The workfare initiatives of populist power holders can be interpreted as one facet of a complex 'double movement' in which postsocialist society seeks to defend itself against the domination of the market.

From neoliberal disembedding to authoritarian re-embedding: The making of illiberal hegemony in Hungary

“…The government’s other highly popular policy is the so-called ‘public works programme’ (Hann, 2016, 2018), a centrally financed but locally administered workfare scheme, which was introduced with the dual aim of establishing greater control over surplus populations and demonstrating the ruling party’s commitment to restoring threatened social hierarchies in depressed provincial regions (Szombati, 2018b). More broadly, the national workfare programme has functioned as the dominant policy instrument for alleviating long-term unemployment since Fidesz came to power, replacing universal social and family allowances and so-called active labour market instruments, which were the preferred tools of left-liberal governments (Szikra, 2014).…”

“…This holy war, as all holy wars, requires national unity and therefore incorporates calls for the centralisation of power in the hands of the executive. Besides significantly contributing to Fidesz’s triumphant re-election in 2018, the wall and the discourse of securitisation have also reconfigured the political field by relegating socio-economic conflicts to the sideline of public debate (Hann, 2016).…”

Moral(ity and) Economy

“…While there was no strong sense of solidarity among the közmunkás , there seemed to be equally little stigma attached to this form of work. Some evidently derived considerable satisfaction from the tasks they were carrying out for the community; they might even have felt at times that their work was an end in itself, a value in Weber’s sense [Hann 2016; Szőke 2012: 108-109]. Although the contracts were always temporary and premised on the assumption that workers should at some point rejoin the regular labour market, workfare was accepted throughout the community and even popular with the participants themselves.…”

“…The közmunka workforce continues to comprise both men and women of all ages up to 60, most of whom lack any skill or qualification. 20 Berci, a veteran of the schemes since 2010 whose biography I have presented in an earlier account [Hann 2016], was apprehensive about the future. He was happy that the new mayor was continuing to grant him considerable personal autonomy, but he ruled out the possibility that he would participate in a new division of labour at the communal pig-sty.…”

Marketization and development on a European periphery: From peasantoikosto socialism and neoliberal capitalism on the Danube-Tisza interfluve

“…In the village of Ta´zla´r, workfare schemes began modestly but were rapidly expanded under a new mayor from 2014 (Hann, 2016). They were welcomed at first, but later criticised both by participants and other villagers.…”