ABSTRACT
In the wake of the reform movements sweeping the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the international community has become absorbed by the dramatic events taking place in the area. Whether the focus is on the consolidation of Solidarity as a political force in Poland or the reorganization of political parties in Hungary, attention has centered on economic and political changes emanating from the urban centers of the region. Although it is often noted that economic crisis has fostered political change, there has been relatively little interest in the agricultural sector of both countries despite their key role in relation to overall economic production within these nations. This lack of attention to rural matters mirrors overall developmental policy in Eastern Europe where the demands of heavy industry have always been given ideological and economic priority. Yet agricultural policy-makers in Hungary have been experimenting for over twenty years with the kind of market-based reforms that are only now being discussed in an urban context and private enterprise has never lost its dominance in the Polish countryside.
