The World - News from July 15, 1988

Hungary’s Communist Party Central Committee, meeting in Budapest, voted to back a radical program to reform the ailing economy but delayed implementation of the plan, the state-run media reported. The delay until October indicates that the party is still reluctant to start up a program that would drive inflation above 15% this year and put 80,000 to 100,000 people out of work by the early 1990s. The policy-making Central Committee also heard a report recommending creation of “a clear and consistent legal framework” allowing citizens to form groups and hold meetings. Intellectuals and others who criticize “the malfunctioning of socialism” should not be regarded as dissidents but as alternative thinkers, so long as they do not challenge one-party Communist rule, the report said.