Marianne Szegedy-Maszak

Most of the workers at the Videoton television factory in Székesfehérvár, Hungary were under no illusions about the reliability of the Ukrainian market, the destination for 5,000 television sets that had rolled past their assembly line. It was nice to have the work, and maybe this transaction would even go through (as so many others had not). But after all the deals and the lies and the false promises of the last three years, 5,000 television sets ordered by the Ukraine with its promise of substantive work, and even a small profit, seemed just a bit too good to be true. And of course, it was. Most industries in Hungary have not been modernized since they were built. The Manfred Weiss Steel Company plant at Csepel Island, Hungary is shown in 1947, when it was at full production in a Soviet-Approved program to convert rural Hungary into a modern industrial state. (Photo by AP Wide World Photos.) The deal fell through. There was some misunderstanding concerning the price and the payment in hard currency. So