Varga - Varga (English transcription) Евгений Самойлович Варга／Evgeniy Samoylovich Varga

Hungarian economist who worked in the Soviet Union. He was also an activist in the international communist movement. Born in a village near Budapest to a family of teachers, he studied at the University of Budapest. He received his doctorate in philosophy from the university in 1909 and became a professor there in 1918. During the Hungarian Revolution of 1919, he served as People's Commissar of Finance and Chairman of the National Economic Council of the Hungarian Soviet government, but after the failure of the revolution in August of that year, he fled to Austria, moved to Moscow in 1920 and joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He was an active activist in the Communist International and worked for Comintern and other organizations. He turned to academic activities in 1927, and for the next 20 years he presided over the Institute of World Economy and World Politics attached to the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. His quarterly "World Economic Outlook" published in the journal of the institute accurately predicted the approach of the Great Depression while the American economy was still enjoying lasting prosperity in the late 1920s, and was one of the first to point out the end of the depression and the transition to a recession in 1934, drawing international attention. This work was translated into Japanese and introduced as the World Economic Yearbook (volumes 1-31) and became a model for the analysis of the current state of Marxist economics. Along with Varga's The History of the World Economic Crisis, 1848-1935 (1937), it is a useful resource for the study of the history of depressions. After the Second World War, he preached Changes in the Capitalist Economy as a Result of the War (1946), which drew fierce criticism from Stalinists, but this work was the first bold attempt to raise issues in the debate on modern capitalism that unfolded internationally, including in Japan, in the late 1950s after Stalin's death. Varga's Political Testament (New Left Review, July-August, 1970, Japanese translation of which is included in Modern Theory, Vol. 86), published posthumously in the West, is a scathing denunciation of the distortions of the former Soviet society under the rule of the nomenklatura class. Varga's major essays are collected in Modern Capitalism and Economic Crises (1963) and Problems of Capitalist Economics (1965).

[Kenzo Nawa]

"World Economic Yearbook, translated by the Economic Criticism Society, 31 volumes (1927-1935, Sobunkaku)" ▽ "History of the World Economic Depression, translated by Nagazumi Michio (1947, Iwasaki Shoten)" ▽ "Problems of Capitalist Economics, translated by Murata Yoichi and Horie Masanori (1966, Iwanami Shoten)" ▽ "Modern Capitalism and Economic Depressions, translated by Oikawa Tomoo, 2 volumes (1968, 1969, Iwasaki Academic Press)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ハンガリー出身、ソ連で活動した経済学者。国際共産主義運動の活動家でもあった。ブダペスト近くの村の教師の家庭に生まれ、ブダペスト大学に学ぶ。1909年同大学で哲学博士号を取得、1918年同大学教授。1919年のハンガリー革命ではハンガリー・ソビエト政権の財務人民委員、国民経済会議議長を務めたが、同年8月革命に失敗してオーストリアに亡命、1920年モスクワに移りソ連共産党に入党、共産主義インターナショナルの積極的な活動家としてコミンテルンなどで働いた。1927年から学術活動に転じ、その後20年間にわたりソ連科学アカデミー付属の世界経済世界政治研究所を主宰し、その機関誌に発表した四半期ごとの「世界経済概観」は、1920年代後半のまだアメリカ経済が永続する繁栄を謳歌(おうか)している最中に世界恐慌の接近を正確に予測し、1934年には恐慌の終結と不況局面への移行をいち早く指摘して国際的にも注目された。これは、日本でも『世界経済年報』（第1～第31輯(しゅう)）として邦訳紹介され、マルクス経済学の現状分析のモデルになった。バルガ監修の『世界経済恐慌史　1848～1935年』（1937）とともに恐慌史研究の有益な資料である。第二次世界大戦後には『戦争の結果としての資本主義経済の変化』（1946）を説いてスターリン主義者から激しい批判を受けたが、この問題の著作にしても、スターリン死後、1950年代末に日本をも含めて国際的に展開された現代資本主義論争に連なる最初の大胆な問題提起であった。なお、死後西側で発表された「バルガの政治的遺言」（New left review, July‐August, 1970／邦訳『現代の理論』86号所収）はノーメンクラツーラ階級支配下の旧ソ連社会のゆがみを痛烈に告発している。バルガの主要論文は『現代資本主義と経済恐慌』（1963）と『資本主義経済学の諸問題』（1965）に収録されている。

［名和献三］

『経済批判会訳『世界経済年報』全31冊（1927～1935・叢文閣）』▽『永住道雄訳『世界経済恐慌史』（1947・岩崎書店）』▽『村田陽一・堀江正規訳『資本主義経済学の諸問題』（1966・岩波書店）』▽『及川朝雄訳『現代資本主義と経済恐慌』全2巻（1968、1969・岩崎学術出版社）』

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