16 SOCIAL SCIENTIST The combination of control over and independence of enterprises in the new system in Hungary naturally begs the question : in which way reform could provide a solution to the contradiction between enterprise independence and central control? The answer is that the new system did not provide a final solution^ rather, no reform can provide any ultimate answer to any problem-Management of economic organs at different levels has to live with this contradiction. But it is more or less accepted in Hungary that the predominant principle of the new system is independence of micro organs of economic management. With regard to control through regulators, in such a situation it is felt that the content of the regulators can and should be changed according to changing circumstances, conditions and economic policy objectives to be achieved without affecting tlie substance of the reform, naturally provided that its basic principle, that is, the independence of enterprises, are not infringed upon.20 In the ultimate analysis a proper coordination between economic control and enterprise management is definitely necessary for the sake of efficiency. Interference by higher authorities for such coordination is sometimes definitely welcome but at the same time, in many cases, it obstructs an otherwise smooth working of an enterprise or organs immediately above it. Mrs J Kesccru, Minister for Light Industry, made the following revealing remark in an interview in 1974: The assertioit that we leave enterprises to their own devices docs not appear to me to be characteristic of the present time. On the contrary, we have been recently interfering more and more in the affairs of enterprises. I do not wish to dwell on to what extent this could be considered a positive or a negative factor. Such "interference^ was unavoidable. This activity was partly expressed in the need to co-ordinate the government plan and enterprise plans, in the overcoming of the contradictions existing between them and the changes in economic regulators (emphasis added). 1 S Protserov, ^Prava i otvetstvennost prcdpriyatii" (The Rights and Responsibility of Enterprises), Planouoe Khoz.iaisvo^ January 1966, p 64. s \y Brus, The Economics and Politics of Socialism, London, 1973, p 9. 3 R Bicanic, Development of the Socialist Economy of Yugoslavia^ London, 1973, pp 46-47. 4 Josef Lenart, "Improvement of the Organisation and Planned Management of National Income", report submitted at the plenary session of the Central Commit" tee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, Eastern European Economics, Summer 1965,p43.