Imre Nagy’s 1953 government platform set targets to increase the production of articles for daily use and to improve nutrition and basic supplies for the population following the darkest years of the Rákosi-dictatorship. Converting military industry production posed an extraordinary challenge, as, except for carry-overs from the interwar years, these companies had scarcely dealt with civilian products, and the majority of their military products had been based on Soviet licences: hardly any of them undertook independent research and development. The companies had to find a new “secondary” profile and new consumer/exchange products, and put them into production, whilst maintaining military production capabilities and equipment. This shift toward consumer goods also signified diversification of production everywhere: in place of the manufacture of a few licensed products in bulk came production of many kinds of articles, partially constructed on the basis of independent development. The demand for washing machines, refrigerators, televisions and motorcycles, however, also points to the appearance and intensification of other social requirements and consumer expectations. Following the defeat of the 1956 revolution, the Kádár government, not wishing repeated confrontations with society, had to give in to “consumer pressure” in some way. Hungarian industrial management found a practical solution to this: the manufacture of durable consumer goods (1956–60) allocated to military industry companies struggling with the problem of utilising capacities. The decisive articulation of consumer demands and interests at the end of the 1950s, therefore, became a factor in shaping economic and industrial policies even inside the socialist system. Hungary’s political leadership, industrial managers, and workshops all displayed great adaptability; all in all, the construction of a dual profile (military and civilian) made a fundamental contribution to increasing the efficiency of the national economy.

This study seeks answer to three questions: Which criteria define the industrial, the new and the socialist city, which characteristics differentiate these from traditional, old cities, and which Hungarian towns might be called socialist ones? A survey of relevant literature has shown that contrarily to Hungary, where only slight attempts have been made to clarify terminology related to the subject, there is a variety of theoretical and empirical research going on internationally to explore cities founded after the Second World War. Based on Hungarian findings primarily, the author has set up a new definition to characterize socialist cities. The five criteria, according to which a socialist city is possible to define, are the following: a prominent position in redistributive systems; the domination of industrial functions; a majority of industrial workers among the population; the lack of urban tradition and urban centre; a dynamic growth and multiplication of the urban population. Along to these conditions, one can classify the following eleven Hungarian cities as socialist cities: Ajka, Dunaújváros, Kazincbarcika, Komló, Oroszlány, Ózd, Salgótarján, Százhalombatta, Tatabánya, Tiszaújváros and Várpalota.