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4 socialist generic and the Branding of state socialism in the 1960s, economic reforms injected color, diversity, and forms of abundance into a commercial sphere that had been relatively sparse in the 1950s. The Kádár regime placed new emphasis on quality of life, including the provision of more consumer goods, leisure activities, and forms of entertainment. The department store luxus opened in Budapest and catered to the segment of the population that wanted and could afford the higher quality and more expensive clothing it offered. At the same time, a chain of new self-service stores appeared, playfully called “ABc” (standing for all the letters in the alphabet) that offered consumers a wide variety of things under one roof and allowed them to access goods without going through a salesclerk. The first state-run warehouse for new furniture opened in Budapest in 1974, called Domus after the italian design academy (vadas 1992:183) and in 1976 a new department store chain called skála opened its glass-clad flagship store in Budapest to great fanfare. The skála was different from existing department stores in that its wares were supplied by new and more independent cooperative workshops (szövetkezet), making for more diverse offerings than previously possible through central planning channels. The Dunaújváros branch of the skála was housed in a large, windowless set of cubes in a sienna orange. statesponsored commercial media expanded, including the use of neon signs and television advertising; so did apolitical print media, such as magazines for car aficionados , fisherman, and photographers, as well as for cooking and women’s fashion. The state production sector also increased the manufacture and promotion of socialist brand-name goods, particularly of things that had developed iconic brands in the west: colas, cigarettes, blue jeans, shampoos, and durable technologies such as radios, cameras, and refrigerators. some firms began to produce under their own logo, and by the late 1970s a few had entered into joint ventures or became subcontractors for western multinationals, such as Adidas, levi’s, or coca-cola.1 The state stepped up the import of western consumer goods to supplement domestic production and also imported western machinery to upgrade domestic capacities for production—going into significant foreign debt to do so. while economic reforms emerged in fits and starts, second-economy activities expanded the range and quality of consumer goods as well as services. The legalization of small-scale family-based businesses in the 1970s increased the avail111 112 | Politics in color and concrete ability of “home produced” goods like hamburgers, hand-painted tablecloths, and leather miniskirts. yet even as the variety and quality of material goods was increasing, hungarians blamed the state for foisting upon them goods they considered dull, shoddy, and cheap. This seeming contradiction arose with the development of a socialist Modern aesthetic regime, as these built environments, furniture designs, and products came to define state socialism. socialist Modern became socialist generic, or an abstracted, mass-produced, and stripped-down version of modernism— epitomized by the massive and monotonous panel construction residential blocks built in the 1970s. state socialist production included a variety of designs and things, but the iconographic dominance of this style cemented a socialist generic aesthetic regime as the signature style or “brand” of state socialism. in previous chapters, i have shown how the utopian promises made by the state became embedded in particular materialities. This chapter explores the political subjectivities that arose out of the everyday necessity of shopping for and living with material goods and environments that were designed, produced, and distributed under state auspices. Dissatisfaction with “socialist” goods and housing generated and reinforced widespread alienation from the party apparatus and bureaucratic state institutions. citizens judged the value and viability of the socialist economic system as it was embodied in its products, and so shortages of housing and furnishings were evidence of the failure of a state socialist modernity . At the same time, the qualities of these materialities were perceived as indices of the state’s regard for its citizenry. Publicity for state products since the 1950s had promised that under socialism, citizens would “live in a manner worthy of socialist workers,” where their worth was to be made material in abundant consumer goods and sun-filled apartments with “beautifully equipped” bathrooms. instead, state production appeared to be stingy with what it produced for them, and the poor quality of available goods communicated the state’s low estimation of citizens’ demands (igény...

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