Chapter 1
Orbit Modification
Three months remained to the day of my transfer. My successor had to be found and trained, as well as my other obligations granted to different people. Most of them would be neglected in the future. The automotive society would dissolve soon, its office building in Moscow – I could see all this happen – sold to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Trade for rents to foreign company agents. The same fate waited for the Hungarian-Soviet Friendship Society. The Meehanite’s British branch would be closed. And the company’s brake factories would be acquired by KB with 100 percent German ownership. In three years even the whole company would be a name with 5 employees.
I wanted to take advantage of my last chance to participate at the Meehanite conference. My former companion has left the foundry so, I arranged the trip for myself. The conference in that year has been organized in Bournemouth.
On the second day I informed my friends about my transfer to another employer. Some of them have not forgot me, to this day I get for example the Foundry Trade Journal quarterly.
The manager who had hindered me a year before in participating at the conference learned about my trip after my return. He wanted to make me troubles for "transgressing my competence”, but I told him to go to a psychiatrist, as he was a clinical case. He did nothing, although he could have done, as he was the internal affairs agent placed to our company. I would realize it two years later during a discussion with Ivan the Great – my former class-mate in the secondary school –, who would advise me on my mission to Moscow.
Well, there remained only one event before my transfer. The company has celebrated its 25th anniversary as a trust of machine tool factories. The management was keen to pay a high price for the feast that involved a musical show and a dinner. The whole Congress Centre of the capital has been hired for this purpose.
On the first day of July I went to my new boss to present myself. She has not been there, she was abroad for a back-up mission in Italy. Anyway, I went through all departments, where my registration was completed. Until noon I have become an employee of the company.
There occurred a funny misunderstanding. Olga, the secretary of the boss, Veronica, has not been there, somebody said she would not come. I have been offered to take her lunch in the canteen. But, at the moment we returned from the canteen, she arrived with her children, a boy of 13 and a girl of 6. To save the situation, I offered my sandwiches packed for myself for lunch in the morning. It has solved all and we could laugh on this inconvenient situation.
The office, where I would be placed, was actually the room of the secretary. By wrong arrangement of the furniture she and me were sitting almost on the same chair, our desks had a narrow access of one and a half foot. This arrangement has remained, until in ten months a reconstruction of the fourth floor – the uppermost – began.
The head office of the long haul company, where I would sit, has been in the fourteenth district of the city, from the entrance you would see the stadium and a little turn of your head to the right would bring you the Geological Institute into view. I am convinced that the building has been designed by a naval architect. It has had the classical features of a centre deck-house of a freighter: perpendicular front with uniform windows, staircase with alternating-course steps between two levels and the place of engine room shaft utilized for the sanitary block, with the lift well incorporated. The corridors on each level were following a square digit 8, with doors all around leading to the uniform rooms.
The deckhouse style of the building has been further emphasized by the open terrace both front and rear on the fourth floor.
The reign of Veronica involved the three left front rooms of the fourth floor. Her room went out to the terrace with an open view to the stadium. From here we saw with astonishment in the spring of 1989 the decoration of the stadium with thousands of swastikas. We would think it had been a film shooting. But from the dailies we learned, it was the 100th anniversary of Hitler’s birthday.
My career would reach a fork at this company from the beginning. When I got my economist’s diploma 12 years before, there was a rule in that university that he who had got at least a mark good for his final examination can apply for a doctorate with the same thesis re-written. I tried it in two years, but then it had been modified to three years. One year later I had Africa on my mind. The topic has slept. When I joined this long haul company, the personnel director offered me his whole backing, if I had tried the doctorate. My boss, Veronica, was also keen and I started it.
In one and a half year I managed to re-write my thesis, even extended it with the topic of environment. During that same time also my examinations have been absolved. I handed the thesis in and waited for my chance to meet my opponents. It happened in a different way anticipated.
Almost the same time, when I found my employer, the society in our country began to change profoundly. It has been partly coincidence with the changes Mr Gorbachev’s reforms had started in the Soviet Union, partly their consequences. These changes looked like monsters in the eyes of people who had always been bigot believers of communist ideas. But they were few. Majority of the people had sensed the insanity of the essence of the system for a long time and received these changes with open minds.
The reforms of Mr Gorbachev are still well known and the fact, too, that he has been the one who moved the rock hindering social and economic changes from having their way, but the current swept him away and out of power. Without him changes in the eastern part of Europe – belonging to the Soviet sphere of interest according to the Yalta agreement – could not have been occurred so quickly and so peacefully. The state has still been too powerful in the empire to oppress any reform attempts, but these reforms have come from the state itself and that was the reason, why they could lead to real changes in that enormous country.
In our country the old – so called soft – dictator, Mr Kadar, has reached an age, when he felt the vicinity of death. And his brain has reacted ordinarily: refreshing old memories, while weakening recent ones. First of the three steps leading to the first free elections in our country in 40 years was his speech at the Central Committee meeting in the autumn of 1988, when he resigned. Actually it has been no speech, only an out-of-agenda contribution. It was followed by the forming of a new government without his people, that led to the new shift in government, the new one being headed by Mr Nemeth. It was he, named first by the new First Secretary, Mr Grosz, who could concentrate his power first to throw off the guardianship of the party, then to lead the country into freedom. It is the irony of history that people, who start vital reforms, are swept away. That happened to Mr Gorbachev, but also to our reform politicians, Mr Pozsgay and even Mr Nemeth.
The two years I have spent on the department of Veronica, has been a revolutionary period. The executed heroes of the 1956 uprising have been reburied with deserved celebration. It had been started by Mr Pozsgay’s statement for the press in February that results in search of documents about 1956 had proved it had been an uprising of the people. The one-party system has been eliminated by an amendment of the constitution. Alas, certain quasi-environmentalists have also got their chances as e.g. the Danube Circle. They could not only hinder the building of the reservoir system on the Danube above the capital, they have got the support of millions of misled ordinary people to turn the construction back. To determine the size of damage these demagogues had caused to the country will be the job of our offspring in the coming century.
Let us take only one aspect. West-Germany had spent billions of marks on the construction of the direct link between watersheds of the Rhine and the Danube. For geographical reasons that link is a German property. The generosity of the Germans makes it possible for all nations – on mutual grounds – to use the link between the two flows, thus making them able to carry goods directly from Rotterdam to the Danube delta and vice versa. At present, however, that transport is hindered from realization by the limited draught the section of the Danube above the Hungarian capital permits to boats and barges. Only about 100 days annually are proper for towages or pushed units to travel by 6 to 7-foot barges. More than two thirds of the time makes it necessary to use the waterway by partly loaded vessels. Where are mutual grounds then, the Germans, providing a proper waterway for our ships and we, offering the above limitations? Is it fair?
My doctorate has been directly involved in the above lip service about Danube and reservoirs. But there were other elements of foul play in the behaviour of people responsible for it.
There is Rule Nr1 for the opponents of doctoral theses: one opponent is to be selected from the department where the candidate applied for, the other one should be an outsider from an institution or company directly involved in matters discussed in the thesis; the two opponents are to have no direct connections.
In my case, however, both opponents have been assistants from one and the same department of the university, but not from the Foreign Trade Department. They were having neighbouring desks in the same room.
Because of my statements about necessity of a proper waterway on the limited-draught section and their connections with construction of the reservoirs, I have got two opinions from the opponents that could have been typed in original and copy in one step, had they not been different in the number of misspellings and misprints. My thesis was considered false and untimely, its data out-of-date, the morale of it a mistake. Not proposed to public discussion.
On my questions in the university I was informed that I could apply for a permission to re-write my thesis within two years. I applied, but various circumstances prevented me in re-writing it. One of the strongest reason, why I have not done it was: no yuppy in a university of false ideology – I had to sit for an examination of Marxism-Leninism in the year of our first free elections – would I give the chance once more to say me "nyet”.
That was the true story of my doctorate.
Other line of the fork has been a mission abroad. At the first meeting with Veronica I asked her about real chances of my getting into an office of the company abroad. She was frank and said there were a lot of people waiting for such a mission. Anyway, she promised me to help. I know that she appreciated my chances next to nothing then. I had an interview with the deputy personnel manager and he said it was not out-of-question, but there were obstacles at that moment. First, the year of mass replacement was two years away. Second, the company custom was to select people with at least five years of service in the company. We parted with a gentlemen’s agreement that I would strive to get the mission anywhere my languages were accepted and he would select me as soon as possible.
Veronica did not cheat me. Being also party-activist for our employees under the technical manager she helped to put my name for two offices as possible nominee, for Munich and for Moscow.
During the first year of my work there I have not been overloaded and I had time to have long discussions with Olga, the secretary. I even began to teach her English. There were other colleagues, the first to meet after Olga and Veronica was Steve. He was my senior by 3 years. A twice divorced man – 3 daughters with his second wife – he was the most warm-hearted man – even with female kindness – I have ever met. He was a big coffee drinker, but not for caffeine, rather for the ceremony of coffee drinking. He used low-content instant coffee, a fluid he had to offer only once for everybody. His field have been asset planning, a territory few could trespass.
Maria was the only smoker among us and a heavy one. She was sitting with Steve in the third room. She was our payroll clerk. Her voice was very strong, it was impossible to talk by phone in her room. As Steve remarked once, for her there was no need to use the phone, her voice could be heard without it. At the beginning there was also Rita, but she soon went on sick-leave before childbirth.
There was G., the one to report the status of trucks every morning. He had been transferred to our department for that task.
The man, who had been head of the department, Peter K., has been promoted from under the technical manager directly to the staff of the general manager, as department head for a unit dealing with joint ventures and branches. In two years Veronica would inherit also that from him. He took away with him certain tasks, e.g. arrangements for annual Formula 1 and Truck Rally championships.
Language skills have not been widespread in our group, only Veronica and me could be considered linguistic. Veronica had been working five years in Moscow, she spoke excellent Russian. She had a wide system of connections with Russians, most important – and most unavoidable – was her relationship with the Bezsmertny couple. The man had been an ordinary Russian from the country with beard, an artist. His style had been altering through time, but his paintings have been fine. He did one about Veronica and it expressed excellently not only her character, but also the temporary bottom she had been in at that time. The woman has been an oculist. Her ways of healing short-sightedness by forcing on the customer glasses of the opposite dioptre have caused as many discussions in her circles as fluoride in tooth paste. I think she would always earn her living – not a very modest one –, her old customers would go to another oculist and there always would be others for her. That woman was the most aggressive businesswoman I have ever seen.
Veronica spoke also English, her vocabulary was limited, but she had the ability not to be afraid of using a language in a way far from excellent. She also spoke some Italian and, as she was inspiring on a mission to Italy, she was taking part in a course in her own office twice a week. The teacher of the company was coming to her.
She has been freshly divorced. Her marriage had not been fully satisfactory for her and she decided to solve it that way. But her heart could not have been changed and she stayed together with the man.
She has been appreciated by a number of other employees, mainly her former colleagues. She was actually very tough and more masculine in her nature than myself. I am convinced she had the ability to do every work by acquiring proper people and make them work for her.
One of her good friends has been Michael M., department head for the provision of trucks. He became my friend, too. He took the post of salesman for run-out trucks soon and became a successful manager. That job has been prepared by me, before I accepted the mission to Moscow. His first customers from abroad came to him on my ad placed in the monthly Automobile International.
During my two years there I solved a lot of tasks with good results, especially those I had experience with. But, as with an ordinary long haul company, managers have not been interested in single workers, people were numerous, any time new employees could be enlisted. I became accustomed at last to the principle that gratitude is not to be expected. And another thing became clear, not only here, but from my earlier employers: the better you work the less you will be appreciated. Main reason? Envy of those unable to work hard and well.
After my first 10 months there, the fourth floor of the building has been set into reconstruction. Both open terraces have been eliminated and the front one was replaced by two big conference rooms. The rear one got a lot of rooms and our crew from the third floor could be seated there. Cost of the reconstruction must have been twice as high as was necessary, as the architect, a department head of ours, was a fan of luxury execution.
The former department head of our team, Peter, has found me with some tasks and Veronica did not object them. I helped him in many cases, until he won a competition for a UN job in Geneva. He got it first for three months, but at the end of that period he was taken into staff and he did not return.
Veronica was transferred into his place first temporarily, but later her new job was finalized. Shortly before that I was called by John from the personnel manager’s staff. He told me:
"I have a piece of good and a piece of bad news.”
"Tell me the bad one first.” I did not know what to think of.
"It is impossible.”
"Why?”
"Good news first: you are selected for an office-head abroad.”
"And what is the bad one?”
"It is Moscow. And besides, you are only one of three candidates.”
It has not been a very fine statement. My family has not been very fond of Russians – remember Addis Ababa – and I did not know how I could make it palatable to them. After a short pause I told him:
"I can wait a little, if it means another place.”
His smile has vanished and he said:
"It is not so simple. You can wait, but it does not mean another place. Take it as an offer for fiancées. There is a rich one, a beautiful one and this third one that can be taken at once.”
I understood. The rich one has been the Middle East, in our case Istanbul, Tehran or Baghdad. There were unlimited possibilities for making private business there. They were all promised to other people much nearer to the fire. It has been the same with pretty ones, London, Paris, Munich, Hamburg, they all have been on others’ plates. It is pretty to live there compared to the Soviet Union. It was Moscow I could take or leave. But leaving it might have meant I would stay a bachelor.
"I accept Moscow”, I answered.
"O.K., be reasonable. See Veronica, she had never regretted having accepted it.”
He began to count things I would be able to buy and take home. My mind went in advance of him. I was sure my family would reject coming with me, unless I could offer something in compensation.
Anyway, that mission has not been mine yet. One of my two competitors has been a man from company party headquarters, the other recently returned from district party headquarters. Two parachutists, planted from above.
In a month I remained alone in candidacy. The first one rejected it, as he expected a GDR mission. The other, Louis R., had lost his wife not long before and his children about 12 to 14 have been too young either to be left home or to be taken abroad without a mother.
Then John called me again and told me the news.
"I am not very happy, I do not see how I could convince my family to accept this chance”, I answered.
"Good God, do not tell me you are to reject it, too. We would have to find somebody in the same way as last time.”
He made my picture whole about it. Veronica had taken the mission in 1981 and her successor had been selected in the person of a girl from one of the traffic departments. She had been replacing Veronica once during her one-month summer holiday. But she found it too long to wait for her turn and she took a job in the Ministry of Transport. When Veronica’s mission had been completed, there was no successor. From the competitor company a man was bribed to take the place. He has not been fluent in Russian, he had only the knowledge from school. It took him more than a year to catch up with obligations.
Well, my situation has been delicate. I wanted to have a chance for a financially advantageous job, promoting at the same time my career. But I had to accept the possibility that my family would not come with me and they would alienate from me in a long time.
To make my son come with me at 19 has also been risky. Although he could have learned a foreign language, even he would have the possibility to get a diploma, most sensitive years of his youth he would spend abroad either to marry a foreigner or to postpone his chances of a well-timed relationship.
I decided to find my acquaintance at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ivan the Great, my class-mate in secondary school. In the meantime I decided to accept the offer and told it to John.