HOW COMMUNISTS TREAT LEISURE

While Communist leaders control the economic and political life of people in Hungary, they allow free choice of leisure activities, says Dr. Allen Sapora, acting Dean of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Sapora visited Hungary to study the use of leisure time. The only broad control Hungarian Communist party officials exercise over the choice of leisure time activities is over fees charged and the range of activities available.

If people choose one activity too much, a higher fee is charged which reduces use. The money collected is used to support other kinds of recreation.

Dr. Sapora was able to converse freely with scholars and officials because he had learned their language from his parents, who came to the U.S. from Hungary. He had read widely in Hungarian publications on recreation.

The fundamental philosophy of recreation planners there is the provision of a wide variety of opportunities for people. The government supports programs with funds but it relies more on local clubs and volunteer leaders than we do. The government does underwrite the cost of paid coaches for Olympic sports such as gymnastics and track.

A recent switch to the five-day work week and continuing industrialization require expansion of recreation facilities, party leaders, economists, and sociologists told Sapora.

Using machinery to improve the productivity of farm workers means people living in rural areas must find new work. This trend and a resulting new demand for recreation is worldwide.

The problems in the use of leisure time in industrial societies are fundamentally the same no matter where they are in the world. But efforts to solve the problems differ according to national political systems. Ours allows an exceptional number of free choices.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 27 January/February, 1974