Teréz Laky 1926-2005

The following incomplete biographical sketch was put together by me based on some documents and family recollections. It has things that were missing from the official CV but has important gaps such as the list of publications. It is not an exact match of the Hungarian pages.

András Kornai, Budapest-Cambridge 2005 aug 7-26

Born August 6th 1926 in a family of laborers. Grandpa, József Laky, and grandma Józsefné Laky nee Teréz Szauer, raised four children: Kálmán, Miklós, Teri és Ila, only Miklós survives. As great-grandpa Szauer was reassigned in his job (he worked for the Hungarian Railway Company) the family of my grandfather moved with them, from Zagreb to Győr to Pécs.

She finished the Pécs Women's Trade School in 1944 as "female taylor and girl's dress-maker", with the highest grades.

She completed a two-year course in Government Studies at the Pécs University of Science Faculty of Law and Government earning praise for "outstanding diligence". At the same time, she joined the communist party and worked at the party daily, Dunántúli Napló, perhaps as a journalist and as a typesetter. Her first husband, István Pajzs, who was the editor, became a victim of the Rajk trials, they divorced, and he left the country in 1956.

She joined the leading party newspaper, Szabad Nép, in June 1949 as a journalist, and eventually became head of the news desk. A former colleague, Éva Csató recalls: "everybody at the news section learned it from her what it means to work, to have strong work ethics, that everything needs to be done well, even when her children needed attention. Labor studies were a natural choice for her. She was a perfectionist in work and at home. She drove herself very hard, but not others. She was a very good person, understanding, helpful, helped many people. She did not know defeat. She was a hard, determined person, a fanatical worker."

1952: she receives the gold medal of the Hungarian People's Republic, marries János Kornai, birth of son Gábor.

1954: A stormy communist party cell meeting at Szabad Nép, viewed by many historians as one of the catalysts of the 1956 revolution.

1955: she is allowed to complete the communist party school, but in May she is demoted to correspondence editor at Szabad Ifjuság.

1957 december 26: "involuntary separation from the company", as a result of her actions in 1956. She would have been fired earlier, were it not for the law that protects pregnant women and those on maternity leave against layoffs. She was pregnant with me.

From 1957, journalist (on a temporary contract) until 1968.

From 1963 works a second job at the Hungarian Central Bureau of Statistics (HCBS).

From 1968, emplyed as a sociologist at the Infelor division (later a separate company) of the HCBS.

From 1973 senior researcher at the Economy Resarch Institute of the HCBS.

Learns English, in 1978 obtains a "candidate" (PhD) degree in sociology.

1980: receives the Silver Medal of Labor.

Works at the Labor Research Institute of the Ministry of Labor from 1982: initially as senior researcher, later as director of the Institute, and after her resignation in 2001 as senior adviser.

Board member of the Seed Foundation, the Hungarian Enterpreneurship Foundation, (MVA), associate professor at the sociology department of the Budapest University of Economics.

1996: receives the Officer's Cross of the Hungarian Republic "in recognition of her work in creating the scientific foundations of labor sociology and labor policy".