Liberal nationalism in Hungary, 1988-1990

East European Quarterly

Volumn 32, Issue 1, 1998, Pages 57-82

  Deme, Laszlo ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA   (United States)

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EID: 33746043950     PISSN: 00128449     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (80)

1. Different versions of this definition in recent history texts tend to paraphrase Boyd C. Shafer's ideas in his now classic study, Nationalism: Myth and Realty (New York, 1955).
2. See Chapter 1, "Toward a Definition of Nationalism." For a distinction between the positive and negative aspects of nationalism see Francois Fejto, "Jó nacionalizmus - rossz nacionalizmus" [Good Nationalism - Bad Nationalism], Magyar Hirlap (hereafter MH), July 3, 1992. Fejto believed that "it would be an error to confuse Great Serbian communist nationalism which is essentially hegemonistic with the nationalism of the Slovenes, Croats and Bosnians who are trying to free themselves of the hegemony." He added: "Summa summarum, it is necessary to distinguish between good and bad nationalism."
3. A magyar nacionalizmus kialakulása és története [The Development and History of Magyar Nationalism] (Budapest, 1964) 31.
4. Sándor Kolosvári, Kelemen Óvári, Dezso Márkus, eds. Werboczy István Hármaskönyve [The Tripartite Book by Istvan Werboczy] (Budapest, 1897) 58.
5. For the role of the literati in reformulating the Hungarian national idea see Laszlo Deme, "Writers and Essayists and the Rise of Magyar Nationalism in the 1820's and 1830's," Slavic Review, 43 (1984): 624-40.
6. The definitive work on the period is by George Barany, Stephen Széchenyi and the Awakening of Hungarian Nationalism, 1791-1841 (Princeton, 1968).
7. See also by the same author George Barany: "Hungary: From Aristocratic to Proletarian Nationalism" in Peter F. Sugar and Ivo J. Lederer, eds., Nationalism in Eastern Europe (Seattle, 1969) 259-309.
8. Ferenc Kölcsey, Minden munkái [Complete Works], 10 vols. (Budapest, 1886), 6: 207.
9. Ferenc Kölcsey, Minden munkái [Complete Works], Ibid., 7: 63, 69.
10. Péter Vajda, "Nemzetiség" [Nationality], Tudományos Gyüjtemény [Scholarly and Scientific Review] 1832, 6: 102.
11. Sándor Kurtán, Péter Sándor, László Vass, eds. Magyarország Politikai Évkönyve, 1988, (hereafter MPÉ) [Political Yearbook of Hungary] (Budapest, 1989)
12. Since 1988 the Political Yearbooks have provided important documents, statistical data, chronology of events as well as scholarly analysis.
13. Lakitelek is a village about 70 miles southeast of Budapest. Apart from being the home of Sándor Lezsák, one of the organizers of the Forum, it is of no particular significance. However, in meeting in the countryside the participants followed an old populist tradition. For the text of the proceedings, see Sándor Agócs and Endre Medvigy, eds., Lakitelek 1987. A magyarság esélyei [Lakitelek 1987. The Prospects of the Hungarian People] (Lakitelek and Budapest, 1991).
14. Lakitelek 1987. A magyarság esélyei [Lakitelek 1987. The Prospects of the Hungarian People] Ibid., 61. Szabad later became the Speaker of Hungary's unicameral parliament between 1990-1994. The ideological/political inheritance of the liberal Reform Era evolved into one of the basic tenets of the Democratic Forum.
15. Future Prime Minister, József Antall stated in an interview in April 1990: "All the things the great liberal generation of the 19th century stood for, tragically, are still applicable today. Everything they proclaimed 100-150 years ago is still timely." Magyar Nemzet, (hereafter MN), April 20, 1990.
16. Agócs and Medvigy, eds., Lakitelek 1987, 119, 192, 206.
17. Lakitelek 1987, Ibid., 92.
18. Lakitelek 1987, Ibid., 177-8. Prior to the passage of Article XXXIII by the 1989 legislature (approved October 30, 1989), the Communist Party enjoyed a legal monopoly. Opposition groups, therefore, established themselves as social organizations with names such as "forum," "alliance," "society," "association," etc.
19. Lakitelek 1987, Ibid., 183-9.
20. Lakitelek 1987, Ibid., 21.
21. Lakitelek 1987, Ibid., 117, 65.
22. Lakitelek 1987, Ibid., 211-2.
23. Lakitelek 1987, Ibid., 24-35. Csurka became an influential member of the Democratic Forum and one of its six vice presidents. He acquired international notoriety with his anti-Semitic and paranoid pamphlet of August 20, 1992 and eventually was expelled from the Forum. There is no evidence of anti-Semitism in his presentation at Lakitelek.
24. György Csepeli, Structures and Contents of Hungarian National Identity (Frankfurt am Main, 1989), 57.
25. György Csepeli, Structures and Contents of Hungarian National Identity Ibid., 100-1.
26. György Csepeli, Structures and Contents of Hungarian National Identity Ibid., 118.
27. See also György Csepeli and Pál Péter Tóth, "Nemzeti tudat, magyarság" [National Consciousness, Hungarianness], Társadalomkutatás, 1987/4: 28-42
28. and György Csepeli, "A valóságba ágyazott érték" [Value Imbedded in Reality], Új Forrás [New Fountain], 1980, 3: 57-60.
29. We should note, however, that Csepeli's optimism concerning Hungarian national awareness was criticized by other scholars (Új Forrás, 1980, nos. 4, 5, 6).
30. Csepeli, Structures and Contents of Hungarian National Identity, 79.
31. Antal Bohm, "Nemzettudat a nyolcvanas évek második felében" [National Consciousness in the Second Half of the 1980's], Kritika, May 1987.
32. Antal Bohm, "Nemzettudat a nyolcvanas évek második felében" [National Consciousness in the Second Half of the 1980's], "Kritika, 1987. Ibid.
33. See also MPÉ 1988, 692.
34. Imre Szokai and Csaba Tabajdi, "Mai politikánk és a nemzetiségi kérdés" [Our Present Day Policy and the Nationality Question], MN, February 13, 1988. Szokai and Tabajdi were Deputy Heads of the Foreign Affairs Department of the Hungarian Socialist Workers Party's Central Committee and obviously spoke for the Party leadership. Probably in recognition of his pro-nationalities position Tabajdi, after 1990, became the head of the Office for the Affairs of Hungarians Beyond the Frontiers. The Magyar Nemzet [Hungarian Nation] was probably the most objective national daily prior to the collapse of communism. After 1990 the paper remained independent of parties and maintained a moderate and restrained tone. It is a major source of information for this article in addition to other publications.
35. MN, April 8, 1988.
36. Text of a roundtable discussion "Etnikum, nemzet, nemzettudat" [Ethnicity, Nation and National Consciousness], Világosság [Light], 29 (1988): 497-509.
37. MPÉ 1988, 742.
38. MPÉ 1988, Ibid., 757.
39. MPÉ 1988, Ibid., 714.
40. MPÉ 1988, Ibid., 727.
41. MPÉ 1988, Ibid., 731-3.
42. MN, May 22, 1988.
43. György Csepeli and Antal Örkény, Ideology and Political Beliefs in Hungary, The Twilight of State Socialism (London, 1992), 10.
44. MPÉ 1990, 576, 582.
45. Description of the March 15 demonstration is based on newspaper accounts. The Free Democrats spoke of 120,000 participants (MPÉ 1990, 595).
46. The number may be inflated. The New York Times mentioned tens of thousands of opponents of the Communist Government in the streets of Budapest (March 16, 1989, 1,12: 3).
47. For quotation and text of the Twelve Points, see MN, March 16, 1989.
48. Zoltán Rockenbauer gave a good summary of the events of the day: "Ünnepek és csataterek. Az 1989-es esztendo független ünnepségei Magyarországon" [Holidays and Battlefields. Independent, Commemorative Celebrations in Hungary in 1989], MPÉ 1990, 224-30.
49. For the full text of Grósz's TV and radio interview see MN, February 13, 1989. He claimed that at first many honorable people participated in the 1956 uprising who were not opposed to the regime as such but to the "political group in power." Gradually forces opposed to socialism and lumpen elements got the upper hand and turned the movement into a counter-revolution. He even castigated several hundred former supporters of communism who had recently expressed remorse concerning their role in suppressing the '56 uprising. They had turned in their party membership cards and decorations received for the defense of "worker-peasant power." According to Grósz, they should have been proud and not ashamed because they had saved the country from a counter-revolutionary victory.
50. Quoted by Rockenbauer, MPÉ 1990, 229.
51. Prime Minister Grósz stated in an interview, "For approximately 15 years we have been consuming more than we have been producing. Meanwhile the national debt has steadily grown." MH, January 2, 1988
52. and MPÉ 1988, 425.
53. Nebraska political scientist Iván Völgyes wrote: "In November 1989 it appears that the most prominent force in Hungary is likely to be the Hungarian Democratic Forum.... Its popularity is based on two pillars: their opposition to communism and unbridled nationalism." MPÉ 1990, 168.
54. Antall said in an interview in 1990: "...for several decades I have dealt with (Hungarian) liberalism in all my historical works. My field of research has been the 50-year period between 1825-75." Valóság [Reality], 1990, 1: 56. Se similar ideas expressed in MN, April 20, 1990.
55. On the history and development of populism see Gyula Borbándi, A magyar népi mozgalom [The Hungarian Populist Movement] (New York, 1983).
56. For more recent interpretations see Ferenc Gyurácz, "A populizrous értelmezésérol" [About the Interpretation of Populism], Hitel [Credit], September 1992: 32-43
57. and Gáspár Miklós Tamás, "Ahogyan az ember forgószélben viselkedik" [As One Behaves in a Tornado], Forum, October 1992: 78-92.
58. An especially insightful and sophisticated analysis was given by Pál Péter Tóth, "A népi mozgalom mint a magyar társadalom megkésett fejlodésének eredménye" [The Populist Movement as the Result of the Delayed Development of Hungarian Society], Multunk, [Our Past], 1993, 2-3: 3-33.
59. On the establishment and profiles of the various political parties see further Mihály Bihari, ed., A többpártrendszer kialakulása Magyarországon, 1985-91 [The Development of the Multi-Party System in Hungary, 1985-91] (Budapest, 1992).
60. On the Democratic Forum see various interviews with József Antall, Valóság, 1990, 1: 54;
61. MN, April 20, June 6, 1990, etc.
62. On the election returns see György Wiener, "Választás és rendszerváltozás-1990" [Elections and Change of Regime - 1990] in György Földes and László Hubai, eds., Parlamenti képviseloválasztások, 1920-1990 [Parliamentary Elections, 1920-1990] (Budapest, 1994), 332.
63. Országgyülési Értesito [Parliamentary Bulletin] (hereafter OÉ), May 2, 1990, columns 1-9. The OÉ contains verbatim transcripts of everything said in the Parliament. The text of the daily proceedings was first published in separate brochures. At the end of each year they were bound together to form the annual volume of the Parliamentary Bulletin. There is no editor for these volumes. The transcripts are prepared by the National Association of Hungarian Stenographers and Typists. Instead of conventional pagination, columns are numbered consecutively. References from OÉ will be indicated by column numbers rather than page numbers.
64. Országgyülési Értesito [Parliamentary Bulletin] Ibid., 21-22.
65. OÉ, May 15, 1990, 151-2, 160.
66. Antall was attacked for his all-inclusive national idea by Slovak and Romanian politicians and even some Western commentators joined in the criticism. It should be noted that he never claimed authority or jurisdiction over citizens of other countries. He actually said that "in a legal sense and based on Hungarian public law (he was) the head of the Government of all Hungarian citizens and this country of 10 million" but in "spirit and sentiment" he wishes to be the "Prime Minister of 15 million Hungarians," MN, August 14, 1990 - Tallózó.
67. György Csepli, Nemzet által homályosan [Dimly through Nation] (Budapest, 1992), 18.
68. See also by the same author György Csepli "Amig a világ a világ, jelképeiben él a nemzet" [As Long as the World is the World the Nation Lives in Its Symbols], MN, January 4, 1988.
69. MN, January 3, 1989.
70. Statement made before the Legislative Committee on the Constitution, MH, January 28, 1989.
71. MN, October 28, 1989;
72. Historian Erik Fügedy also added his support, bringing the total number of signatories to 41 (MN, November 2, 1989).
73. For instance, St. Stephen's Crown was perceived primarily as the symbol of the state and of something far more important than the person of the monarch as early as the beginning of the 15th century. After imprisoning King Sigismund, (1387-1437), the grandees of the realm temporarily governed "ex auctoritate sacrae coronae." Subsequently, kings were considered legitimate rulers only if crowned, a prerequisite for which was a solemn coronation oath, guaranteeing the laws and liberties of the country. In 1848 the Diet simultaneously with abolishing the feudal order enacted that "the national colors and the coat of arms of the country be restored to their ancient rights." Dezso Márkus, ed., 1836-1868 évi törvényczikkek [Law Articles 1836-1868] (Budapest, 1896), 244. Article XXI, paragraph 1, etc.
74. OÉ, June 18, 1990, 864-97, 915-925, June 19, 1008-13, July 3, 1214-26, 1266-70.
75. Levente Szörényi and János Bródy, István a király [Stephen the King] (CD-HCK 14133-4, 1993).
76. See also interview with composer Szörényi in MN, December 21, 1991.
77. March 15 received 131 ayes, 78 nays and 61 abstentions; October 23: 124 ayes, 61 nays and 93 abstentions. For the debate and voting see OÉ, March 5, 1991, 6518-39.
78. Prime Minister Antall stated in a speech commemorating St. Stephen's Day in 1992: "We are proud that the soldiers who stand here and hold our national flag wear the modernized version of the Royal Hungarian Lifeguards established in 1760." József Antall, Modell és valóság [Model and Reality] (Budapest, 1994), 2 vols., 2: 272.
79. In Budapest, between April 1990-September 1991, 283 streets and squares were renamed: MN, September 23, 1991. The changes often created confusion especially among younger people unfamiliar with pre-1945 street names.
80. MN, March 18, 1991.