N oTb, tca.frv-1t,6L2t Fascism n Hungary Th e opposition o neoliberal lobalisation akes n he main nation- alistic orms. t s necessary or a government ithin more or ess democratic ountry o explain nation ho w an d why they dare to deny undamental esources o t he needy' h e Hungarian ov - ernment's xplanation riminalises nd racialises he conflict t o s ay h at all he people wh o need social assistance re racially ifferent ro m us , (racially nferior n the case of the Roma). They s aY they a re never do wells and lazy, benefit dePendent spongers or 'white trash'. Then theY build more prisons, et more police nd keep he proletariat, he precariat nd th e underclass n heir place s nferiors. It s quite extraordinary ow much of he general esponse o the crisis, o the galloping anomie a n d to sPreading poverty is anti-plebeian Th e open hatred against he o ld ag e pensioners, t h e unemployed nd social welfare claimants s counterbalanced y hatred of the ruling rder of capital s 'foreign' .Western liberal criticism of East European acism, enophobia nd neo-fascism s perceived s a feint to subdue national' esistance o rootless coSmopolitan finance capital and life destroying political orrectness .The strengthening f h e Right s not us t a reimagining f quasi-fascist bu t also a response o social ollapse n d disintegration' h e right i s promising rder, social cohesion nd survival o r th e middle class, specially o r young white, gentile, hristian amilies. Wh y d id something we thought wa s already dead and buried return again o frame h e political scene? This article roposes o make a general analyses bout a very worrying ituation ppearing n Hungary ve r he ast years. Many media hannel's l l over he Europe ignal, hat, since 2007 here wa s a fundamental ur n nt o h e policy f he Hungarian tate One could no t say anymore ha t his is left propaganda r even ef t paranoia. here s n o doubt now that n Hungary he right wing plays a strong ole n to he political cene' We witness he pres- ence of he ascists n the Parliament We also witness uring he last years attacks gainst minorities n d a very strong ntisemitic an d antiziganistic iscourse. n the last years here have been more ha n 18 attacks gainst Roma homes where 6 people were killed. The conjectures all on Maghiar Guard, a nationalist ara- military ovement ut none has been watching ntil no w With all the media candal nd nternational eaction he right wing s get- ting powerful. t seems ha t t has he retaining al l of he mass of the population. he old resentments r e back and he big rustra- tion caused y the Treaty of Trianon s becoming, nc e again, a subject f discussion As far as we know here s not a strong eaction gainst he rise o f th e ascists y Hungarians. t is definitely ot at all our ntention o give a categorical nswer aced with hi s situation, either o try o explain t o r give a satisfactory verview bout t. We c an us t imit ourselves o the research we have done and to try, ogether with you, o understand h y something e thought wa s already ead an d buri-ed eturned o frame h e political cene... At first we think hat the rise of the Hungarian ascists nowadays presents om e imilarities it h what 6 0 years a go happened he n Hungary ecame a fascist state allayed with, Germany, nder Adolf Hitler, n d, taly, f Mussolini. ortunately, n he present i t- uation here s no such possibilities ut we see t anyway s a very alarming ign or he near uture. We think as well ha t behind he fascists here ar e political orces interested n sustaining h em n order o keep h e attention f th e public pinion wa y ro m he real problems. t s a very comfortable solution o hear ha t hose esponsible or t he economical isaster aused y the s o called ransition re the Roma criminals, some very mystical ewish organisation an d of course he emancipatory enden- cies coming ro m he West. Bu t o ut of the arguments they use, unfortunately t seems ha t he speech of the fascists ha s a very strong hold o th e public. Have h e Hungarian ommon people gone into a very deep sleep ? There s no self-reflec- tion. What ca n generate such a powerful ignorance nd mass hatred? Can some- body explain why, after he grey history of the ascists n he WorldWar , when more than 10 percent fthe Hungarian opula- tion wa s murdered, eople re still able o trust he fascists ? Great Hungarian dream state ' Hungary, n 1919 went hrough he traumatic xperience f civil wa r a nd shortlived Communism egime f Bela Kuhn, ollowed y on e of white error. he Treaty f Trianon educed he ol d kingdom of Hungary o near a quarter f its erritory nd dramatically ut borders between ts population orcing about 30 percent of the Hungarian opulation nt o neighbouring ountries.The oots of Hungarian ascism were firmly anchored o the collapse f th e Austro Hungarian onarchy, it h ts disillusioned ilitary fficer corps, nd he counter evolution. hi s military lass consistin both of career officers ndaristocratic amilies was entrusted it h restoring Hungary's reatness nd racial purity. Starting n 1919 they organised everal acist n d antisemitic ssociations' mong which he most mportantwere OV E th e Hungarian ssociatio of national defence ), Awakening Hungarians, he lrredentis Association, he Association or Territorial Defense, he Hungarian Society or the Defense of Racial Purity, and he Christian National Associaflons ecret group 'Resurrection'. he political ocialisa tion of Hungarian outh oo k an extreme or m in Levenfe youth association), paramilitary roup egalized o train Hungaria youth n military ffairs The first National Socia/lsf Party, Nemzeti Socialista Pad was founded 1928 and in 1933 fused with the National Socia/is Agrarian nd Workers Party. By he early 1930s here were n fact four ascists arties xtolling h e national ocialist deology T he Nationat Socla/lsf Agrarian and Workers Party, the National Socia/lsf Workers Party led by Zoltan Boszormeny an d th e National Sociatist arty ed by Count Sandor Festetics After meet- in g Adolf Hitler n 193'l Boszormeny ublished propagand extolling h e virtues f national ocialism. mong his avored d ea were he return of Hungary orders o their pre-'l918 orms, he formation f a 'healty' ungarian iddle lass, h e imitation f he size of arge andholding o 500 hectars, h e designation f citizen a s 'fellow itizens', nd he restriction f citizenship nl y o thos o f Arian acial tock. n he propaganda f 1930s Boszormeny a s referred o as the Hungarian Hitler Th e ascists parties progra closely ollowed h at of Hitler's racism n ti semitism nd militar sation bu t with an added lavor combining Hungarian xtrem
formof nationalismnfusedwith Christianundamentalism.on efrom heseparties er eable o get enough otesduring he 1935national lectionso enterparliament. hey were however uc-cessfuln preparinghe entrance f FerencSalazi,he only ascistleaderwitha vision or worlddomination nder h e leadership fthe Hungarian eople...He had already n '1933published is'Plan or the construction f the HungarianSfafe'an ideologicalprogramallowedwo years aterby'Goal and Demands'. zalasiplanneda completemakeover f the Hungarian tate n threeyears ha twouldbe followed y a systemica llylanned conomy.
In Goaland Demands, e proposedhe expulsion f allJews romHungary nd he creation f lhe HungarianUnitedLands,a looseconfederationf allpre-19'18erritories.n 1935Szalasiormed isownPartyof National f// togetherwithSandorCsia,a fellow as-cist.Szalasiaunched is Hungarist ovementn 1936basedonnationallsm, ysticArian,Turanian acismcombinedwith anti-semitism, hristianundamentalism,nd he eadership rinciple.It s clear hathis ealpreoccupationaswith heplaceof Hungaryin the world... ut hatdid notmeanHungary s shewas, but hegreatHungarian reamstatewith he magyars s th e domlnan[race eadinghe others.
From ost elections o organi sing or total war and collabora-tion on Holocaust
Szalasi nd his ellowextreme ationalist ombos wh obecameprim-ministern 1932 wereno tgreat riends. zalasi id not rustGombos ullyand decided ot o run or a seatwith hishelpdur-in g the'1935 elections.On e year later at the local elections,Szalasi nd other asc istseaderswere all defeated t the oolls.Th enewgovernment as able o mounta successful,ut notveryefflcient ttackon the extreme ightwhosemain movementswereall disbanded. oneof the leaders, owever, eceivedai l sen-tences. utby he allof 1937a newan dmoreextremeeadershipappearedwith Laslo Endreand KalamanHubany.With hem Szalasi ormedanotherparty: he NationalSocia/lst arfirTheirslo-gan was: God, Homeland,Nat ion andHungarianness.ndresuccessfully
ount-ed a political ampaign nd in 1938 wa selected o the postof countydeputygover-nor of Pestcountry. t this ime Hungary'sGerman minoritiesoined Szalasimove-ment: heir eaderFerencRothenbecameSzalasi oreignpolicy advisor.When th eHungarianNationalSocla/isfParfywas ille-galised, ne w action ormed; yAugust treappeared s the Arrow CrossHungaristMovement, partysupported y the smallerbut equally xtremeNational ront.
Szalasi laimedhathi sHungaristde awa sno tanti-Semiticuta-Semitic: imply isregardinghe Jewishpeople.He held he viewthatHungary nd Hungarians ereespecially el lsituatedo be aleadingac e n the world. n order o achievehis,al l colonial ndimperial ist icreatpowers th e <Judeo-plutocracies"f England,Franceand U.S.Aan d the SovietUnion had to b e dissolved.Instead,he Latin,German, lavic,slamic nd Hungarist oliticalnations hould e allowedo form heirow n Lebensraum'.y helate1930she ascists ereopenly rganisingallies ndpublish-ing pamphlets nd newspapers,n early 1939 hey plannedabombing f the Jewish ynagogue n DohayStreet n Budapest.The militarizationf Hungarywent hand n hand with the anti-Jewish aw of 1 938.On the 2 of April he Daranyigovernmentannouncedts Gyorprograma fiveyear o rebuildHungary's i l-i taryhardware nd communicationsand he sameday he firstJewishLawwent nto effect.The nd of 1 938sawthe flrstooenHungaristal ly,with en of thousandsmarching n the streets fBudapest.Under his kind of pressure he TelekigovernmentlegalisedheArrowCrossparty.During he May 1939parliamen-tary elections, heArrow Crossand anothernational ocialist ar-
t ieswereable o send ortyeightMP s o the parliament.his lg-ure meant hataltogether 00,000peopleacross he country otedfor he ascists.n Budapest ndPestCountry lone,more ha n40percentof votersopted or Arrow Crossand other ascists andi-dates.At the end of '1940he leadersof various ascists actionsagreed o uniteand form a singleArrow CrossParty o representthe Hungarian atio nalSocialism. ut the lmredygovernment'sshift toward Germanycreated a powerfulpositionagainst heArrowCross y marginalisinghe eaders.Manywere ailedwhileotherswere orced o flee o Germany
However, zalasi nd and his closest l l iesdid not remain uiet:in 1943 hey planned military oup.By the fall of the year, heGermanmili tary ighcommand asconvincedhat he conserva-t ive government f MiklosKallay, nstalledn powerby regentHortyand not sympathetico Nazism,wa s incompetentnd hatmilitary ccupationf he countrywas nevitable. uring he sum-mer of 194 1almost16,000 ews were deportedo Galicia ndmassacredn KammeneckPodolsky.hiswa s he irstmassacreof the Holocausto be egitimatedy he Hungarianeadership.twas fallowedby the second massacre,which took place inJanuary 942inDelvideka region ccupied y he Hungarian il -itary and police.They murderednearly 3,500 people mostlyJewish nd Roma.
On '1 9March1944,Hungarywas occupied y th e Germans. l lthe national ocialisteaders hohad mmigratedo Germany owreturnedand activelyorganised or total war in Hungary,eventhough he German uppet overnmentf Sztojany idno t ncludeany Arrow Cross members. In April, Edmund Veesenmayer,Hungary'sNazi governormeet Szalasi for the f i rst t ime.Veesenmayer asable o convince dmiralHorty o meetSzalasiin May,a meeting hat sealedHungary'sate during he tragicremainingmonthsof the year.Al l the fascistan d paramilitary
groupswere unitedunderMOVE, ncludingthe semi secret Assocration f Fightersofthe Eastern Front (KABAZ ) and theTuranian ightersAssociation.When on 15
October1944,Hortyannounced cease-fire, the Arrow Cross units armed by thegermans mounted a successfulmilitarycoupd'etat.n he ateOktober 944Szalasiissued his Program for NationalReconstruction.n he springand earlysum-mer, Eichmann nd his SonderkommandodeportedHungarian ews and Roma romthe provinceso Auschwitz. he deportationof almosthalf-million eoplewas activelyhelped by HungarianClerks, policemen,and soldiers.
Naziskinheadsas the new avantguard f the ,, vict imsof thehistory"
After World War 2 and the establishment f state socialism, as-cists deaspersisted mongHungarian ilitary nd police ff icersin expatriate ommunities ll over he world.Many publicationsand journalswere published xtolling he virtuesof Hungarianracialpurity nd excusingHungary'sole n the Holocaust. eoNazisand neofascitsdeasbegan o appear n Hungary fter hefallof he communismn 1989.Skinhead roups nd neonazi lo-gansha d n factalready ppearedn the smallan dmarginaloc kmusic subculture nder he communist egime n early 1980s
already. fter1990new eaders nd namesappeared, ndWorldWa r 2 insignias nd songs began o make the roundsagain.Antisemitic, ntiziganisticnd extremenationalist ichetoric lsoreappeared, ithswastikas ndactsof vandalismn Jewish eme-teriesand synagogues cross he country. l bertSzabo, svanGyorkosand GeorgyEkremKemal ormed he far rightHungarianWelfareAssociation,ut the partywas illegalised,orcing ts deo-logues o remain ilentor to leaveHungary. haracteristicf the
1990swas a demons trationy nationalistkinhead roup outh nthe Castledistrict f Budapesto commemorate zalasis attemotto breakout fromthe sovietattackon Budapest. he alternativesubculturemilieustart o rise again after 2000, with skinheadnationalist roupsorganising hite power demonstrationsndwhiteChristmas oncerts.
Th eTreaty f Trianon hich ef t1920'sHungary ithout big partof erritory ndpopulations againon he op of discussionor ightand extreme ight partiesafter 2000. Did it really epresenttragedy or he Hungarians? e cannot aymoreabout hat.Bu twe can realise nto he extreme ight speech rom the last yearsthat his subject s used as fetish. t is not reallyan issue f theTreaty asan unfair greement ut more t representsn nstancefo rwh y th eHungarianeople' re he victims f history. s a con-sequence,here s a policyof hate which establishesensionsbetweenHungarians nd the neighbour eoplemosflybetweenHungariansnd Slavsand Romanians nd nsideHungary ten-sionbetween ungariansnd minorities. utmore han hat s aninstancehat makes he Hungarianso feel entifled o ask fo rassertions.
ls History repeating tself?
On this point he roleof the rightextreme,with heirprogram f
reestablishingheol d bordersgivesHungarianopula-
t ion the feel ingthat they ca nagain ecome neof the dominatingnations f Europe.It is a verypervert-ed argumentwhich can makesense o any per-so n wh o is notpreparedor multi-
cul tural ism r toreceivehe changes f th e last 20 years ro m he position f th eeconomicalnd moral ai lure.On he otherhand t s right hat hetransitiono the marketeconomyhas fai ledand after20 yearsHungarys embroiledn poverty nd a search or dentity, ssault-ed by he multinationa loncerns nd rotten y he corruption
While ndustry ndagriculture er ecollapsingthedominant olit-ical orcessaid heywereabout o transformHungary ntoa finan-cial servicescentre or the world .After he total collapseof theearly1990 some oreign nvestment rrivedan d ,cheap abourbeing opiously vailable.herewa s someconstructioner ean dthere Bu t he buy -outswere mosfly or liquidating ompetitorsand clearing onsumermarkets or the multinationalsHowever,
as workersost heir obs ,these onsumermarkets aturally entup nto hi nai r Bynow he multinationa lsre packing p and eav-ing On he whole t was still he state hatsomehowried o pro-vide fo r the increasingnumber of people left without anyresources. ungaryhas many more pensionershan gainfullyemployed eople n the privatesector Livingstandards aveplummeted,working hours have got longer for those st i l lemployed, nd unemployments everywhere. he dole is onlyvalid or six months Manypeople re goinghungry nd he yarenot used o it. In the 1970san d 1980sHungarywa s prosperouscomparedo the restof the region,especia llyn the i970s whentherewere ising iving tandards. l l his s collapsing.
Th e political lass s a bunchof rascals nterestedn theirown
prosperity.Hungary s for sale. Thats why a program ike ,TheRadicalChange' f theJobbik themovementor a betterHungary,extreme ightparty epresentedro mma y2010with 17percentnparliament)ounds o many ike h e onlymoralsolution. he eftspectrum s compromised fter 2006. FerencGyuricsany,he
prime minister rom 2Q04 o 2006 admitted hat hi s previousadministrationad lied about mportant conomicnformationnorder o assure he reelection.With he costsof ransition pirallingand he act hat ef tpolit iciansf mportant osit ion er ewillingomisinformhepublic pinion n a massive cale with erious on -sequencesor the entirecountry),Conservativesnd extremer ight par i ies consol idatedheir posi t ion n Hungar ianandEuropean arliaments.
It seems hat h e situation reatedn he astyears s similaro hesituationf he 1920swhen he Conservativespened p he pos-sibility or the rightextreme o accede o the power. n iactFidez,the nonconservative arty, s workinghand in hand with Jobbik.The speech f he right s also he sameas it was n the 1920s.|presentshe Hungarian eopleas victimsof History. larminglthe discourse f he astyearsha sbecome penly ntisemiticndantiziganistic.he polit icalprogramof Jobbik speaks direcflyabout ( gypsy roblem aused y gypsy riminality"nd makesaproposal rogramor he ntegrationf he Romacommunity.he1920s ascist tereotypesre beingusedagainby Jobbik Romadon'twork becausehey don'twant o (and his s intolerable...theyare antisocial lements ho mustconformo thewishof theHungariantatebecause obodywants o pa yand o sustainheirlaziness nd criminality. om aar e presented s terrorelementsthat endangerhe si lence nd orderof Hungarian ociety.obbik
also presents heRoma <criminalityas having connec-t ion o polit icalrimi-nal i ty and Jewishconspiratorial api-tal ists.
ln August 2OO7aparamilitary rgani-sation Magyar Gardwa s ounded.GaborVorna, ecognisablas one of the headsof the rightsextrem-
ists from Jobbik,was amongst he foundersof this paramilitarorganisation.Manyommentatorsay hat hisgroup s responsi-bl e or he attacks gainstRoma amiliesn Hungary nd even nTransylvania.noff icialoices ay here s no doubt hat heyar eprotected y thepolice.Due o the political ressureMagiarGuardwa s dissolvedn 2008.Shortly fter t was reorganisednder hecover of lhe MaghiarGuard Foundationolficiallyengaged n cul-turaland national uilding ctivities. e can sa y his s us tanoth-er strategy hichkeeps hem presentn the polit icalcene.Whatcanwe expect ro m hem?Thatbeautiful udapest ecame citywhere he fascists re marching gain, reely, ustained y th estateand by thegoodcit izens'.
In ou rresearch e were ookingor resistance roups nd peopleinierested o f ight against the r ight extreme in Hungary.Unfortunatelyhe feedbackwas verysmallconsideringhe seri-ousnessof the situation The antifascist roup rom Budapestseems o be verysmalland solatedWe have ried o get n con-tactwith hem but untilno w herewa s no answer ro m heirside.Wewillcontinue ur research nd we are ready o help or build-ing a solidcountermovement ecausewe considerhe situationin Hungary ritical. e have o act Wewillcontinueo workonourmaterialsan d interviewsas well as our call for solidarity.Fortunatelyhereexists lo tof people utside ungary hichareready o ge tactive On egreatexamples from hequeer cene nB.We are thankfully hat they accepted o give us an interviewwhichwe publish s a followupmaterial.We think ha t heirwork
is really reatan dshould e ollowed y othergroups nd ndivid-ualswh o don'twant o be passiven a time whenHungarys onthe way to becameagaina fasciststate
