Maracz: Hungarian Revival

In the twentieth century, the destiny of the Hungarian people has been determined by two major historical-political events: the Trianon peace dictate (1920) that came after the First World War and the Soviet-Russian occupation of the country of after the Second World War.

The Treaty of Trianon destroyed the 1000 year-long period of Hungary's functioning as Europe's hinge. Because of Trianon, the Hungarians of the Carpathian Basin were separated and came to be dispersed throughout Lesser Hungary and the successor states of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Rumania. The various parts of the Hungarian nation went their own way. It was a situation that only ended for a brief period when, during the Second World War, these parts were successfully reunited. After the Second World War, the Hungarians were forced to 'integrate' and become part of the communist East Bloc. In Hungary, a reign of terror began that was driven by communist internationalistic ideology and every effort was made to fragment Hungarian society.

By the end of the era of communist oppression, Hungarians everywhere in the Carpathian Basin had been effectively marginalized. Internationalistic, communist ideology was traded in for an ideology of globalized internationalism. The switches in orientation and ideology left the power political structures untouched, some of the characteristics being:

- that citizens have no real influence on the exercise power. Political decisions are taken behind the scenes. A good example of this was the pact made between prime minister Antall several days after his MDF had won its first free elections in April 1990 and the liberal left opposition party, the SZDSZ. Neither the electorate, his party nor the presidium had given

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him the authority to do this. Together with the secret pact made earlier on with the communists pertaining to 'transfer of power', this pact has shaped the Hungarian politics of recent years.201

- the marginalization of the Hungarians has enormously affected the mental-moral atmosphere in the country. Hungary is an inward looking and socially unstable country. The pessimistic mood has penetrated deep into Hungarian culture. Artists expressing feelings of loneliness and losers have been given a prominent place in Hungarian culture. The Hungarian culture is full of metaphors for 'desolation', 'sorrow' and 'loneliness' and the country has numerous statues and other depictions of fallen revolutionaries. The post-communist system cultivated this 'Hungarian sorrow' sentiment and the image of 'Hungarians as losers'. The trend reached its height with the recent erection of a massive effigy in honour of the Turkish sultan Sulijman who beat the Hungarian army in the battle of Mohacs and then went on to ravage huge regions of Hungary. The argument was that the statue symbolizes the peaceful relations now existing between these two peoples who had for centuries been at war with each other. If a statue of Hitler were to be erected in the West to symbolize the renewed friendship with Germany, this would surely also be seen as taking matters too far...

In Hungary's neighbouring countries where anti-Hungarian policy was practised clandestinely in communist times, these kinds of political strategies have now been given a free hand. The nationalistic regimes of these states are not afraid to mobilize their followers by propagating anti-Hungarian policies. The anti-Hungarian politics adopted in the neighbouring countries are still a success and Hungarians are still unable to defend themselves against the indirect strategy tactics commonly employed by these countries. This tactical approach towards Hungary is admirably illustrated in the following quotation which comes from the diary of the American general Harry Hill Bandholtz who headed the Entente mission in Budapest after the First World War:

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13th November 1919. "Yesterday morning there appeared in the papers a notice from Roumanian Headquarters that they proposed to distribute large quantities of food to the inhabitants of Budapest. In characteristic Roumanian style, they broke into the food depots belonging to the Hungarian government and distributed these supplies right and left, thereby completely upsetting the ration system of Budapest, but during the process being photographed as international philanthropists...they turned out some company kitchens, then robbed a near-by restaurant of food supplies and called together a lot of children in order to be photographed while feeding the poor. As no wood was handy, they got some newspapers, crammed them into the stove and, while they were burning, had a rapid photograph taken in order to complete the picture."202

Even Slovakia was not afraid of using ecological means to indirectly prolong the war. For the Slovaks, this opened up new ways of putting pressure on Hungary. It is incorrect to believe that the Hungarians were not aware of ways in which they could deploy indirect strategy to defend their national interests. During the era of dualism, the Hungarian elite had been the biggest supporters of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy. This was not because the Hungarians were so-called 'Danube-patriots' or irrepresible admirers of the Habsburg dynasty, but rather because Austria paid 70% of all the shared expenses incurred within the Dual Monarchy. As a result, money flowed into Hungary from Austria. Dualism was, therefore, in Hungary's interests.

During the inter-war years, there was head-on confrontation with the Trianon constellation. The Hungarians trusted that, on the basis of moral criteria, the 'civilized' world would see that the Hungarians of the Carpathian Basin were in an intolerable position. Emphasizing Hungarian cultural superiority, however, was ineffective. In international relations, it is power that counts and moral-cultural considerations are immaterial. Taking direct military action, like in the Second World War, was useless as well in the long-term. Today, taking direct

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military action to compensate for not having a strong army is impossible. Hungary will need to maintain strong defensive forces though, capable of combating possible aggression from neighbouring countries in a suitable way. The Hungarians do, however, have a number of other trump cards in their hands.

Post-Communist Hungarian administrations have sought to flee from the Trianon constellation and to resolve Hungary's economic problems by attaching themselves to the EU and to NATO. It has sometimes been suggested that one need not bother with 'national' problems, because soon we shall have an American-like Europe with no distinct nations. This is, however, not supported by the facts. German unity, for example, was in the first place about reuniting East and West Germany and not about linking East Germany to the EU. Great Britain is the country generating most anti-European sentiment with its 'Euro scepticism' that is clearly gaining support and France has again started nuclear testing, just to assert its independence. The borders of a 'united' Europe can be felt and are visible. Sooner or later Hungary and Europe will, therefore, be confronted with the Trianon legacy and will be forced to think up solutions. If that does not happen, Hungary and Europe will have to find a way to take care of the millions of Hungarians who, in continually fleeing from the endless repeated ethnic cleansings rained upon them, will ultimately be forced away from their native soil. With preventive policies, however, the situation should not come to this.

It has also been suggested that present day Hungary follows a policy that is designed to overcome the Trianon problem based on indirect strategy. Until now this strategy has proved to be completely counter-productive. For instance, the Hungarian constitution does not state that Hungarian is the country's official language which is unusual when one compares this to other European constitutions. The writers of the Hungarian constitution wanted to 'set a good example' for the Rumanians, Slovaks and Serbs by encouraging them to drop their nationalistic policy. The problem with such 'solutions' is that they tend to weaken Hungarian national consciousness. At the same

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time, same applies to the generous law on minorities accepted by the Hungarian parliament. It was basically right of Hungary to introduce this bill, but if the underlying reason for introducing it was to 'set a good example' for neighbouring countries with Hungarian minorities then the effects will only prove to be counter-productive. The small minorities in Hungary will become unnecessarily upgraded and 'put on par' with Hungarian national communities. It is clear that the agressive expansionist politics adopted by Hungary's neighbours will only be ended and concessions will only be made to Hungarian national communities, if these countries are forced to do this.

Today, Hungary still holds on to notions of Lesser Hungarian particularism. Under Communism, Hungary was unable to defend her national interests, because the ruling elite served the interests of a foreign power. With the Hungarian desire to become a member of the EU "as quickly as possible and without preconditions" Lesser Hungarian particularism has been given a new projection. If Hungary were to turn its back on Central Europe, this would not only be detrimental to the Carpathian Basin and to the nations living there because of, for instance, the huge numbers of refugees and the great stream of migrants this would precipitate, but it would also be detrimental to European integration as a whole. A 'fleeing' Hungary is no longer able to function as a stabilizing force and be an economic asset to the Carpathian Basin. Hungary would no longer be an integrative regional power able, together with Hungarian national communities, to strenghten cohesion in Central Europe and Hungary would no longer be able to fulfil its traditional role as a bridge between East and West. If Hungary once again wants to become a reliable hinge of Europe, then its potential will have to be exploited to the full and given a conscious geo-political slant that the West may possibly be able to support.

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Global Hungarian potential

In the immediate future, Hungarian strategy will have to be based on the following spearheads: economic, political, social, cultural, demographic and defensive reinforcements and supporting the right that Hungarian national communities have to self-determination. To realize all these aims - while not in the possession of defence forces, natural assets and raw materials - Hungarians will have to start seeing themselves as a spiritual-cultural global community, or, as constituting a 'global village'. Hungary's economic prosperity and modernization will be decisive in the matter of creating chances for a stable and well-developed Carpathian Basin. But how should Hungary orient itself? The EU has become a gigantic economic power, because the individual member states have further developed the strong points which allowed them to dominate in the first place. Before Hungary is ready to integrate into the EU, its strong points will, therefore, also first have to be identified. The future does not lie in industrial and agricultural production, but rather in communication, information and computer technology, financial and other service industries and in the infrastructure that binds East to West. In innovating these new technologies the Hungarians may draw on their high standard of education in the sciences. The Hungarians have after all received twelve Nobel prizes, eleven of which went to researchers in the field of the sciences and they have been responsible for typical Hungarian inventions, such as, for instance, the ingenious Rubik's cube.203 The Hungarians are, furthermore, an ambitious, hard-working and disciplined people. Hungarian brainpower has huge unknown potential that still needs to be tapped. Hungary will, therefore, need to invest in human resources and education.

Now that the communist regime has collapsed in Central Europe, the Hungarians have at last gained access to their own culture and history once again. In the first part of this book, I demonstrated how, through their culture, Hungarians are able to utilize their old collective fund of knowledge and such mental-moral imperatives as: integration, tolerance, the drive

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for freedom, a willingness to compromise and constitutionalism. I do not naively assume that in the international politics of the next century such mental-moral and cultural values will be more important than pure power politics even though the fall of Communism has shown that mankind is moving towards a more political culture that also respects these values. In gaining renewed access to their own culture, traditions and history the Hungarians have discovered that they certainly do not stand alone. The Hungarians possess fruitful networks which may well, in the near future, be a positive political-economic asset.

Because of the changing power constellation in Central and Eastern Europe, Hungary's relations with its neighbouring countries have not only become tense, but also have intensified and improved. The friendly relationship that exists with the Ukraine has already been outlined. The Ukrainians are interested in maintaining good contacts with Hungary, because for them Hungary is a window to the West. Friendship treaties were signed with the former Yugoslavian federal republics of Slovenia and Croatia bordering on Hungary, soon after these states had become independent. In their struggle against Greater Serbian aspirations both these new states obviously want to feel certain of peace on their northern borders with Hungary. As far as establishing the rights of the Hungarian minority living in the Mura region of northern Slovenian and the Slovenian minority in the Raba region of southern Hungary goes, Slovenia and Hungary signed an agreement on 6th November 1992 in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana. This treaty guarantees to preserve the rights and identity of these minorities. The Croatian constitution of December 1990 evaluated the common Hungarian-Croatian past from 1091 until the time of the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy.

On the whole, the 825 year history of the Hungarian-Croatian confederation is viewed positively by the Croatian constitution, even when it comes to describing the events of 1848, the most sensitive issue in the common Hungarian-Croatian past, when

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the Croats sided with Austria against Hungary at the time when Hungary was fighting for independence. In sharp contrast to the positive way in which Hungarian-Croatian relations are viewed, criticism is now being levelled against the way in which former Yugoslavia came into being. Not all the details on this have yet come to light. In the Croatian constitution one can read about how in 1929 the Sabor, Croatia's parliament, never actually sanctioned the uniting of Croatia with Serbia and Montenegro within a Yugoslavian kingdom composed of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.204 Hungarian-Croatian relations are now so good that the old Hungarian royal free port of Fiume on the Adriatic coast, now known as Rijeka, constitutes a free trading zone with Hungary, just like in the past when Hungary was a kingdom. Goods may now be shipped to and from Hungary via Rijeka free of customs charges. Central European infrastructural connections and customs free zones are, thus, reverting to the way they once were.

Through the Roman Catholic Church, Hungarians maintain contacts with the Vatican and the Latin Catholic world and through their Hungarian Protestant connections they keep up their contacts with Protestants, notably of the Calvinistic denominations in the Anglo-Saxon world, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Scandinavia. These church ties are also very important to the large communities of Protestant and Catholic Hungarians living in Transylvania. The Vatican has agreed to the proposal that the Hungarian Catholic bishopric of Gyulafehervar (Alba Julia) should revert to being an archbishopric once again. This archbishopric now falls directly under the Vatican, it no longer comes under the diocese of Bucharest. Though all the other Hungarian bishoprics in Transylvania still remain under Bucharest's authority the Hungarian Catholic community sees this step, on the part of the Vatican, as a recognition of Hungarian Catholic interests in Transylvania. The Catholic world now needs to turn its attention to the Hungarian Catholics of Moldavia in Rumania, the -200-,000 Csango-Hungarians who are still being oppressed.

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Perpetuating contacts with Calvinist church communities throughout the world is important, especially in the matter of strengthening the position of the Hungarian Calvinist Church in Transylvania. The Hungarian Reformed Church belongs to the World Association of Reformed Churches (the WARC) which, unlike the World Council of Churches, did protest strongly against the plans to destroy Hungarian villages and churches in Transylvania. In April 1995, the Hungarian Calvinist Church organized itself into a Hungarian Reformed World Synod under the auspices of the WARC. These Hungarian Calvinist connections provide some support for the Reformed Church's bishop, Laszlo Tokes and his struggle to emancipate Hungarians in Transylvania.

Because of their early history, the Hungarians have contacts with a large number of cultures and peoples throughout Eurasia. Their 'links' are not only with the so-called Finno Ugric 'peoples' but also with the Turks, Tibetans, Japanese and Persians. This is being symbolized by the stupa that was recently consecrated in Hungary by the Dalai Lama. Most peoples of the Asian continent, such as, for instance, the Japanese, see the Hungarians as brothers. The Hungarians are therefore one step ahead where Japanese contacts are concerned and Japan is now a factor of enormous political and economic significance. The Tibetans are grateful to the Hungarians because it was the linguist Sandor (Alexander) Korosi Csoma (1784-Darjeeling 1842), who originated from a small village in Szeklerland, who was responsible for opening up their culture to Westerners. After having completed his studies at the University of Gottingen Korosi Csoma travelled to China in 1819 to study the Uigurs. Korosi Csoma was driven by the hypothesis that the Uigurs might be able to teach him something about the origins of the Hungarians. In fact the linguist never got as far as where the Uigurs lived, but he got stuck in Tibet where, in Tibetan monasteries and completely isolated from the outside world, he worked on a study of the old Tibetan language and culture. The result of all his efforts was the first ever description of Tibetan in the English language and the first ever Tibetan-English dictionary.

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The Hungarian's early history gives them 'access' to China as well, a country which is certain to undergo enormous economic expansion in the next century. The Hungarian links with China have also been acknowledged in the West. On 8th February 1995, the International Herald Tribune reported that in 1986, in the Urumchi region of north-west China, Hungarian researchers carried out excavations in an old graveyard that contained the remains of people from a Turkish-speaking tribe, dating from 900 AD, the Ugars. The objects found there resembled objects found in Hungarian graves in the Carpathian Basin dating from the 9th and 10th centuries. Furthermore, the Hungarian expedition, led by the anthropologist Istvan Kiszely, discovered that the Ugars, who live in the Urumchi region, knew more than seventy folks songs that were also familiar to the Hungarians.205 Kiszely told me that, after the article had appeared in the above-mentioned American paper, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences decided that the research findings of his expedition to north-west China should be published in China as soon as possible. It was no coincidence that in 1995 the International Herald Tribune was the paper to carry reports of 'recent' discoveries creating links between China and a European nation. This American newspaper has a reputation for identifying and exactly registering political-economic changes in the world. It would appear that through their culture the Hungarians are at the centre of these changes. The 'Chinese' link is just one of the secrets to be disclosed in the future related the early history of the Hungarians.

Now that the Soviet Union has disintegrated the geo-ethnic distribution of the Russians is rather similar to that of the Hungarians. Today, there are huge communities of Russians living outside of the Russian heartland. This means that when it comes to the Hungarian question the Russians may be regarded as potential allies. In April 1994, Alekzij II, the patriarch of Moscow and of all Russians, paid a visit to Hungary and met with top ranking political and religious functionaries. In an appeal made to the Hungarian people, he confessed that his fellow countrymen were wrong to have treated the Hungarians

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as they did in 1956. He also met Sandor Csoori, chairman of the World Federation of Hungarians. Alekzij II told Csoori that many of his spiritual children now live outside Russia's borders and that he, therefore, well understood the predicament of the Hungarian national communities.

In this century, Hungarian history has been changeable to say the least with the result that the Hungarians have become dispersed throughout more than forty different countries. Many Hungarians left their fatherland because of the First and Second World Wars, because of the Hungarian uprising in 1956 when around -200-,000 young Hungarians fled the country and because of nationalistic oppression in the Hungarian populated areas of the successor states. The Hungarians have found themselves in a situation not unlike that of certain other national and religious groups, such as the Jews and Armenians who also live in big diasporas. The Hungarian fate has not had purely negative consequences. Everywhere in the world the Hungarian global community has set up support points aimed at representing the Hungarians and their culture. In practice, this global network has functioned well like for example when an international protest was organized against violating the human rights of Hungarian national communities. It is striking how many Hungarians of the diaspora have become prominent scientists and politicians. In the autumn of -199-4, the Republican politician George Pataki was elected governor of New York State, the biggest American state. Governor Pataki, a third generation Hungarian American, wrote in a letter addressed to the World Federation of Hungarians that one of the reasons for his electoral success was the support received from Hungarians in the state where the Hungarian ratio is high.

For the Hungarians this world-wide distribution is a relatively new situation in their history, but in this age of information technology the possibilities open to them are endless. There are two organizations holding the Hungarians together in their 'global village': the World Federation of Hungarians, which has one million members and the Hungarian Reformed Church World Synod already mentioned above. At present, the World

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Federation of Hungarians is busy developing a computer network system that should provide the basis for a global Hungarian on-line-electronic-village. The possibilities for distributing and collecting information through Hungarian contacts are indeed great. Because they are also so well represented everywhere else throughout Central Europe the Hungarians are in a good position for setting up data file bases on Central Europe. Below are some good examples to illustrate this. In Central and Eastern Europe, Hungarians are represented in the six national parliaments of Budapest, Zagreb, Belgrade, Bucharest, Kiev and Bratislava. With a mere press of a button legal information may be called up in Hungarian in any one of these countries. Hungarian language newspapers are available in many Central and Eastern European countries. With Hungarian one can, therefore, cover the whole Central European region. Outside of this region there are new challenging possibilities as well. The Hungarian satellite channel Danube T.V. can be received all round the world. By contacting Hungarian societies throughout the diaspora, information may be instantly gained on political, economic and cultural events elsewhere in the world. This might well give the Hungarian community a certain prominence in the world in the next century. The radiating of the positive values of Hungarian culture might then become globally significant. Before the potential of the geographical distribution, the 'human resources' and brainpower, the moral-cultural values and the contacts being developed all over the world between all kinds of regions and cultures, can be fully exploited a struggle for emancipation has to be fought in the Carpathian Basin that will, of course, have to be based on 'Realpolitik' and power.

Hungary's present elite, which evolved during the communist era, is not suited to realizing a programme that has as its objective the restoration of Hungary to its former glory as Europe's 'hinge' and which aims at enabling the global

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Hungarian community to become a positive force on a world scale. The only kind of elite suited to such a role is one that can think and deal freely. On the basis of what political doctrines can Hungarian politics be shaped in the future?

(1) Hungary must follow the guiding principles laid down by count Istvan Szechenyi

Hungary must become a modern nation that is democratically, economically and culturally strong and which has the character of a social constitutional state. It must be a nation based on its own thousand-year old multiplex Hungarian culture and on its long constitutional tradition. One of the most important facets of the new Hungary will have to be economic power. In developing a powerful economy, the important components are human resources, infrastructure, distribution centres and financial services. Because Hungary is situated centrally in Europe, the Carpathian Basin can once again be turned into an economic link between East and West.

(2) Hungarian foreign politics must gain priority over domestic political questions

In view of the fact that Hungary is in a rather vulnerable position, because it is partly surrounded by hostile countries that are not prepared to reach settlements by compromising in any way, Hungary cannot take the risk of functioning as a Central European experimental station in domestic politics, social affairs or in any other areas. Foreign policy must be given absolute priority over and above other government matters. This also means that the circumstances for supporting and executing foreign politics should not be neglected. For instance, Hungarian defence must not be reduced on the grounds that it is too expensive and the Hungarian military tradition must once again be given its rightful place in society. Obviously, it must not be reinstated for the purposes of agression, but rather on the grounds of needing a legitimate self-defence response mechanism and to support international peace operations.

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Maracz: Hungarian Revival