From: Bárdos Dániel
Subject: 1956: The Nation's Legacy
To: Kutasi József
1956: The Nation's Legacy
Unambiguous messageThat it took place in the centre of Budapest was not the only significant way in which Jobbik's commemorative events differed from those of the other Hungarian political parties. Only one person speaking at Jobbik's event felt permitted to mention the political legacy of the events of 1956, a veteran of the conflict, Hungarian Guard co-founder Levente Murányi.
The Hungarian Uprising of 1956 is the noblest moment in Hungarian history, that it may also be thought of as one of the noblest moments of recent European history is precisely why so many international politicians wish to be associated with it.
However another, much less noble tradition has grown up around yearly commemorations of the event on October 23rd, and the fact that this year has marked not only the Uprising's 53rd anniversary but also the 20th year of the modern Hungarian republic; has meant that this ignoble tradition has reached a crescendo.
The most striking feature of the film and photographs that survive of the Uprising is of course the youth of the protagonists. That year after year, middle aged politicians like MSZP Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai and Fidesz leader Viktor Orbán desperately try not only to associate themselves with the heroism of that time, but also speak of the motives of the '56 fighters as being in concert with their own contemporary political objectives is at best plainly ridiculous, and at worst a deep national embarrassment.
Mr Bajnai chose to make a fool of himself in parliament. Where the only thing sincere was the celebration of he and his fellow socialists over the 20th anniversary of the coming of democracy. Which of course turned them from rich and powerful Communists into very very rich and powerful Socialists.
He spoke of unanimity with the spirit of '56 while addressing a parliament Senate chamber that resembled nothing more than a Comintern. Containing as it did almost exclusively, the very generation of politicians against which the '56-ers had fought, thieves such as himself, and a handful of youngsters. The absence of almost anyone in either their 20s or 30s was startling. (Bajnai's predecessor Gyurcsány had famously instructed those Hungarians finding themselves discontented with the country to "simply leave" and so many have.)
He also spoke of democracy while addressing the likes of Draskovics and his henchmen, who had so gleefully opened fire upon democracy protesters three years earlier. And he also talked of the failure of the political class, though we doubt he meant himself and the groaning Swiss bank accounts of his colleagues.
For Mr Bajnai the spirit of '56 aligned with that of the regime change in 1989 and his own, because it represented, that "the country was united in its political objectives." By which of course he meant his own objectives. Mr Bajnai clearly thinks that young boys and girls were smashing Molotov cocktails into Russian tanks 53-years ago, in order to strike a blow for social-liberalism.
Perhaps the only figure more laughable on Friday was Fidesz leader Viktor Orbán, who spoke to a rally held on the very outskirts of Budapest in a square chosen for its small size, to help the number of his supporters look numerous.
In the Fidesz leaders mind the spirit of '56 was reflected in his own, because it represented a victory for "common sense." Yes, that is actually what he said. As if a small nation spontaneously deciding that it could take on and win against the most numerous army the world has ever seen, was a triumph of sober reflection over nationalist hope.
He also said that the '56-ers were, like him, against extremism. By which we know he couldn't have meant the Movement for a Better Hungary, given the amount of time the Fidesz leader has recently dedicated to adopting Jobbik's policies into his own party, and then pretending that he possesses the will to carry them out. His actual efforts to emulate the famously relaxed style of dress characteristic of Jobbik leader Gábor Vona, is also frankly beginning to look ridiculous in a man of his age.
What Bajnai and Orbán are simply incapable of recognizing is that the legacy of 1956 belongs to the nation as a whole, and perhaps even to the world, and it is not their own to mould and manipulate into a tool to promote their own personal political agendas. Only veterans and historians have the moral authority to pronounce upon its historical significance.
And the motive of the '56-ers requires no intermediary to aid in its interpretation. What permitted those of 53 years ago to face violent repression was indeed the same thing that permitted those who walked the streets of Budapest 20 years ago and could easily have ended up facing the same. Simple love of their country, no more no less. What the Hungarian language calls, "hazaszeretet," and the English language calls, "patriotism."
Only such a motive could have united so many disparate people into the same cause. To pretend otherwise is not only silly but to engage in historical revisionism of the worst kind.
Before they attempt to appropriate the nation's legacy as their own, politicians could do a lot worse than taking a good look at the most evocative symbol of 1956, the Hungarian tricolour (above) with the Soviet emblem torn from its middle.
It represents more eloquently than any argument ever could, that the enduring symbols of this nation, the Coat of Arms of Kossuth, the Stripes of Árpád and the Tricolour cannot and will not be besmirched by the political extremism of the last century whatever its origin.
Because united under these symbols the Hungarian people can accomplish feats which can astonish the world.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
