Understanding and Positioning the 1956 Hungarian Revolution in History, Memory and Politics
Date
2021-08-10
Authors
Kovács, Zoltán
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Abstract
In October 1956, Hungary descended into turmoil as demonstrations by university students attracted the population at large transforming them in a reaction against the cruel Stalinist system that had been forced upon Hungarians at the end of the Second World War. As political demands emerged and the Hungarian Working People’s Party (MDP) not only refused to satisfy them but rather reacted violently to restore order, the situation mutated into street fighting and confusion emerged in the country. Amid this chaos, with great numbers of participants and a situation shifting by the hour, the events unfolded erratically thus generating competing narratives and understandings. How 1956 was treated became an issue of vigorous institutional, national and personal debate. The interest here is to decipher the understandings of 1956 that have been formulated in successive periods and what Hungarians have done with the 1956 events. 1956 constitutes an instance of Geschichtspolitics as the historical event is used politically to legitimize, mobilize and scandalize. By problematizing the different titles conferred onto the events – revolution, uprising, insurrection, freedom fight and counter-revolution – attention is placed on the political nature of the choice. In addition, by analyzing the narrative emerging from the Post-1956 Kadar Era, the 1989 Rendszerváltás and the post-2010 period the nature and role of 1956 is addressed with strong emphasis on the pivotal turning points in discourse. The different recollections not only derive from different groups and segments of society participating whom pushed their understandings, but also from the political utility of 1956 in the aforementioned periods. In the Kadar Era, the aim was to reinvigorate and legitimize the reformed MDP. In the 1989, the role of 1956 was to create a base for the democratic transition during the collapse of the Soviet Union, Soviet Communism and its sphere of influence. After 2010, to provide a national narrative to strengthen the Fidesz Government’s grip on power.
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Keywords
1956, Hungarian Revolution, Memory, Politics, Geschichtspolitics, Politics of Memory, 1989, Fidesz