‘It is no longer clear where the boundaries between nature and culture, human and non-human, artificial and natural lie. In the face of this great uncertainty, we need to rethink fundamental questions such as what the social order is. It is no exaggeration to say that we need to recreate our worlds on a planet where the very foundations of life are being called into question.’
‘On our part, we doubt that “history of ideas” as a methodologically coherent discipline existed in Hungary between the two world wars…Nevertheless, their work is undoubtedly a prime example of an attempt at the creation of a conservative-oriented social science. The history of ideas is, in fact, a philosophy of history that takes into account factors that transcend matter, and through a specific research methodology is able to grasp and evaluate the processes that take place “behind” the surface of purely material social phenomena.’
István Haller was a prominent Hungarian Christian politician in the first half of the 20th century. His book summing up his views on Christian politics is apparently paradoxical—it is both Christian-inspired and antisemitic. This combination illustrates the troubling tension that burdened the Christian national politics of the Horthy era in Hungary.
‘As a committed Protestant, Joó emphasized the primacy of “spirit” over matter in almost all his writings, but he failed to take into account that religion and “spirit” do not always overlap, and religiosity itself simply becomes ineffective if so-called religious people view the world on the same premises as their atheistic and materialistic counterparts.’
‘Coming up with an authoritative definition of conservatism is not an end in itself so much as a sort of ritualistic pursuit, which we perform expecting some change from it along the lines of a deeper understanding of our past, our present, and the mysteries of the human species and the world. There are any number of ways in which the history of conservative thought could be written, if only as a story of the attempts at grasping the very notion of conservatism.’
Faludy, one of the greatest Hungarian poets and literary translators of the 20th century, never really found his place in any system; he sooner or later became a nuisance to everyone, and even if sometimes made compromises, always did so provocatively, originally and with talent.
Losing the World War and the experience of the Treaty of Trianon triggered a discourse in Hungarian public life that was not without precedent, but had never been so vehement before. Perhaps the opinion of many was reflected by the renowned writer Ferenc Herczeg, who declared that ‘Europe, free press, liberalism—all these are slogans that have deceived us.’
According to the most fundamental concept of the Holy Crown doctrine, everyone who has political rights in the territory of the country is a member of the crown, a part of its ‘body’.
‘Bangha considered “social redistribution and governmental intervention to be appropriate tools”. These tools, according to Bangha, create the possibility to eliminate the imbalances that—as he puts it—are caused by mega-wealth concentrated in a few hands. In turn, these measures are embedded in a larger social reform, meaning the reformation of public life based on the Christian spirit and the re-elevation of Christianity to the status of the state’s main principle.’
The majority of the refugees were intellectuals, mostly from Transylvania, followed by those from what is Slovakia, Serbia and Austria today, but there were also some who fled to Hungary from Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.
