Hungarian Conservative

In Scruton’s philosophy…the social practice of legislation and jurisdiction could not be realized outside the national framework, because—regardless to their origins—the interpretation and the enforcement of the set of legal rules and moral duties, even human rights, are bound to nation states…

The events of the 1956 Revolution are quite well-known, at least in Hungary, as far as the beginning of it and the period of its brief triumph are concerned. What is less known is that the revolution was not fully suppressed on the day of the Soviet invasion on 4 November. Active, armed resistance lasted until 11 November, and civil disobedience, as well as sporadic outbursts of rebellion kept the Soviets from stabilizing their rule until the late spring of the next year.

On 4 November 1956, the fate of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was sealed as Soviet troops entered the country to crush the uprising.

When the Soviet intervention against the Hungarian Revolution was placed on the agenda of the UN Security Council, the Soviets immediately vetoed it: their argument was that it was no more than a ‘reactionary uprising’ supported by the US. The French, meanwhile, were of the view that not only the UN Charter had been contravened in Hungary, but also the Paris Peace Treaties, and even the Warsaw Pact that served the legal foundation for the invasion. On the other hand, the United Kingdom questioned whether the use of Soviet military forces stationed in Hungary under a valid treaty and at the behest of the Hungarian government could even be called an intervention at all.

German Green MEP Daniel Freund thought that 23 October was the right time to publish the report on Hungary by the EP’s so-called Supervisory Body. He is proud to have been involved in its preparation, which is a shared pleasure for all of us, as his involvement is a guarantee that the document cannot be taken seriously.

Katalin Novák stressed that one of the purposes of her visit to Australia was to keep the motherland’s connection with the Hungarian diaspora alive, and as part of the effort, she decided to celebrate the anniversary of the 1956 revolution with the Hungarian Australian community. The President attended a 1956 commemoration and delivered remarks at the Hungarian Centre in Melbourne on 22 October.

‘Living in a republic means striving to treat each other well,’ the mayor said, adding this was the kind of homeland the heroes of 1956 had wanted. He said the symbol of the revolution, the Hungarian flag with a hole, sent the message that unity was only possible if no one was being told, in the name of any ideology, how they ought to love their homeland.

Orbán told his audience in Veszprém that Hungary was the ‘first and only’ country trying to ‘hold back the European people from willingly marching into an even greater war’. Referring to the ‘chivalry of the Hungarian people’, he said that ‘again and again those whom we saved turn against us’ when ‘we are defending them’. He went on to state that Hungary had defended Europe against migration ‘and we were the first to propose peace instead of war, which might have saved hundreds of thousands of lives.’

‘I thought, there is communism at home, half of the world is godless, they don’t know God or don’t consider Him important, and nobody wants to be a priest anymore… Thus, out of some kind of Hungarian defiance, I decided that I would become a priest.’

‘Today we still need a place to come together, to cherish our nationality, traditions, and customs. We need a place that is truly ours, that is a substitute for the Old Country, and that welcomes all our fellow citizens who approach us with goodwill. Today we still believe in the principles on which this organization was built, and to which we must continue to adhere if we are to survive.’

Ukrainian representative Yuriy Kamelchuk demanded an explanation as to why Hungary had blocked the payment of the next instalment of military aid from the European Peace Facility (EPF) to Ukraine. In his reply, the Hungarian minister reminded that Ukraine has put the biggest Hungarian bank on their list of international sponsors of terrorism, suggesting that the Hungarian bank enables the Russian war machine. As soon as OTP is removed from that list, the minister declared, Hungary will reconsider its veto.

Nagy was a highly controversial figure in Hungarian history, whose assessment is still a source of intense debates…He did stand up for the Hungarian Revolution in 1956—for debatable reasons—; but to portray him as a convinced democrat, or a hero of Hungarian popular representation and individual freedom would be a serious distortion. His legacy must be treated in its proper place: his merits must not be denied, but his sins must not be forgotten.

The image of Dózsa in Hungary has undergone so many metamorphoses that it would be difficult to link it to a single political trend or party. He could fit the role of a national hero who took up arms against the Turks under the banner of the Cross blessed by the Pope; a ‘martyr of the proletarian movement’; and a victim warning against the retaliation after the Revolution of 1956 all at once.