Hungary’s Fascist Tyrant Rises Again
By Casey McEwan
Admiral Mikolos Horthy became regent to Hungary in 1920 and played a prominent role in the mobilization of the Axis powers during the Second World War. He also sacrificed the Hungarian Jewish population in order to appease the Hitlerite machine. He ruthlessly smashed workers marches and democratic demonstrations. Horthy refused to believe the Austro-Hungarian Empire had collapsed and saw an opportunity to use a powerful German ally as leverage to re-claim what he believed was rightfully his. Despite the ruthless tyrant’s iron rule, Hungarians today have erected his statue and portraits once more as the nation seeks national pride.
Why would a fascist tyrant be once again glorified so many decades after his overthrow?
Hungary’s fascist tyrant has been rehabilitated amongst a continent-wide swing to right wing ideologies. In Poland the right-wing conservative party (PIS) holds a total of 48 seats in the senate strengthening their influence on government to the point of being able to enforce their own agenda upon Polish society. In recent times they have removed Communist-era monuments and vowed to wipe out any reminders of their communist past. This also seems to be the case in Hungary today. The older population who lived in communist Poland find the new policies reminding them of a Hitlerite dictatorship. However, the younger population seem to only remember a time when Poland seemingly lacked independence from Soviet influence, forgetting the role the Soviet Union played in Poland’s liberation. The Hungarian Government has implemented a new curriculum in schools which teaches the “horrors of communism” and applauds Horthy’s fascist regime. All of this is in the name of “rehabilitating” Hungary’s “true” history and promoting national pride. If history has taught us anything, the promotion of national pride devoid of class consciousness is the neighbor of fascist led racist violence. Young supporters of this fascist turn claim that Horthy is a symbol of Hungarian independence. Their rationale for this is that during the Cold War, the Soviet Union had some influence on the government of Hungary. Regardless, Hungarians are divided on whether the social standard was better under communism or under their free market economy.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, many eastern European countries such as Hungary have been experiencing a rapid increase in homelessness. There has also been a rapid decline of living standards in most of these countries. The right-wing governments of today blame the particularly awful living conditions of the late 90’s and early 2000’s on the Communists, despite the fact that it was neo-liberals and anti-communists who caused them in the first place.. Of course, even if those dastardly Communists were to blame, successive capitalist governments have failed to fix the mess. In fact, rather than fix the problem, the Hungarian government has decided to punish the victims. In 2018, the Hungarian Government passed a law which made it a violation of the constitution to be homeless and those living on the streets could face prison time and the destruction of their belongings by police1. Just as it was in 1920 when Admiral Horthy became regent of Hungary, there seems to be a repeat of the fascist era in the dawn of 2020. This is an attempt by the Hungarian government to cover the tracks of a bloody past.. Admiral Horthy ignored Hitler’s mass deportation of Hungarian Jews and followed him in the conquest of Europe.
“In the early years of his reign, his mass industrial leap may have brought Hungary out of a recession, but the repressive actions he took to murder communists and anti-fascists should never be forgotten.”
Hungary has erected busts of the fallen leader and claimed he is a national hero. History has rightfully labeled Horthy as a vocal anti-Semite who worked with Hitler for his own personal gain. Apologists claim that Horthy was apprehended and had no power over both deportations and mass shootings. The facts disprove this assertion as records show Horthy had changed his mind in 1944 to halt deportations for a short period before changing his mind again and ordering them to continue. This alone shows that the Hungarian government has become a revisionist right-wing dictatorship that glorifies a bloody fascist past.
1 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hungary-homeless/new-hungary-law-bans-rough-sleepers-rights-groups-complain- idUSKCN1MP1EB