Situaţia învăţământului în limba maghiară sub regimul lui Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

Author(s): Katalin Oanta / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 54/2015

The working paper focuses on the issue of education in Hungarian language in Romania, during the communist leadership, more specifically during Gheorghiu-Dej era. The period analyzed is one of a great importance from the perspective of decisions taken by the Romanian communist leadership in the field of education in the mother tongue, in general, in Hungarian, in particular. It is essential to know the reasons and mechanisms behind the measures adopted, especially during the end of the sixtieth and the beginning of the seventieth decades of the previous century, in order to better understand the background of some of the requests constantly expressed by the Hungarian minority living in Romania after 1989, which are supported by Hungary, as its kin-State, such as the reestablishment of a Hungarian university in our country.

Victims of Communism

Author(s): János Martonyi / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2016

What is communism? Is it a beautiful idea, a utopian dream of bright future? Is it a coherent ideology of “historical materialism”, one that will abolish exploitation, eradicate inequality and injustice, abuses, estrangement, alienation, or Entfremdung, as it was called in the mid-nineteenth century by a young German philosopher, Karl Marx?

UTICAJ OTVARANJA NACIONALNOG PITANJA U JUGOSLAVIJI NA KREIRANJE DRŽAVNE POLITIKE PREMA KOSOVU I METOHIJI 1964–1965.

Author(s): Miomir Gatalović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 2/2016

The opening of the national question in Yugoslavia was incited by a growing economic crisis caused by poor sustainability of the state system of socialist self-management. In order to combat irredentism which was spreading among the Albanians, who made up two thirds of the population of Kosovo and Metohija, Yugoslavia would not desist from further economic investments in the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija (APKM). In such circumstances, the leadership of the Provincial Committee of the League of Communists of Serbia for Kosovo and Metohija tried to obtain greater government investment for the APKM in the first half of 1964, addressing objections to the leadership of the Serbian League of Communists that they were negelcting the implementation the policy of faster development of Kosovo and Metohija. Accordingly, the Executive Committee of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (LCY) decided to frame the further development of the APKM into the development policy of the Yugoslav state and use the corresponding Fund that was established for this purpose. At the Eighth Congress of the LCY, held in December 1964, Josip Broz Tito supported the further development of undeveloped Yugoslav republics and the APKM as the interest of the whole Yugoslav federation and the policy of affirmation of the equality of national minorities was confirmed. With regard to the national question, the idea of creation of the Yugoslav nation was rejected and the need to develop individual national cultures united in socialist Yugoslavia was expressed. The law which established the Federal Fund for Lending for the Economic Development of Insufficiently Developed Republics and Regions came into force in March 1965. It was a major victory for the leadership of Kosovo and Metohija, which managed to use the opening of the national question in Yugoslavia to equalize the APKM in their economic claims with undeveloped Yugoslav republics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro, as well as make the leadership from the APKM more present in the federal authorities.

Relations de la France avec les pays de l.Europe centrale et orientale (1958-1962)

Author(s): Zoltán Garadnai / Language(s): French Issue: 1/2013

The aim of this study is to focus on the Eastern-European direction of De Gaulle.s foreign policy, specifically to the countries of East-Central European countries (Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Hungary). We want to examine their perceptions, interpertations and their relations with France. The study intends to reach beyond prejudices and stereotypes pertaining in Hungary by presenting De Gaulle.s foreign policy in a geopolitical context.

Antecedentes, factores y significancia de la rebelión estudiantil en España de febrero de 1956

Author(s): Iván Harsányi / Language(s): Spanish Issue: 2/2013

„Der Mann, den seine Zeit ins Exil schickte” Kardinal Mindszenty – Kardinal König und die Vatikanische Ostpolitik

Author(s): Mária Pallagi / Language(s): German Issue: 2/2013

L’impact du mouvement pour les droits de l’homme sur les relations entre Washington et Téhéran dans les années 1970

Author(s): Vittorio Felci / Language(s): French Issue: 2/2013

Les relations entre les États-Unis et l'Iran dans les années 1970 étaient basées sur l’application de la „Doctrine Nixon” dans la zone du Golfe. Même si la „Politique des Deux Piliers” et ses implications garantissaient des relations excellentes entre les deux États, les changements de valeurs au niveau global et l’émergence de l’opinion publique comme acteur de la scène internationale imposaient de nouveaux efforts aux responsables de la politique étrangère. À travers l’analyse comparative de sources non-gouvernementales et diplomatiques, nous souhaitons explorer le lien entre les changements culturels, la politique et la diplomatie aux États-Unis et la mesure de son impact sur les relations avec l’Iran. Les trois dimensions analysées – intérieure américaine, diplomatique entre les deux pays et intérieure iranienne – montrent respectivement le maintien des prérogatives gouvernementales sur les décisions de l’assistance militaire à l’Iran à travers le contournement de la Public Law 94-329; la coopération entre les diplomaties américaines et iraniennes afin de contraster les critiques aux régime et améliorer l’image de l’Iran au niveau global; les initiatives du Shah directement liées au mouvement pour les droits de l’homme.

U.S. Foreign Policy during the Cold War: The Failure of Containment in the case of the Vietnam War

Author(s): Gábor Földessy / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2014

The primary goal of American foreign policy during the Cold War was to contain the spread of the Soviet Union’s communist ideology around the world. By the mid-1960s, the struggle of the two superpowers was concentrated on Vietnam. Through supporting the anti-communist South Vietnamese government, the United States made several attempts to prevent the spread of communism in Vietnam: the USA fought against the North Vietnamese communists who were backed by the Soviet Union and China. However, despite all its efforts, the United States failed in its attempt to contain the spread of communism in Vietnam. The purpose of this research paper is to examine the failure of containment policy in the case of the Vietnam War and the reasons and factors that played a major role in it.

Tojástánc avagy Kádár és II. János Pál

Author(s): Géza M. Szebeni / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 1/2014

News about the new pope's election was received with reserve in the socialist countries. According to the Soviet leadership John Paul II had an antisoviet and anticommunist stand and the fact that this Personality of the nationalistic Polish catholic church was elected the new pope was going to make serious troubles. Kádár who was not interested in modifying his „church policy" sent very urgently the chairman of the State Office for Churchs' Affairs to the Holy See to probe Vatican's inner circles about their intentions concerning the so called „East policy". Archbishop Casaroli – one of the banner holder of the „East policy" - reassured his Hungarian counterpart that the „East policy" launched by John XXIII and developped by Paul VI would be continued by John Paul II. What is more after two months of his intronizations John Paul II send Archbishop Poggi to Budapest to declare that the Holy See places trust in the continuation and the improvement of its bilateral relations with the Hungarian state. The Holy See's rediness to further cooperate ment for Kádár that he could continue his well proved „church policy."

The Vietnam War and the Johnson Administration

Author(s): Gábor Földessy / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2014

The aim of this research paper is to examine the effects of the Vietnam War on the Johnson administration (1963-1968). First, the essay seeks to show briefly the outcome of U.S. military operations in South Vietnam between November 1963 and the summer of 1964, and to exemplify the nature of the Johnson administration as to misinforming the American public. In the second stage, the paper intends to examine the effects of the Vietnam War on the presidential election of 1964 and on President Johnson’s political decisions concerning the Gulf of Tonkin Incident that contributed to his victory. In addition, the paper also examines the reasons and factors, namely the escalation of the war in 1965 and its consequences, that eventually brought Lyndon Johnson’s presidency to an end.

Szocialista testvériség vagy régi barátság?

Author(s): Péter Bencsik / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 1/2015

Mitrovits Miklós: Lengyel, magyar „két jó barát”. A magyar–lengyel kapcsolatok dokumentumai, 1957–1987. Napvilág Kiadó, Budapest, 2014. 844 oldal

Az ifjúsági kultúra megjelenése a magyar pedagógiai sajtóban, 1960–1970

Author(s): Lajos Somogyvári / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 2/2015

The paper is based on the analysis of the visual corpus of Hungarian educational periodicals from the 1960s. The journals are: Család és Iskola (Family and School), Gyermekünk (Our Child), Köznevelés (Public Education), Óvodai Nevelés (Nursing in the Kindergarten), A Tanító (Elementary School-Teacher), A Tanító Munkája (Work of the Elementary School- Teacher). The analysis needs an interdisciplinary approach and a mixed methodology of traditional educational history, anthropology and iconography. I have made a database from the periodicals’ visual sources, which contains about 5,000 photographs. The paper examines a special approach of my doctoral thesis on the cultural constructions of the new performances of youth culture in Hungary, including beat-music, long hair, parties and gangs. The anthropology of everyday life gives us the opportunity to analyse the possible subcultures in the Kádár era: the media represented the appearance of consumer society and juvenile delinquency in the late 1960s, which jeopardized Socialist ethics and the common values. Aspects of youth had been dominated by adults, mostly special experts (psychologists, police or teachers), who legitimated a special knowledge and discourse. The discourse included the dangers of unreasonable autonomy, alcoholism, the insanity of beat and jazz music, the lack of principles and sexual liberty – we can describe this phenomenon as moral panic. The final judgment of youth culture was ambivalent, beside the negative attitude we can also find humorous or tolerant approaches to this question. I find it significant that the separate category of youth had the chance to appear in the 1960s in Hungary, according to the changes of European mentality.

Gyári munkásokból parlamenti képviselők

Author(s): Péter Nagy / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 2/2015

We can have an interesting and complex image of those Members of Parliament in the Kádár regime who came from a working-class background, according to my two interviewees – namely Lászlóné Becsei and József Elek – and written sources. As MPs, they could reach the highest ranks in their political career while they were the representatives of their own social rank, the workers. They had only a few opportunities to take part in the government of the country. But occasionally they had the possibility to promote the development of the region they had come from, achieving minor results, as well as to help those citizens who turned to them for help. They have been especially proud of the latter, as well as of the honour of receiving such a possibility as simple workers. During their office as MPs, they did not give up their former mentality. They still regarded themselves as members of the worker community, and therefore they continued working in the factories, and this determined their self-image. In the decades after the end of their MP career, they could occasionally make use of their previous connections, but their private lives did not change considerably.

Sport és/vagy politika

Author(s): Krisztián Glaub / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2015

With the establishment of the Stalinist system, nationalization commenced even in sports in Hungary. After various restructuring efforts, the single-party state created an extremely centralized top organization to oversee sports (OTSB), which was directly controlled by the party, more specifically by the Sports Department of the Administrative Office of the Hungarian Working People's Party (MDP). This department was led by Mihály Farkas, one of the most powerful politicians of the system, who, as minister of defence, championed the idea of creating a sports club for the army. Established in December 1949 in Kispest and officially founded in February 1950, Budapest Honvéd was one of the most distinguished sport clubs of the Rákosi era up until its fall in the autumn of 1956. This is especially true of the football division where such soccer geniuses as Ferenc Puskás and József Bozsik were playing, and where key players of the Hungarian national side, the Mighty Magyars, including Sándor Kocsis, Gyula Grosics and Zoltán Czibor, ended up through “controlled” transfers. However, due to the circumstances, the players could not become professional footballers: officially, all of them were officers of the Hungarian People's Army, who supplemented their salary with modest bonuses and smuggling, which was tacitly overlooked by the Farkas-led sports leadership. Between 1950 and 1956, the “Great Honvéd” won one championship after the other and remained Hungary's most successful football club even after Mihály Farkas was deprived of some of his powers in the summer of 1953. After losing his seat of defence minister, Farkas was not in a position any more to influence the life of the sports society with the usual favours, and the team harmony, between the players accustomed to rewards started to break down. In the summer of 1956, the MDP party leadership named Farkas “the primary person responsible” for the unlawful Stalinist acts, and had him arrested in autumn. In the same autumn, after the fall of the revolution and war of independence, several Honvéd footballers and leaders, then on a tour abroad, decided not to return home. This way, in paradox way simultaneously, yet independently from each other, ended the career of one of the most prominent leaders of the Stalinist era and fell into pieces the greatest and most successful football team of the 1950s.

„Ha majd az ellenségek kibékülnek, otthon találkozni fogunk.”

Author(s): Levente Koós / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2015

After the communist takeover, those in power quickly realized the risks and the possibilities inherent in Hungarian sports life. Parallel with the establishment of the dictatorship, the top leadership of the party signed several party resolutions, which led to the complete reorganization of the institutional framework of Hungarian sports life. With only slight alterations, the results of this essentially survived until the change of regime, despite the fact that the Kádár regime later split with the Stalinist traditions of the Rákosi era. In my paper, I describe the relationship between the communist power and football through the analysis of an actual state security operation, which–apart from getting us closer to understanding the operational mechanism of the political police of the era– provides interesting additions to the biography of one of the greatest geniuses of Hungarian football history, Zoltán Czibor. The Olympic gold medalist, world cup silver medalist left winger's first encounter and cooperation with the State Protection Authority (ÁVH) is a typical example of the communist internal affairs authorities' incompetent and ill-advised decisions, which, to use soccer terminology, “went offside”. In practice, Czibor's network activity failed to– and as we will see, it simply could not– yield the expected results, and the action plan the secret police developed after the crushing of the revolution and Czibor's emigration was doomed to failure from the start. Even though, during the dictatorship, the communist secret police failed to construct the psychological profile of the ideal informer, the scanty archival sources we have on Czibor, and which sometimes need to be treated critically, clearly prove that the footballer was very much unfit for working in the network of informers.

A „szocialista” sportélet megteremtése Makón az 1950-es években

Author(s): Ádám Zeitler / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2015

MY REVOLUTION

Author(s): E. Sylvester Vizi / Language(s): English Issue: 05/2016

SPRING IN POLAND – AUTUMN IN HUNGARY

Author(s): Károly Kapronczay / Language(s): English Issue: 05/2016

“WHEN THE IMPOSSIBLE SEEMED POSSIBLE”

Author(s): Edith Lauer / Language(s): English Issue: 05/2016

Hungary 1956: The Awakening of My Political Imagination

Author(s): John O'Sullivan / Language(s): English Issue: 05/2016