HUNGARY AND DEMOCRACY
The result of the War may justly be described as the victory of
liberal ideas and the triumph of democracy. The autocratic empires
have disappeared, and upon their ruins have been built up a series of
States in which the Government is founded upon the will of the people.
Hungary under her present regime is the only exception. In name a
republic, she is in fact ruled by an oligarchy which controls her
policy, both internal and external, in its own interests and without
reference to the welfare of the mass of her people. The whole history
of Hungary since the Compromise demonstrates the opposition exerted
by the Magyars to modern democratic ideals and the intensity of their
struggle for the maintenance of privilege. We see the Magyar ruling
caste, represented by such men as Apponyi and Tisza, straining every
effort to deprive not only the non-Magyar nationalities, but the lower
classes of their own race, of every vestige of participation in the
legislation of the country. Nor did their measures of repression stop
at disenfranchisement. Popular education was made as difficult as
possible, lest the downtrodden classes should find in it a means of
equalling their masters. Every commune in Hungary had its local despot,
the nominee of the greater despot at the head of the county, who was in
turn the trusted deputy of the central Government. The life, public
and private, of the individual was in the hands of these men; the
possession of ideas contrary to the policy of the ruling class was so
practically discouraged that the only alternatives before the Hungarian
citizen were their abandonment or else emigration to a country where
the political atmosphere was purified by the breezes of freedom.
Under these conditions it was natural that the Hungarian nation should
become divided into two contrasting and antagonistic sections: the
Great Magyars, the upper classes which formed the military caste, and
the uneducated and politically unimportant lower classes, which formed
the mass of the nation. The War brought a measure of enlightenment
to these latter, as it brought enlightenment to so many hitherto
unconsidered fractions of the world’s population. But, owing to the
policy of their masters, they sought this enlightenment not from their
own countrymen, but from the disciples of Marx, who whispered in their
ears the delusive but enticing doctrines of Communism. The sense of
patriotism was killed, and no clear ideas were born in them to replace
it.
The long pressure of the War and the final realisation of defeat let
loose upon Hungary this accumulated flood of supreme dissatisfaction.
But those who were dissatisfied knew only that the ancient form of
government was corrupt. Their lack of education in the past, and
the influences to which they had recently been subjected, made it
impossible for them to visualise the true principles of democracy. It
was too late for Karolyi and his associates to build up on the ruins
of the old Monarchy any enduring structure of popular government. The
stream had been dammed up too long; the dam once broken, the raging
torrent refused confinement in constitutional channels. Bolshevism,
the sinister tutor of the Magyar populace, was already entrenched,
largely by the influence and financial support of the Jews. Karolyi was
hated by the Great Magyars for what they termed the surrender of the
ideals of the Magyar State, and mistrusted by the people as a member of
the ruling class. From the first his fall was inevitable. Hungarians
have blamed the Entente for what followed, but outside agencies had
little influence on the course of events. The scourge of Bolshevism
which swept over Hungary was in reality the inevitable consequence of
the traditional Magyar policy, as surely as the Reign of Terror in
France was the inevitable consequence of the policy of the Monarchy.
Hungary lay helpless at the feet of a gang of ruffians who maintained
themselves by the simple expedient of affording a licence to the
lowest classes of an exasperated populace for unrestrained robbery and
violence.
Nor was it Hungary who saved herself from this orgy of destruction and
bloodshed. The various attempts at counter-revolution were utterly
unsuccessful until the world became alarmed at the prospect of the
plague spreading. To Rumania was assigned the task of restoring order,
and in her execution of it she displayed an ability and a restraint
which will for ever redound to her credit. Bolshevism was extinguished,
and Hungary was once more given a chance to take her place among the
nations of Europe.
From the first it was made clear to her that modern Europe could not
tolerate a reactionary Monarchy in its midst. The new democratic States
had suffered too greatly at the hands of that Monarchy to render it
possible for them to view its re-establishment without alarm. But there
was nothing to prevent the Magyar nation from choosing for themselves
an unrestricted middle course between the rock of absolutism and the
abyss of Soviet misrule. It might have been imagined that her recent
history would have taught Hungary wherein lay her political salvation.
But the suppression of Bolshevism had produced a swing of the pendulum
as violent as that which had followed the collapse of the Monarchy. To
those who had suffered under the blood rule of Bela Kun and Szamueli
the old ruling class appeared as their only saviours. They thought only
of the vengeance against their late oppressors, and their untrained
minds did not foresee the effects of the reinstatement of the very
class from whose yoke the War had released them. But the restored
military clique perceived their opportunity and from the first took
full advantage of it. On the pretext of extirpating the remains of
Bolshevism, they secured their ascendancy by the removal of those
who were likely to oppose them, and by the erection of national
institutions which could be relied upon to support their policy.
The world at large and even the Hungarian proletariat were deceived
by their specious promises, and it was not until their unsuccessful
attempts to restore the Monarchy revealed their true aims that either
perceived their mistake.
Hungary to-day differs little from the Hungary of the years before
the War. It is ruled by an oligarchy whose agents strive their
hardest to disguise the fact. The old oppression of all democratic
ideals continues, rendered more dangerous by the determination of
the jealous rulers of the State to undermine their neighbours, in
whose territories these ideals flourish. Hungary, while professing
poverty and proclaiming her impossibility to exist within the limits
imposed by the Treaties, expends her revenues in the maintenance of a
military organisation with which at the propitious moment to attempt
the invasion of the surrounding States. Despite the teachings of
history, despite the convictions of the modern world that territories
belong to the races which inhabit them, the Magyars still insist upon
their ridiculous conception of a “unitary Magyar State,” and pretend a
divine right to the lands over which St. Stephen ruled. The prosperity
and wealth of the nation is sacrificed by them to the vision of the
restoration of the former Hungary, while the political consolidation of
the present Hungary remains uncared for. It is the fable of the dog and
the bone over again.
The statement that under modern conditions no nation can continue to
exist in splendid isolation has become the sheerest truism. Every
nation is more or less dependent upon the goodwill of its neighbours,
more especially those nations upon the continent of Europe which
are surrounded by States with which a reciprocal intercourse is an
essential to their existence. But on the other hand, apart altogether
from any exhibition of definite hostility, no oligarchy can secure
really sympathetic consideration by the popular mind of a democratic
country. Hungary’s rulers complain of the coldness of their neighbours;
of the antagonism displayed towards them by the Entente Powers.
But they make no attempt to bring their country into line with the
requirements of the present day; they seem unable to comprehend the
very meaning of the principles by which democratic states are governed.
A recent Magyar apologist compares the state of Croatia-Slavonia under
Magyar rule with the state of any of the great British Dominions. He
apparently believes that the height of democratic ideals was reached by
the permission accorded to the Croatian deputies to deliver speeches in
their own language in the Budapest Parliament.
Until Hungary abandons her present reactionary tendencies and adopts
in their place the liberal ideas which from time to time have for an
instant shown themselves within her borders,[55] only to be quenched
by the energetic action of the Magyar oligarchs, she cannot hope for
the sympathy of the world. Her actions must be regarded with mistrust;
the utterances of her leaders must be judged only by their actions.
Defiance and propaganda can be no substitute for a genuine intention
to abandon the errors and the absolutism of the past, and to develop a
true Hungary along the lines of modern progress.
Meanwhile, Hungary’s neighbours, eager to proceed to the restoration
of normal conditions within their borders, and prepared to devote all
their resources to that end, are compelled to spend a large proportion
of their energies in watching Hungary and concerting measures of
defence against her aggressions, moral and physical. They dare not
expose an unguarded flank to the _Awakening Magyars_, whose declared
object is the restoration of the former Hungary by force of arms,
or to the “League for the Defence of Hungary’s Integrity,” which
strives towards the same end by force of propaganda. Central Europe is
conscious of the volcano in its midst, and longs only for the fires
in the volcano to become extinct, so that it may become a firmly
established democratic mountain. Nowhere is there any antagonism to
Hungary as a State. One of the foremost leaders of thought in the new
States has said: “There can be no doubt that the democratic ideas and
principles of all these neighbour States are just one huge guarantee
of peace and order, and of the definitive creation of friendly
relations and a commonsense system of live and let live among the
various nations. If the popular classes in Hungary grasped in this
respect their political and national problem, they would quickly
recognise in what manner this crisis should be solved. Ninety-five
per cent. of their difficulties with their neighbours would diminish
the moment these neighbours perceived a tendency towards democracy and
republicanism, and could be without anxiety regarding the internal
regime in Hungary.... History teaches us that we and the Magyars cannot
live in permanent opposition and hostility to each other.”[56]
It remains then for the Hungarian nation to abandon its present policy
of obstinacy and wilful blindness. However great her efforts may be,
they will not enable her to reverse the flow of the river of modern
tendencies. The old days of isolation of State from State are gone,
never to return, and the establishment of a mediæval feudalism is no
longer possible in modern Europe. Unless Hungary consents to look
facts in the face, unless she abandons her propaganda and her armed
bands and sets herself to develop the Magyar race as the nationalities
she once described so contemptuously as “subject races” have already
developed themselves, the future can hold nothing for her but ruin.
The false policy of its rulers is rapidly driving the “thousand years
old Magyar nation” towards collapse and ultimate extinction. At the
field of Mohacs Hungary fell gloriously, her valour overcome only
by overwhelming odds. But, unless the Magyars abandon their present
“awakening” for one more in accordance with practical politics, the
fall which threatens their country now will be the ignominious failure
of a nation which refuses to grasp its own destiny.
FOOTNOTES:
[55] As, for instance, in 1848 and 1918.
[56] Dr. Beneš in the _Czechoslovak House of Deputies_, January 27,
1921.
INDEX
NOTE.--_An asterisk indicates that the reference will be found in the
footnote to the page indicated._
Agram, _see_ Zagreb
Alison Phillips, Professor, 10
Andrassy, Count, 30, 84, 144
Anti-semitic persecutions, 187*
Apponyi, Count, 20, 26, 31, 35, 39, 45, 46, 82, 83, 86, 95, 117, 181,
193, 198
Ausgleich, 13, 15, 44, 46, 78, 198
Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, 5
“__Awakened Magyars,” 109, 186, 187, 187*, 192, 193, 203
_Az Est_, 144
_Az Ujsag_, 8
Banffy, Count, 26, 124, 125
Beksics, Gustave, 27
Beneš, Dr., 204*
Bethlen, Count, 125, 146
Beust, 49, 50
Bismarck, 29, 30
Björnson, 37, 62, 66, 85, 137
_Björnson et Apponyi_, 38*
Bohemia, Kingdom of, 117
Bokanyi, Deszo, 36
Bolshevism in Hungary, 99, 102, 106, 183, 199
Brittain, Sir Harry, 157*
_Budapesti Hirlap_, 17, 26, 27, 46, 145
_Budapesti Kozlony_, 107
Burgenland, 113
Calvinists, 19
_Chains_, 7, 8
Charles VI, 46
_Chicago Tribune_, 10
Children, transportation of, 79, 87
Cisar, Jaroslav, 115*
Classical Schools, Slovak, 75, 79, 80
_Commentator, The_, 166
Compromise, _see_ Ausgleich
_Courrier Européen_, 62
Croatia-Slavonia, 14, 41, 118, 119, 202
Croats, 14, 47
Csaky, Count, 40
Czechoslovak constitution, 118, 120, 140
Czechoslovak education, 118, 150, 151 _et seq._
Czechoslovak justice, 153
_Czechoslovak Republic, The_, 118,* 120*
Czechoslovakia, 101, 112, 117
Czechs, the, 13, 28
Czernin, Count, 25, 99
Daniel, Arnold, 104,* 106,* 107,* 108*
Democratic Club outrage, 191
_Détachements_, 186, 187
Dictatorship of the Proletariat, 102, 135
Dualism, 50
_Eastern Europe_, 115*, 157*, 179*
_East European Problems_, 164
Electoral Law, 17, 18
Elementary schools, 72, 80
Emigration, 36, 87, 185
_Encyclopædia Britannica_, 10, 18*, 42*, 44*
Entente, 30, 32
Eötvös, Baron, 20
Erno Baloghy, 15
Esterhazy, Count, 39
Expulsion of Slovaks from schools, 77
Fiume, 43
Francis Joseph, 49, 50
Friedrich Decree of 1919, 131, 139, 146
Friedrich, Stephen, 104, 131*
Frontiers, delimitation of, 113
Gambetta, 29
Garbai, Alexander, 101
Germans, the, 14, 28
Germany, policy of, 30, 31, 92
Geza II, King, 43
Gömbös, Julius, 180, 193
Gorgei, 29, 49
Grabovsky, Juraj, 144
Gratz, Gustave, 170, 170*, 174
Greek Orthodox Church, 18, 19, 45
Grünwald, Bela, 22, 36
Hegedüs, Dr., 95
Hejjas, Ivan, 188, 189, 195
_Highlands, The_, 22
Hlinka, Father, 66, 68, 69
Hock, John, 184
Horthy, Admiral, 10, 104, 107, 186, 189
Horthy regime, 105, 107, 125, 183
Hungarian agrarian policy, 95 _et seq._, 105, 106 _et seq._
Hungarian churches, 16, 18
Hungarian elections, 26, 59 _et seq._, 145, 181, 185, 191, 193, 195
Hungarian education, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 39, 72 _et seq._, 117,
130, 133, 143
Hungarian feudalism, 125, 126, 184, 185, 194
Hungarian franchise, 17, 23, 55, 56, 93, 190
Hungarian institutions, 16
Hungarian justice, 16, 64 _et seq._, 139, 140
Hungarian languages, 16, 21
Hungarian legislation, 52, 197*
_Hungarian Nation, The_, 164
Hungarian population, 5, 13, 17, 33, 34, 128
Hungarian propaganda, 100, 117, 155, 156, 160 _et seq._
Hungarian statistics, 34, 73, 130
Hungary--
area, 5
nationalities in, 33
partition of, 6
Hussite wars, 46
Illiteracy, 20, 21, 23, 137, 151
Infant Homes, 40
Irredentism, 116, 161, 170, 182, 202, 203
“Irredentist Banner,” 180, 181
Jaszi, Oscar, 70, 93, 101, 105, 135, 184
Jerzabek, Deputy, 98
Joseph II, 47
Juriga, Ferdis, 67, 94
Karolyi, Count, 99, 101, 102, 129, 184, 199
Kolozsvar, Diet of, 44
Königgrätz, battle of, 49
Kossuth, 31, 38, 48
Krisztics, Dr., 145*, 161, 168, 169
Kun, Bela, 102, 187, 201
Latin, use of, 47
Law of Nationalities, 15, 16, 50, 64, 75, 131, 139, 146, 163, 167
League for the Defence of Hungary’s Integrity (__M.O.V.E.), 109, 161
_et seq._, 169, 187, 203
League of Nations, 122, 123
Lederer, E., 38*, 84
_L’enseignement en Hongrie_, 41, 82
Little Entente, 122
Local Assemblies, 33 _et seq._, 132, 138
Local officials, 54 _et seq._, 78, 134, 141, 152, 155, 163, 167, 198
Lutherans, 9
Mailath, Count Joseph, 42
Mandl, Leopold, 170, 170*, 171
_Magyar Culture and the Nationalities_, 15
Magyar Foreign Society, 181
_Magyar Irredenta_, 182
Magyar minorities, 147 _et seq._
__Magyar National Union, 179
Magyar, use of, 52, 53, 81, 136
_Magyars et Pangermanistes_, 30*, 35*
Maria Theresa, 47
_März_, 66, 85
Masaryk, President, 118*
“Memorandum” of Rumanian Party, 60, 66
Metternich, 31
Mezossy’s agrarian measure, 96, 97
Military Dictatorship, 186, 189, 195, 196
Minister of Racial Minorities, 135, 142, 143
Nagy-Szeben, Diet of, 44
Names, Magyarisation of, 89, 90
National Assembly, 109, 186, 190, 194
_Nemzeti Akcio_, 27
_Nemzeti Ujszag_, 146
_Nepszava_, 188
_Neue Freie Presse_, 37
_New Europe, The_, 105
Newton, Lord, 7, 8, 9, 115
Niederle, Professor, 36
Nyitra, Lord Lieutenant of, 94
Oedenburg, Germans in, 145, 146
_Old Diplomacy and New_, 112*
Orgovany, massacres at, 186, 188
Osusky, Dr., 123, 124
_Outlaw’s Diary, An_, 110*
_Oxford Hungarian Review_, 145*
Oxford League for Hungarian Self-Determination, 180
Pan-Slavism, 29, 86, 144
Peace Treaties, 6, 7, 9, 112, 118, 123, 148, 153, 158, 161, 167, 182,
196
Pechany, 140, 141, 143, 144
People’s Republic, 101, 105, 106, 184, 185
_Pester Lloyd_, 8, 140
_Pesti Hirlap_, 95, 96, 97, 100, 142, 143
Petofi, 38
__Physical Force Formations, 187
Place-names, Magyarisation of, 54, 87, 88
Poland, 112
Press, freedom of, 190
Press prosecutions, 67, 68, 70
Price, Mr. Crawfurd, 179
Primary Education Act, 20
Private schools, subsidising of, 81, 83
Pronay, Baron, 189
_Quand Israel est Roi_, 28*, 103*, 188*
_Questions de l’Europe orientale_, 164
Racial Minorities, 9, 10
_Racial Problems in Hungary_, 8, 10, 16, 19, 36, 40, 57, 72, 89, 108
Recent prosecutions, 130
Rakovszky, Stephen, 144
Red Terror, 104
Reich, Arpad, 170, 174
Rez, Dr., 27
Roman Catholic Church, 19
Rumania, 174, 200
Rumanians, the, 13, 18, 34, 43, 44, 155 _et seq._
_Rural, Social and Political Hungary_, 42
Ruthenes, the, 14, 18
Ruthenia, 118, 119, 142
St. Stephen, 24, 54
_Saturday Evening Post_, 165
Saxons, the, 43, 47
Secondary schools, 72, 75
Serbs, the, 14, 18
Seton-Watson, Professor, 8, 10, 19, 122
_Slav Nation, The_, 36
Slavs, the, 34
_Slavs of the War Zone, The_, 119*
Slovak language, 75, 178
Slovakia, 19, 115
Slovaks, the, 13, 19, 28, 36, 38, 47, 57, 58, 128, 135, 140, 141,
142, 144
“Slovenska Matica,” 38
_Slovensky Vychod_, 101
Soviet Republic, 101, 104, 183
Szamueli, 102, 187, 201
Szechenyi, Count, 47, 48
Szeged, 103, 103*, 123
_Szegedi Naplo_, 95
Szekels, the, 14, 18, 43
Teleki, Count, 103
Tisza, Coloman, 18, 22, 30, 50
Tisza, Count Stephen, 26, 94, 195, 198
Transylvania, 10, 14, 18, 19, 43, 44, 45, 125, 155
Uniat Greek Church, 19
Union of Protective Leagues, 181
Union of University Students, 180, 181
Unitarians, 19
Universities, 74
Upper Hungarian League, 178
Villagos, Battle of, 29, 49
Vyx, Colonel, 106
Wekerle, Prime Minister, 82, 97
White Government, 103, 104, 109
White Terror, 104, 164, 186
Wilhelm II, 30
Yugo-Slavia, 112, 154
Zagreb, 42, 66
_Printed in Great Britain by_
UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED
LONDON AND WOKING
* * * * *
Transcriber’s note
New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the
public domain.
Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice. Hyphenation
and proper names were standardized. The word, ascendency was
standardized to ascendancy.
Page number references in the index are as published in the original
publication and have not been checked for accuracy in this eBook.
Spelling was retained as in the original except for the following
changes:
Page 17: “eduational stipulations” “educational stipulations”
Page 17: “most curious pervertions” “most curious perversions”
Page 34: “excluding Crotia-Slavonia,” “excluding Croatia-Slavonia”
Page 49: “Prussians at Koniggratz in” “Prussians at Königgrätz in”
Page 65: “which judical procedure” “which judicial procedure”
Page 66: “the judical procedure” “the judicial procedure”
Page 102: “Budapest become the” “Budapest became the”
Page 116: “proof of thei capability” “proof of their capability”
Page 134: “chose the language they” “choose the language they”
Page 159: “dduce no trace” “adduce no trace”
Page 189: “_detachements_ is” “_détachements_ is”
Page 205: “Bekrics, Gustave, 27” “Beksics, Gustave, 27”
Page 206: “Königgratz, battle of, 49” “Königgrätz, battle of, 49”
Page 206: “L’enseignment en Hongrie” “L’enseignement en Hongrie”
Page 207: “Rakovsky, Stephen, 144” “Rakovsky, Stephen, 144”
Page 207: “Slovaks, the, 13, 19, 28, 36, 38, 47, 57, 58, 128, 138, 135”
“Slovaks, the, 13, 19, 28, 36, 38, 47, 57, 58, 128, 135”
Page 207: “Vilagos, Battle of, 29, 49” “Villagos, Battle of, 29, 49”
Footnote 43: “expresion “Reasonable”” “expression “Reasonable””