The Art of Peacemaking: Political Essays by István Bibó

486 Pages·2015·1.74 MB·English

by  István Bibó, Iván Zoltán Dénes, Péter Pásztor, Agnieszka Marczyk, Adam Michnik

T A P
HE RT OF EACEMAKING
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WORLD THOUGHT IN TRANSLATION
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T A
HE RT
P
OF EACEMAKING
Political Essays by István Bibó
István Bibó
Translated by Péter Pásztor
Edited and with an Introduction
by Iván Zoltán Dénes
With a Foreword by Adam Michnik
New Haven & London
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Published with assistance from the foundation established in memory of
Philip Hamilton McMillan of the Class of 1894, Yale College.
English translation by Péter Pásztor copyright © 2015 by the István Bibó Center
for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Budapest.
Introduction and Foreword copyright © 2015 by Yale University.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations,
in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the
U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press),
without written permission from the publishers.
Original Hungarian essays owned by István Bibó and Borbála Bibó and
translated from the following editions: Bibó István Válogatott tanulmányok, vols. 1 –4
(Budapest: Magveto˝, 1986 –1990); Bibó István munkái: Centenáriumi sorozat, vols. 1 –12
(Budapest: Argumentum and Bibó István Szellemi Mu˝hely, 2011–2012).
Yale University Press books may be purchased in quantity for educational, business,
or promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected] (U.S. offi ce)
or [email protected] (U.K. offi ce).
Set in Postscript Electra and Trajan type by Newgen North America.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bibó, István.
[Essays. Selections. English]
The art of peacemaking : political essays by István Bibó / István Bibó ;
translated by Péter Pásztor ; edited and with an introduction
by Iván Zoltán Dénes ; with a foreword by Adam Michnik.
pages cm. — (World thought in translation)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-300-20378-3 (hardback)
1. Europe, Eastern—Politics and government—1945–1989. 2. Hungary—
Politics and government—1945–1989. 3. Anti-Semitism—Hungary—History—
20th century. 4. Political science—Philosophy—History—20th century.
I. Dénes, Iván Zoltán, editor. II. Title.
djk50.b53 2015
303.6′6—dc23
2014014290
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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CONTENTS
Foreword, by Adam Michnik vii
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: Attempts to Resolve Political Hysteria,
by Iván Zoltán Dénes 1
On the Balance of Power and Peace in Europe 25
The Miseries of East European Small States 130
The Peace and Hungarian Democracy 181
The Warped Hungarian Self: A History of Impasse 199
The Jewish Predicament in Post-1944 Hungary 233
Declaration (1956) 355
Memorandum: Hungary, a Scandal and a Hope of the World 357
The Meaning of European Social Development 372
Notes 443
Bibliography 451
Index 459
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FOREWORD: ISTVÁN BIBó:
A SAGE IN THE WORLD OF HISTORY
István Bibó (1911–1979) was a great sage of a small nation living in an epoch of
hysteria. He therefore had a remarkable biography: in an era of totalitarian re-
gimes and ideologies, he was a persistent advocate of democratic values. Before
the war he was affi liated with the non-communist anti-fascist movement. After
the Nazi invasion of Hungary in 1944 he protected Jews against deportation.
That same year he was arrested by agents of the Hungarian Nazi regime (the
Arrow-cross Party), and once he was freed, he went into hiding until the arrival
of the Soviet Army. After the war, he published articles in which he defended
democratic values and undertook a harsh examination of Hungarian politics in
the preceding decades. He was criticized for these writings by both the tradi-
tionally minded émigrés and Communist Party ideologues (including György
Lukács). For his part, Bibó criticized nationalist politics and the principle of
collective responsibility (the expulsion of Hungarian Germans, among other
things). Then, during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, he joined Imre Nagy’s
government. Upon hearing about the Soviet intervention, he went to the parlia-
ment building, where for three days he was the only minister to remain in the
government’s offi cial seat. During this time he prepared proposals for compro-
mise solutions in dealing with the Soviet authorities. Once he left the parlia-
ment, he wrote proclamations and memoranda about the situation in Hungary.
In 1958, he was sentenced to life in prison, but he was freed after fi ve years when
a general amnesty went into effect. He died in May 1979. His funeral became
the fi rst public rally of the nascent Hungarian democratic opposition. A small
nation spoke with its own voice. What a pity that things are different today.
István Bibó’s central concern was the question of the genesis and form of
political hysteria in Central Europe; he analyzed this question by examining
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viii Foreword
the specifi city of the historical development of Hungary, Poland, and Bohemia.
Each of these small nations had a tragic history of long years of existing under
foreign domination, without having its own state; each was entangled in ethnic
and territorial confl icts. This kind of past gives rise to frustration, especially
when historical memory suggests that one once belonged to a nation that ruled
over other nations. Such frustrations lead to collective hysteria. And fascism
tends to be a product of national hysteria.
Thus a great man of a small nation is someone who has the courage to fi ght
against foreign aggression directed against his nation but who is also not afraid
of entering into confl ict with the dictatorship in his own country and the im-
prudence of his own people.
From a global perspective, these confl icts among small nations can seem
like some sort of exotic Lilliputian spectacle, but it is worth remembering that
the two great wars of the twentieth century that changed the fate of the world
erupted precisely in Central Europe.
In 1956, the whole world was looking at Hungary. The Hungarian anti-
totalitarian revolution—and Bibó was one of its quiet heroes—exposed the true
nature of Soviet imperialism and led to a new, illusion-free way of thinking about
the Soviet Union and the Communist system. Today, Hungary is once again at-
tracting attention. At that time—in 1956—it was a symbol of glory and tragedy;
today it is a symbol of apprehension and disillusionment. The policies of Viktor
Orbán’s right-wing government, a strong-arm government with an anachronis-
tic vision of sovereignty, Euro-skeptic policies that treat the state as the property
of the ruling-party nomenklatura—all of these necessarily cause anxiety among
Hungary’s friends. The rule of the Hungarian right wing seems to be more and
more like Vladimir Putin’s model of “sovereign democracy.” Why is this hap-
pening? István Bibó’s essays from a long time ago help us understand.
István Bibó’s fundamental experience—and the experience of all the intel-
lectuals of his generation—was a confrontation with two totalitarianisms: the
brown and the red.
The Bolshevik Revolution—Bibó wrote—must be analyzed through the
prism of the French Revolution. The French Revolution, in turn, “is at the
same the most successful and the most unsuccessful revolution in Europe’s
history.” It is the most successful because it transformed France into a coun-
try of “freedom and equality; it changed the social structure in the state.” But
it is also the most unsuccessful because it “unleashed great anxiety that para-
lyzes Europe with the fear of revolutionary terror to this day.” According to
Bibó, this terror called into existence “two previously unknown and completely
unproductive human types, which hopelessly constrained European thought:
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Foreword ix
the professional reactionary and the professional revolutionary. . . . The former
clutchingly guards everything; the latter thoughtlessly attacks everything.” Both
are fanatics who multiply brutality and violence; both “fi nd fulfi llment in ex-
posing eternal plots.”
By sowing ubiquitous fear, the revolutionary terror and “the limitless cult
of violence” triggered a reaction that resulted in fascism. In this sense—Bibó
wrote—“fascism is one of the most terrifying side effects of the French Revolu-
tion.” The second—no less terrifying—was Stalinism. The Stalinist and the
fascist still cast their shadows over the world.
The accuracy of Bibó’s analyses was confi rmed further in later years in the
synthesis of fascism and Stalinism, when communism appealed to chauvinistic
slogans and reactionary policies. And later still, anti-communism with a Bolshe-
vik face appeared in Central Europe—but that’s an altogether different story.
Among this Hungarian humanist’s works, the long essay entitled “The Jewish
Predicament in Post-1944 Hungary” deserves special attention; it is a penetrat-
ing study of Hungarian-Jewish relations, anti-Semitism in Hungary, and the
Hungarian society’s attitudes toward the Holocaust. This essay, published in
1948, gave rise to brief polemics, but it was later veiled in silence for many years.
In a certain sense, that silence prevails to this day because the author’s diagno-
ses have not lost their relevance.
Bibó’s analysis is multifaceted, exploring issues that range from susceptibil-
ity to “soft anti-Semitism” or economic discrimination all the way to attitudes
toward the Holocaust, which was perpetrated by the Germans but with partial
Hungarian participation. In such a situation—Bibó wrote—“you can do only
one thing: take upon yourselves a small piece of the responsibility that applies
directly to us. Acknowledge, for example, that everything that the author of
these words did about helping Jews—whether as a result of the whispers of
his conscience or in response to the requests of those in need—was so terribly
insuffi cient. . . . How we’ve run short of anything going beyond the desire to
display good will, how we’ve run short of being moved by somebody else’s mis-
fortune. It is essential that everyone carry out an examination of conscience.”
Bibó’s essays are his examination of conscience.
Bibó was a rather uncommon witness to history—a witness who understood
the tragic nature of his times, who readily reached for sarcasm and mockery, but
who simultaneously looked around him with a gaze full of brutal realism. How
great is our need today for a witness with that kind of gaze, that kind of pen, and
that kind of courage.
Adam Michnik
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