Draft:Hungarism

Officers of the Arrow Cross Party, including Ferenc Szálasi in 1944.

Hungarism (Hungarian: Hungarizmus) is a far-right Hungarian ideology and movement that flourished during the 1930s to 1945. Its ideology was closely connected to other far-right and totalitarian ideologies at the time, including fascism and Nazism, from which many of its influences, both political and aesthetic, were inspired. It is most associated with the Arrow Cross Party, which ruled Hungary for a period of 5 months from October 1944 to March 1945. During this time, the ruling Hungarist government, along with the occupying German authorities, executed and realized the Holocaust in Hungary (1941-1945), killing 10,000 to 15,000 Jews and deporting 80,000 Jews to Auschwitz concentration camp.

Ideological influences

Ferenc Szálasi, the leader of the Arrow Cross Party, the organization most associated with the ideology, stated that Hungarianism was a "Hungarian practice of National Socialism". Speaking at length about Hungarism, Szálasi continuously compared Hungarism to National Socialism, stating in his work "The Goal":

... [Our path] is Hungarian National Socialism... Hungarism... defends the people's community and National Socialism and attacks the enemies of the people's community and National Socialism.

Hungarism called for a return to a Greater Hungary which would remove Jews from the country. Hungarism notably supported Zionism, though in the sense that it wished for the removal of Jews from the "Carpathian-Danube basin". Hungarists stated that they were not antisemites, but instead "a-semites", where the existence of Jews was 'not opposed', but they would not be tolerated in Hungary. The Hungarists in addition called for "connationalism" (the international cooperation of nationalist movements). Although far more racist than the Horthy regime ever was, it was less radical than the Nazi Party in its racial views, and did not posit that specific groups were more or less worthy than others, simply positing that certain groups were incompatible with others. It was also economically more radical than other fascist movements, calling for land reforms and some workers' rights. Hungarism was also a deeply religious and in particular Christian movement, with Christianity being considered paramount to the soul of the Hungarian people.

The symbolism of the Arrow Cross Party itself (the "Nyilaskereszt" in particular) was chosen to allude to the swastika in Nazi ideology. Other ideological influences came from Turanism, which identified the Hungarian people and their history with the histories of the "Turanic peoples". It was agrarian, and supported land reform. Much of its support came from the Hungarian army.

History

Before the Arrow Cross coup

Various "third-way" or "synthetic" tendencies that sought to transcend the right-wing (liberal capitalism) and left-wing (collectivist socialism had appeared in Hungary in the 1920s, but were limited to a clubs of a narrow group of intellectuals. As a result of the Great Depression and the successes of Mussolini and Hitler abroad, these clubs began to rapidly grow in the 1930s and were mostly associations of unprincipled opportunists and coat sellers.

In the situation following the premiership of István Bethlen and the end of the White Terror, the group of nationalists who wished for a radical social renewal (which to them would transcend both revolutionary and counter-revolutionary ideologies) were ousted from power, forming small groups that were insignificant in their social impact. Thus, in 1922, the first party, dubbed "nemzeti szocialista" (National Socialism) in the spirit of this new Hungarist tradition was founded. Its results were lackluster, and as a result Béla Szász and Miklós Csomóss formed, along with István Szűts, another National Socialist party to little success. Some attempted to give the movement led by the three a character that was more in line with contemporary fascist movements. As an example, instead of using the social democratic greeting of "Friendship!" (Hungarian: Barátság), members used "Courage!" (Bátorság). On the model of the Italian fascists, they adopted the so-called "Roman salute" and started their own paramilitary group, which was known as the "green shirts" (just as the Nazis were known as Brownshirts and the Italian Fascists Blackshirts). Their insignia became a double cross with a sword. Despite all of this, these parties remained entirely irrelevant to society or politics.

Arrow Cross Party

The Arrow Cross Party itself has its origins in the Party of National Will which was founded by army officer Ferenc Szálasi in 1935. Szálasi had previously written a 46-page manifesto which detailed his beliefs and plans for "building a Hungarian state". The so-called "NAP", modeled rigorously on the Nazi Party, was the first of its kind in Hungary. After Szálasi's arrest in 1937, it was banned a day afterwards. Szálasi would go on to found another party, the Hungarian National Socialist Party, which for a time successfully united all the Nazi movements in Hungary. The party was banned less than a year later and was succeeded, again, by the National Socialist Hungarian Party - Hungarist Movement, which was also soon banned.

Szálasi would go on to form the Arrow Cross Party in 1939, participating in the 1939 Hungarian elections and winning 15.41% of the vote and 29 MPs in the Diet. Despite its newspapers constantly being banned and its leaders interned, by the summer of 1939 the party had around 300,000 members. In 1940, several smaller Nazi parties merged into the Arrow Cross Party, such as the Christian National Socialist Front and United Hungarian National Socialist Party. The party adopted the suffix of "Hungarist Movement" in 1942.

Operation Panzerfaust and the Arrow Cross coup

The Arrow Cross Party was banned by the Hungarian government on 24 August, 1944. After two months of illegally operating, as a result of the German invasion and the arrest of Miklós Horthy, the Arrow Cross Party and its leader, Szálasi, took over the government. The Hungarists introduced martial law and rule by decree. During their short time in power, they restarted the Holocaust in Hungary. Following the capture of Szálasi and the Soviet occupation of Hungary, the leaders of the Hungarist movement were tried and often executed, and the Arrow Cross Party was banned.

Exile and modern history

Following the ban of the Arrow Cross party and the subsequent near-eradication of fascism in Hungary, the Hungarist movement and its few surviving members were exiled. Árpád Henney (1946-1980) and then later Imre Tatár (1980-1995) led the Hungarist movement in its exile, although after the death of Henney the question of succession became confusing with several individuals proclaiming themselves to be the leader of the movement. Several political parties in Hungary claim to be the successor to the original Hungarist movement.

Hungarian National Front

Main article: Hungarian National Front

According to the founder of the Hungarian National Front István Győrkös, Imre Tatár entrusted him with the organization of the Hungarist Movement in Hungary. The HNF, operating since 1989, thus considers itself to have taken over the exclusive leadership of the Hungarist movement following the death of Tatár in 1995. By the time of his death, the organizational and framework of the scattered parts of the exiled Hungarist Movement had simply ceased to exist due to the aging and extinction of its members. In 1997, 1998 and 1999 the party held commemorations of the "Day of Honor" in Buda Castle, which celebrates the attempted break out o German and Hungarian troops from Budapest on February 11, 1945. In 2000, at the suggestion of the party's governing body, a purge began which removed 'Anglomaniac skinheads and individuals "unfit for persistent nation-building". According to the decision of its leaders, the primary tasks of the Movement became the adapting of Huhngarist ideals to the challenges of the twenty-first century and the education of the new Hungarist elite. Under István's leadership, the HNF took a stance it coined as "national communism", outright rejecting capitalism in all its forms and borrowing philosophy of class conflict. Because of this, many members broke off from the Hungarian National Front and founded their own Hungarist movements, and accuse the HNF of being Stalinist, Maoist and Pol Potist. The HNF dissolved itself in 2016 following the imprisonment of its leader.

Pax Hungarica Movement

Main article: Pax Hungarica Movement

The movement was founded in 2008 by Endre János Domokos. It was founded because it was believed that the HNF had disappeared from public view at the end of the 90s, and it was believed that the HNF no longer represented legitimate Hungarism. The Pax Hungarica movement considers itself the only Hungarist organization in Hungary.