Underground Streams
The authors of this edited volume address the hidden attraction that existed between the extremes of left and right and of internationalism and nationalism under the decades of communist dictatorship in Eastern Europe. One might suppose that under the suppressive regimes based on leftist ideology and internationalism, their right-wing opponents would have been defeated and ultimately removed. These essays, on the other hand, recount the itinerary of survival and revival of “right-wing” thought and activities under communist dictatorship. Resistance and accommodation are explored in the various phases from the Stalinist era to the demise of the Soviet Bloc, with the continuity provided by tacit or concealed right-wing discourses receiving particular consideration. The Eastern European right, both in its conservative and fascist version, centered on nationalism, a legitimizing factor that increased with the downfall of the regimes, and the authors thus accord nationalism special attention.
Two documentary sources for these essays that stand out are files of the security services and the exceptionally rich Oral History Archive compiled by the 1956 Institute in Budapest, Hungary.
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Introduction - Underground Streams: National-Conservatives after World War II in Communist Hungary and Eastern Europe
János M. Rainer
Part One. The Right-Wing Tradition in Eastern Europe after 1945
Chapter One: The Romanian Ideology: Merging Political Extremes in a National Stalinist Discourse
Vladimir Tismaneanu and Bogdan C. Iacob
Chapter Two: Absent Traditions: Right-Wing Strands in Slovakian Politics
Attila Simon
Chapter Three: A Round-Trip through the Czech Lands: The Origins of a Liberal Right Revolution
András Schweitzer
Chapter Four: Conservative Right-Wing Political Thinking in Hungary after 1945
János M. Rainer
Part Two. Right-Wing Enemies through the Lens of State Security
Chapter Five: Social Resistance under the Kádár Regime and the “Right-Wing” Enemies of State Security
Krisztián Ungváry
Chapter Six: Christian Democrats under Fire from the Political Police, 1945–1989
Gábor Tabajdi
Chapter Seven: “Petty” Arrow Cross Supporters in the Interior Ministry Files
András Lénárt and Rudolf Paksa
Part Three. Personal Life Paths and Strategies
Chapter Eight: “I Was Brought up the Old Way, I’m a Conservative”: A Middle-Class Christian Looks Back on His Life
Zsuzsanna Kőrösi
Chapter Nine: A Nationalist of Successive Periods: Miklós Mester (1906–1989)
Katalin Somlai
Chapter Ten: From Right to Left—or Not? Béla Csikós-Nagy, a Paradigmatical Opportunist of Transition
Iván Miklós Szegő
List of Contributors
Index