Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1975 (3. évfolyam, 6-8. szám)

1975 / 8. szám

with the events of the Eighth Congress of the Party in 1962. The first two volumes trace the Hungarian labor movement back to 1848 and to the first socialist organization, the General Workers' Association of 1868. The Workers’ Party of Hungary was founded in 1880, the Hungarian Social Democratic Party in 1890, and the Communist Party in 1918. By the Eighth Congress party membership was 548,000.

The volume reiterates most of the ideological tenets proclaimed by communist classics and party congresses of the past. It quotes the Eighth Congress saying that on the one hand the party “is opposed to the belief that the policy of socialist national unity gives a green light for the maintenance and justification of bourgeois and pettybourgeois ideology.” Furthermore, “...political alliance and ideological discussion form a unity,” and therefore “There is no peaceful co-existence in the field of ideological struggle.” On the other hand, consolidation of political power enabled the party to say that“.. .in our country everyone who does not cause any harm to the people’s power can live and work freely, safely, and securely.”

The time period covered is divided into five chapters: liberation and national rebirth, October 1944-A.pril 1945; victory of socialist revolution, 1945-48; socialist construction, 1948-56; counterrevolution and its defeat, August 1956- 58; and laying the foundation of socialism, 1959-62.

Szabolcsi, Bence. A CONCISE HISTORY OF HUNGARIAN MUSIC. Budapest: Corvina, 1974. 257 pages, illustr., appendix, $6.95 cloth. Second ed. Obtainable from Theodor Presser Co., Presser Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19p10. The Hungarian title is A MAGYAR ZENETÖRTÉNET KÉZIKÖNYVÉ. Budapest, Zeneműkiadó, 1955. Transl. by S. Karig and F. Macnicol; revised by F. Knepler.

Both folk and written music are as much a reflection of the national character as language. Folk music has been considered an important tool for ethnographers concerned with ethnogenesis, i.e. trying to find the origin of the Hungarian people. The relationship between Hungarian folk music and that of ethnically or linguistically related peoples has been an active pastime for many. Since the 19th century the rediscovery of folk music as the expression of genuine Hungarian values has become in vogue. This volume tries to explain all this and the basic beauties of Hungarian music to the reader. Some 100 pages are devoted to a historical and descriptive text, with a chapter on music since 1945 by György Kroo. An additional 130 pages give the reader examples of Hungarian music in the form of notes and texts and their translation, from the time of the migration in the ninth century to the music of Bartók and Kodály of the recent past. A list of sources used and a glossary of place names and their translation into neighboring languages complement the volume. The author, who died in 1973, was one of Hungary’s foremost musicologist.

Teleki, Paul. THE EVOLUTION OF HUNGARY AND ITS PLACE IN EUROPEAN HISTORY. Gulf Breeze, FI.: Academic International Press, P.O. Box 555, Gulf Breeze, FL 32561, 1975. 243 pages, maps. $15.00 cloth. Vol. 20 in The Central and East European Series, ed. Frederick Zacek.

This is a reprint of the original edition (Macmillan, 1923) minus a multi-colored ethnic map of the Carpathian Basin and the bibliography. Added to the volume are two pieces both by Béla K. Király: an essay Paul Teleki, the Theoretician of Hungarian Revisionism and A Chronology of Paul Teleki's

Life. This edition was published in 250 copies only.

Teleki (1879-1941) was a professor of geopolitics at the Technical U. of Budapest, but he also held several cabinet posts, served twice as prime minister (1920-21, and 1939-41), and committed suicide in office when he was unable to stop the Germans from crossing Hungary into Yugoslavia. Shortly after the Treaty of Trianon went into effect,Teleki accepted an invitation from Williams College, Mass, to lecture on the new order of Eastern Europe and on the future of the Carpathian Basin, mainly that of Hungary. This volume contains the transcripts of his lectures. His major theme concerns peace, which he says cannot be secured unless the unjust provisions of the treaty were rectified. In his appeal fortreaty revision he discusses Hungary in historical, economic, political, and ethnic contexts. He firmly believed in the power of knowledge. He maintained that the peacemakers at Paris made their decisions based not on facts but political expediencies and should facts become known to the Great Powers, a peaceful revision of the treaty would be possible. These lectures foreshadowed his role during the following 20 years in which he tried to develop a democratic national ideology which would reinforce the political and social infrastructure of Hungary and make the nation resistant to extreme leftist and rightist pressures, both drawing on foreign sources of support. Lawrence Martin, who has written a preface to the original edition says that “No geographer in the history of the world has ever had such an opportuniry in statecraft as Teleki had.”

Tilkovszky. (László). PÁL TELEKI (1879-1941); A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1974. 70 pages, $4.50 cloth. No. 86 in the Studia Historica series of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

This is the first book in English on one of the most significant statesman of East Central Europe during the interwar period. After reference to Teleki’s family history which

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EDITOR’S CORNER

So voluminous was the material submitted for publication, that this column was nearly left out of this issue. With the help of a generous gift from Mrs. Isabel G. Finck of Alexandria, Va., for which we express our delight and deep appreciation, we were able to enlarge this issue by four pages without additional charges to the reader. We are pleased by the interest in the HSN and ask you to continue to send us material for publication.

Please remember that the HSN is only a newsletter and not a critical review. We happen to disagree with many statements made in publications on which we report, and we get personally upset by ignorant statements and grave errors. They need to be corrected for the sake of history. We encourage you to challenge such statements in your professional journals. The chances are few that somebody else will.

Correspondence was so heavy again that I have to resort to express my thanks in this column for information, articles, books and words of encouragement. Kudos go to Alexander S. Birkos, George Bisztray, Paul Body. Kalman Bognár, Edward Chaszar, Paul A. Compton. E. Csocsa'n de Varallja. Gyula De'csy, Linda Degh. Nándor F. Dreisziger, E. Elek, S. Haskell, Maria Horvath (Krisztinkovich), Beta K. Király, Norman Lederer, Cecilia L. Lee, Augustin Maison, Thomas R. Mark, J.l. Pankove, Hugo Radice, Thomas Spira, P. von Wahlde, R E. Ward, Charles Wojatsek, Zoltán Zeke and Sister Lorna Zemke for substantive support, and to Radimir V. Luza, Larry J. Romans (a publication on Hungarian studies instruction in the U.S. is being prepared by B. Vardy) and Edsel W. Stroup for interest and encouragement. The Editor

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