Csatlós Judit (szerk.): Vízizrí. Munkáskultúra a Duna partján - Életmód és társadalmi mozgalmak a modernitásban 2. (Budapest, 2016)

Önszerveződés / Self-organisation - Természetjárás a munkáskultúrában / Rambling in the Workers' Culture

Rambling in the Workers’ Culture

Rambling - walking to the extent of causing physical fatigue without some rational aim-was a largely unknown activity priortothe!9th century. In Hungary, it initially meant climbing mountains and mainly had the purpose of making discoveries in nature. It began to become a more popular pastime, however, when reform movements promoting healthy lifestyleand an interest in nature adopted the ideas of walking in the countryside and “bathing" in the air and the sunshine. For modern people, getting close to nature meant getting to know themselves and experiencing freedom from social roles, structures and constraints.

The movement spread acrossa strikingly broad social spectrum: three of the twenty-two founding organisations of the Magyar Turista Szövetség (Hungarian Ramblers’ Association) in 1913 were working-class organisations: Természetbarátok Turista Egyesülete (Friends of Nature Ramblers’ Association,TTE),MunkásTestedző Egyesület (Workers’Physical Training Association), Gyopár Turista Egylet [Gyopár Ramblers' Society). The political storms of the time, however, caused differentgroups to associate different meanings, aims and expectations to rambling. For the middle classes, the ideal rambler was an individual driven by the wish to know himself, one for whom sportiness, stamina and purposefulness opened the way to social advancement. In the official Christian view, national and moral virtues and physical strength were the principal aims of physical exercise.

The TTE was initially modelled on middle-class associations, aiming at propagating “modern popular rambling”. It put forward rational arguments for the usefulness of healthy physical culture. These developed into more specific aims, such as promoting communal rambling as against competitive sport and improving workers’ lifestyle, in the 1910s. The first use of political categories appeared in 1918, when mass sport was linked with the demand for political equality. In these years, there were continual debates about proper practices for ramblers - the way they should greet each other, the songs they should sing, and how they should behave. In the Horthy era, worker ramblers made a political re-interpretation of leisure time pursuits, emphasising community spirit and self-organising activity. Rambling was a means to develop workers’ self-consciousness and identity. Walks and summer camps increasingly took on the status of a counter-world, where people could challenge social conventions and experience the community spirit and equality among classes and sexes.

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