Borvendég Zsuzsanna: Fabulous Spy Games. How international trade networks with the West developed after 1945 - A Magyarságkutató Intézet Kiadványai 24. (Budapest, 2021)
‘FABULOUS’ IN HUNGARY - Sympathetic journalism
FABULOUS SPY GAMES for being allowed to manage the famous/infamous Moulin Rouge after the club was nationalised.370 This may have been a false statement from the State Protection Authority, but the politicians name appeared in connection with other incidents in this network of nexuses. It was also Marosán who supported Hoffmann in the party leadership after 1956, and the German journalist sang his praises until 1962, when Kádár sidelined the party cadre known for his orthodox communist views and for representing the hard line in the retributions following the revolution. Hoffmann was quick to switch sides, too: when Rojkó shared the news of Marosán being replaced with Hoffmann, “he told Rojkó that Kádár had disposed of a Stalinist, and that they knew Marosán as a violent and forceful man. They called Comrade Kádár a nationalist again and regarded it as a huge result that he was replacing all the hardliners.”371 the war, his career took off. Marosán belonged to the crypto-communists, who fervently advocated the unification of social democrats and communists. Between 1948 and 1959, he was the first secretary of the Budapest committee of the Hungarian Workers’ Party, then minister of light industry. He was arrested in July 1950 and sentenced first to death, then to life in prison. He was released in March 1956 and immediately became one of the top functionaries of the Party when he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers. After the revolution was crushed, his was the most aggressive voice demanding bloody retributions, and the notorious words uttered on 8 December are attributed to him: “From today, we shoot.” After 1962, Marosáns person became a burden when consolidation of the system began, so Kádár sidelined him. 370 ÁBTL 3.1.5. 0-9260 p. 40 Note, 22 August 1950 371 ÁBTL 3.1.5. O-12344/4-a p. 250 Report, 6 November 1962 When it came to describing Kádár, a recurring theme the formerly extreme right-wing journalists used was to refer to nationalism and his Hungarian nationality. They were of the opinion that being Hungarian and proudly so was the most important characteristic of the General Secretary of the Party. It is common today to say that the members of the Hungarian Communist Party elite considered nationalism and magyarkodás (a pejorative expression used to describe someone who is extremely proud of their Hungarian nationality) to be the source of all evil; painting Hungary as Hitler’s ‘last vassal’ and thus equating national sentiments - with some exaggeration - with an extreme and murderous ideology was the primary source of legitimacy for their power. For them, the ultimate reference point was the unquestionable superiority of 138
