Századok – 2015

2015 / 1. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Hantos-Varga Márta: Az ideológiai ellenfél és a politikai ellenség elkülönítésének problémái. Sajtóvita a baloldallal való együttműködés lehetőségeiről 1943 tavaszán

SAJTÓVITA A BALOLDALLAL VALÓ EGYÜTTMŰKÖDÉS LEHETŐSÉGEIRŐL 119

THE PROBLEMS OF DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN ’IDEOLOGICAL OPPONENT’ AND

’POLITICAL ENEMY’.

Press Polemics on the Possibilities of Cooperation with the Left Wing in the Spring of 1943.

by Hantos Varga Márta (Summary)

The study follows the unfolding of a scarcely known heated debate. Though in the first half of the 1940s, because of wartime, it was a habitual practice of the political elite to emphasize the necessity of ’national unity’, for them it appeared to be important primarily because of assuring the functional conditions of the state.

In February 1943 it struck public opinion as a fundamental novelty that conservative public figures came up with a totally different understanding of coalition, the idea of ’Hungary as an independent and socially-minded state’, which was thought to be achievable with the inclusion of social democrats. The study primarily collects representative manifestations belonging to the genre of political publicism. The paper analyses articles reflecting on this topic found in dozens of newspapers and periodicals. To achieve a more sophisticated narrative, the study is completed by the analysis of other sources, such as archive material, and the search for the origin of the idea of cooperation with the left wing from the 1930s. To sum up, the supporters of the initiative could not come up with a substantial draft programme within a couple of months, but they succeeded in launching a certain dialogue and laying down some theoretical principles. Meanwhile, the extreme right wing desperately tried to exert pressure against the initiative and to estrange members of both the conservative and the Catholic sides with its campaign of distortions.