Harc a rendszerváltásért szimbolikus mezőben
In Hungary, 1989 was a year of great parallel, pro-government and oppositional demonstrations and of a rapid and thorough remaking of the public memory. According to the author’s opinion, the struggle in the symbolic sphere was a major factor contributing to the dissolution of the Communist power. The paper presents an analysis of the March case study of the symbolic struggle.
March 15 commemorates the (defeated) revolution of 1848 which is considered in Hungary as the founding act of the modern nation. March 15 was restored as a national holiday in 1989. The government wanted to underline the reconciliatory, reform course of its policy by that gesture; 31 newly formed oppositional organizations, however, did not join the government celebration and called their sympathizers to a separate counter-commemoration. The Lbattle of numbers¬ showed an overwhelming advantage on the opposition’s side. The demonstration became the performative act of a new oppositional identity, and of a new policy of confrontation (replacing the former negotiations for reform). The demonstration acquired a sharp anti-government edge by including commemorations of the 1956 uprising and the bloody retaliation following it. Integration of 1956 into the mainstream of Hungarian national history was equivalent to a de-legitimization of the Kádár-government, installed by Soviet troops in 1956. The interconnected personal histories of the executed Imre Nagy and János Kádár, further, the government’s former refusal of a decent burial to Imre Nagy created a public moral problem, and contributed to bring about an anti-government national consensus.