Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The anarchist tradition in Hungary survived for almost 40 years from the 1880s to 1919, represented by four different waves. The first involved an anarchist-influenced radical socialist group led by Ármin Práger and András Szalay, from 1881 to 1884. These radicals were well acquainted with the principles, revolutionary rhetoric, and cultivation of the propaganda of the deed associated with Johann Most , a social democrat who became an anarchist. The banning of socialist organizations by Germany's “exceptional legislation” in 1878 had a direct influence on Hungarian radicals as a significant number of German socialists and anarchists settled in Austria and Hungary. By their intermediation, the radical revolutionary point of view could then recruit many adherents. The “radical-socialist” group did not reject violent means of struggle against the system, but it was quickly crushed by the firm intervention of the government in 1884. By contrast, the later waves of Hungarian anarchism rejected the use of terrorism. In the 1890s, the non-violent ideal anarchism represented the second wave. Philosopher Jenõ Henrik Schmitt was convinced that verbal persuasion and true Christian moral example were the means to achieve social transformation. He propagated this approach in his newspapers – Allam Nélkül (Without State) and Eröszaknélküliség (Non-Violence) – but failed to influence ... log in or subscribe to read full text