American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages

Hungarians in Czechoslovakia by Anon.Review by: Vaclav BenesThe Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 5, No. 4 (Winter, 1961), pp. 398-399Published by: American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European LanguagesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/305145 .

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398 The Slavic and East European Journal

science is irrelevant, from the point of view of its propaganda value: "It would suffice if it were successful only for a time-span crucial for the ideological conquest of the uncommitted countries by the Soviet

system." Despite the existence of an elaborate mechanism of indoctrination

and control, the Communist endeavor to gain the support of Czechoslovak intellectuals and artists has remained largely unsuccessful. Indoctrina- tion based on rigid dogma and amounting to direct Russification can have little appeal to men reared in the intellectual traditions of the West. The 1956 demonstrations of Czechoslovak students, who by then were largely of working class origin, proved the failure of the regime to gain the confidence of the younger generation of intellectuals.

The most formidable obstacle to mental sovietization, however, is the still relatively strong residues of democratic ideology. Its vitality is demonstrated by the merciless struggle waged by Communist propagandists against the values of pre-war democratic Czechoslovakia, of which the humanitarian philosophy of Thomas Masaryk is the most important one.

The conclusions of the author on the total effect of Communist propaganda in Czechoslovakia are both optimistic and pessimistic. They are encouraging insofar as they indicate the inability of the regime to suppress the desire of the Czechoslovak people for independent thinking. They are pessimistic in view of the fact that Communist propaganda and indoctrination, while unable to achieve the Communist main goal, tend to create apathy and increase opportunism - qualities which, in the long run, may prove to be conducive to Communist success.

Anon. Hungarians in Czechoslovakia. New York: Research Institute for Minority Studies on Hungarians, 1959. 167 pp., $3.00.

The book consists of five essays, a survey of statistical data re- lating to Hungarian settlements in southern Slovakia, and pronouncements of prominent statesmen and politicians on the problem of the Hungarian minority in Czechoslovakia. These essays were written by former political representatives of Czechoslovak Hungarians. Not surprisingly, they adopt a revisionist point of view, being highly critical of Czecho- slovak minority policies both before and after the Second World War. Should the Hungarians in Slovakia be granted the right of self-determina- tion, the authors claim, they would overwhelmingly decide in favor of Hungary.

The book gives a detailed description of the different repressive measures taken after 1945 by the Bratislava and Prague authorities aiming at the reduction of the number of Hungarians living in the country. This trend, however, was discontinued after the Communist coup of 1948, when the Kremlin ordered the Czechoslovak Communists to apply the "Leninist" nationalities policy to the Hungarian minority in Slovakia.

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Reviews 399

One of the authors, Stephen Revay, gives a highly interesting account of the revivial of folk traditions and the cultivation of the Hungarian language in the rural communities along the southern border of Slovakia. There, the concept "national in form and socialist in content" is being used with great ingenuity to preserve not only the folklore but also the national consciousness of the Hungarian people. The author concludes that the scope and intensity of contemporary Hungarian cultural life compare favorably with conditions prevailing in pre-war democratic Czechoslovakia.

The statistical data on the number of Hungarians in Slovakia, however, contradict this rather "optimistic" picture of the life of the Hungarian minority. In the period between 1950 and 1955 the number of Hungarians has decreased by 200,000, sinking to an all-time low of 390,000. This discrepancy cannot be explained by the Slovak-Hungarian exchange of population, "remSlovakization, " or other punitive measures to which the Hungarians were exposed immediately after the war. The "statistical" decrease is due solely to the manipulation of the nationality problem by the Communists who use "fabricated data at any time that it suits their purposes. "

One can understand the concern of Hungarians living in the free world over the fate of their compatriots in Czechoslovakia, and sym- pathize with their alarm over the decrease, whatever its reasons, in the size of the Hungarian minority. The book under review is a def- inite contribution to our knowledge of the nationality problems in East Central Europe. Unfortunately, it is marred by a number of statements only thinly disguising prejudice against the Slovaks and the Czechs. The

implication that Eduard Benes wholeheartedly accepted Communism (p. 13) is unwarranted and unjust. The statement that he paved the way for the persecution of the Hungarian nation overlooks the fact that relations between the Slovaks and Magyars were poisoned by the memory of past Hungarian oppression; nor does it take into account the Hungarian alliance with Nazi Germany which resulted in the transfer of almost 300,000 Slovaks under the rule of Admiral Horthy. One can, perhaps, comprehend why the authors indicate names of predominantly Hungarian communities in Hungarian, adding the Slovak name only in parentheses. This practice, however, is somewhat odd, if applied to such cities as Bratislava and Nitra which never had a Hungarian majority.

On the other hand, the quotation of the opinions expressed by Thomas Masaryk, at the end of the book, seems to indicate that the authors visualize the future relationship of the Slovaks and the Magyars in terms of co-operation, mutual respect, and recognition of the vital needs of the two nationalities.

Vaclav Beneg Indiana University

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