From Goulash Socialism to Hunger March

In the late 1970s, Hungary introduced a series of reforms that became known as Goulash Socialism. This made the country the envy of other Warsaw Pact nations and in turn its healthy economy made it the West’s favourite Communist nation.

Since then, Communism in Eastern Europe has collapsed and in 1990 Hungary held its first free elections. Fidesz, the current right wing party of government under Viktor Orbán, came to power in 1998. However it was ousted in 2002 by an alliance of socialists and Free Democrats. Whilst that coalition took Hungary into the EU and won the 2006 general election, the first time a government had been re-elected since democracy was restored, it proved to be a disaster for socialism and Hungary, which still reverberates to this day.

In 2004 millionaire businessman Ferenc Gyurcsány became the socialist prime minister and surrounded himself in government with other millionaires.

Despite the worsening economic situation he managed to win the April 2006 election. Then in September of that year the political shit hit the fan. A national radio station broadcast a tape of Gyurcsány telling his ministers that harsh economic measures were necessary “because we f***ed up” then going on to admit “we lied in the morning, we lied in the evening.” The socialists clung on to power to 2010 but were a spent force.

There is no easy way to put this. MSZP, which had grown out of the reform Communists, had become a party of ministers and officials in fast, luxury cars who had lost touch with their socialist roots. It became as unelectable in Hungary as Labour did in the UK when Thatcherism tore the country apart. The respective nations needed socialist saviours. Hungary did have its “Blair” figure but that was populist Orbán.

Today, socialist party activists under new leader Attila Mesterhazy are working tirelessly to re-establish MSZP’s credibility. Centre stage too is Zita Gurmai, a Euro MP who is also President of the Party of European Socialists (PES) women’s section. She has her feet firmly on Hungarian soil speaking with fervour for the people she represents. None-the-less once political trust is lost it is hard to get back.

The tragedy for Hungary is that it allowed Orbán and Fidesz to once again take centre stage vowing to wipe the socialists off the map with its conservative Christian agenda. It talks of national unity but pursues division and intolerance. Freedom of the press and human rights are under attack.

Hence we arrive at the Hunger March. It was in February of last year that 40 people marched in the freezing cold from Borsod, one of Hungary’s poorest regions, 200 kms to Budapest. Their aim was to bring the plight of their homeland to the attention of an indifferent government.

The “Work, Bread” March was not organised by the MSZP although the socialists endorsed it. Rather it was started by Imre Tóth, a 44-year old jobless steel worker upset over the suicide of a friend who ended his life because of his dire economic plight. Around 40 kilometres in to the march near the town of Bukkabrany, Tóth stated: “This hunger march signals that we are close to dying of hunger and our livelihood is barely secured.” He then added: “It was the inflexibility and inhumanity of this country’s government which moved us to launch our protest.”

The march continued with socialists, activists and local people walking 25 kilometres a day alongside Tóth’s protestors in temperatures of around -10 centigrade, snowdrifts and biting wind.

When they reached the town of Mezökövesd they were met by the Fidesz mayor and the predecessor MP András Tállai, who is also an interior ministry minister. According to press reports they told the marchers walking under the slogan “Work, Bread” they could have bread and hot tea. They were then told if they wanted to work they could clear the snow. The marchers had been forewarned by socialists and shovelled the snow till midnight. Some of them did this officially as part of the government’s public works programme: others who were barred from such work or didn’t want to give their identity shovelled for free. Next morning 30 jobless people turned up at the mayor’s office demanding the same jobs as the marchers. There were none, it had all been a PR ploy that had gone badly wrong for Fidesz.

Eventually after covering 200 kilometres, the march arrived at the parliament in Budapest. Inside MSZP MP, Nándor Gúr, who leads his own Work, Bread, Decent Salary campaign, placed 47,000 forint (Ft) in front of the State Secretary Zoltán Cséfalvay. The Economy minister, György Matolcsy had previously stated that a person could live off that amount. Ft 47,000 is around 155 euros or 134 pounds sterling paid monthly. Of course more often than not, an entire family are trying to survive on that amount.

Over the past year the situation in Hungary has gone from bad to worse. In February, another march set off from the village of Sellye. Again, the destination was Budapest for the start of parliament’s spring session on February 11. MSZP continues to support the campaign and is calling for a rise in public workers’ wages from Ft 47,000, fairer taxation and a reversal of the labour code and welfare-related changes introduced over the past two years.

Speaking about the first march Socialist MP Istvan Nyako said “Nothing has changed, the requests were met with cynicism and arrogance. We must go again, from different places, so that members of the government can see that Ft 47,000 forint is not enough to live on.”

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This post was written by David Eade