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The Art of Peacemaking
Political essays by István Bibó

István Bibó ; Translated by Péter Pásztor;
Edited and with an Introduction by Iván Zoltán Dénes
With a Foreword by Adam Michnik

Summary

István Bibó (1911–1979) was a Hungarian lawyer, political thinker, prolific essayist, and minister of state for the Hungarian national government during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. This magisterial compendium of Bibó’s essays introduces English-speaking audiences to the writings of one of the foremost theorists and psychologists of twentieth-century European politics and culture. Elegantly translated by Péter Pásztor and with a scholarly introduction by Iván Zoltán Dénes, the essays in this volume address the causes and fallout of European political crises, postwar changes in the balance of power among countries, and nation-building processes.

Political theorist István Bibó served as minister of state for the Hungarian national government. Iván Zoltán Dénes, an historian of ideas, is the founder of the István Bibó Center for Advanced Studies of Humanities and Social Sciences in Budapest, Hungary. Péter Pásztor is a freelance translator and editor.

Publication Information

Foreword, by Adam Michnik

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Attempts to Resolve Political Hysteria by Iván Zoltán Dénes

Abstract: This book addresses István Bibó's analyses of political hysteria and case studies of Eastern Europe, Hungary, and Germany, written in the 1940s. It focuses on two documents in which Bibó attempted crisis management, a declaration to the Hungarian people at the moment of the Soviet occupation in 1956 and a political memorandum after the suppression of the revolution addressed to the international community in 1957. It also discusses Bibó's seminal study on the Jewish question, an astonishing tour de force in social criticism, a guidebook for the intellectually honest written on the eve of Communist takeover, in the last moments of relative free speech.

Keywords: István Bibó, political hysteria, Eastern Europe, Hungary, Germany, Soviet occupation, Jewish question, social criticism

On the Balance of Power and Peace in Europe

Abstract: This chapter addresses the balance of peace and power in Europe. It discusses, in general, the jerks and shocks that accompanied the progress of the greatest enterprise of Western mankind, democracy. It also describes the establishment of modern nation-states. It then looks at German hysteria, which disrupted the balance of power in Europe after 1914, and examines the hysterias of the countries around Germany (Italy, France, Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland). It explores how the interaction of these hysterias brought about the collapse of the European balance of power and the outbreak of future crises.

Keywords: Peace, Power, Europe, Democracy, German hysteria, Italy, France, Hungary, Bohemia, Poland

Book I: The Causes of the World War and the Current Crisis?

Abstract: This chapter focuses on the process of the making of modern nations in Europe. It reveals that the fall of Bohemia, Hungary, and Poland had a large role in the catastrophe of the European state system. The deformation of the political culture of Central-East Europe is also discussed. The chapter shows that exasperation and mistrust in Western observers have been caused by the political miseries of the East European countries.

Keywords: Europe, Bohemia, Hungary, Poland, political culture, East European countries

The Peace and Hungarian Democracy

Abstract: This chapter describes peace with Hungary and Hungarian democracy. It addresses who is responsible for what peace. It discusses the link between the goodness or badness of the peace and the democratic or undemocratic nature of Hungary.

Keywords: Peace, Hungary, Hungarian democracy

The Warped Hungarian Self: A History of Impasse

Abstract: This chapter discusses the causes of the crisis in the Hungarian self. It describes the series of conditions and events that have defined the orientation of the Hungarian nation as a community. It reveals the political and constitutional impasse into which the Compromise led the nation. It also examines the facts of Hungarian historical development and the warping of the Hungarian self. It then addresses how the individual and the community self relate, concur, and differ.

Keywords: Hungarian self, Hungarian nation, Community, Individual, constitutional impasse, political impasse, Compromise

The Jewish Predicament in Post-1944 Hungary

Abstract: This chapter discusses the Jewish dilemma in post-1944 Hungary. It describes the experiences of Hungarian Jews in Hungarian society. It also addresses various psychological, economic, and religious factors as antecedents, explanations, or causes, of the pathological phenomenon. Community relations between Jews and non-Jews and the various factors and components of the enmity toward Jewry are reviewed. The chapter then explores the situation that has evolved in Hungary since liberation.

Keywords: Jewish dilemma, Hungary, Jews, non-Jews, liberation, Hungarian society

Declaration (1956)

Abstract: This chapter presents a declaration of foreign policy by István Bibó in Hungary on 4 Nov 1956.

Keywords: Hungary, foreign policy, István Bibó, declaration

Memorandum: Hungary, a Scandal and a Hope of the World

Abstract: This chapter discusses Hungary as both a scandal and a hope of the world. The country's scandals include the thundering scandal of the Communist camp and the scandal of the all honest third-way forces and ideas. This chapter also suggests that the Hungarian scandal should be ended by various world leaders.

Keywords: Hungary, Scandal, world leaders, Communist camp, third-way forces

The Meaning of European Social Development

Abstract: This chapter reviews “The Meaning of European Social Development,” a kind of philosophical testament recorded in 1971 and 1972. It discusses the notion of the common development of mankind, its possibilities, and its meaningful and favorable aims. It considers the question of the French Revolution and revolutionary violence; the social role and possible use of violence in general; and the European system of freedoms. It describes digression on the revolt against declassing, on being both a liberal and a socialist, on a non-forbidding socialist appropriation, on class war to the death, on the tyranny of the intelligentsia, on mass political hysterias, on democracy ancient and modern, on “The William”, on workers' self-government, and on the legal concept of property and toward a critique of Marxism.

Keywords: European Social Development, French Revolution, revolutionary violence, European system of freedoms, Declassing, Liberal, Socialist, mass political hysterias, The William, Marxism

Bibliography

Index