At the website of Jacobin magazine, Róbert Nárai, who has edited and translated newly available work by Georg Lukács, details how the right-wing government in Hungary is trying to destroy the Marxist philosopher’s archive. Nárai explains that the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) recently announced plans to move the entire holdings of the Lukács Archívum in Budapest to its own offices, ostensibly for the sake of “academic integrity.” But the fascist-friendly policies of Hungary’s government instead suggest that it is trying to erase Lukács and his radical ideas from history. Read an excerpt from Nárai’s piece below:
An authoritarian regime now controls Hungary, and it wants to rewrite the nation’s past. The Orbán regime has worked to rehabilitate Hungary’s nationalist and fascist traditions. It has torn down statues honoring those who fought the Horthy military dictatorship and the Arrow Cross regime, replacing them with monuments that glorify antisemites and Nazi collaborators.
The ruling party Fidesz scapegoats immigrants, Roma, Muslims, Jews, Communists, socialists, liberals, and anyone it deems “alien.” It has taken control of numerous state institutions, and threatened to liquidate numerous civil society institutions, including the Central European University.
In this climate of paranoia and fear, the MTA does not want to appear to support a “communist,” so under the cloak of rationalization and efficiency, they are working to dismantle the archives.
Image of Georg Lukács via thecharnelhouse.org.