The Hungarian March 15 - National holiday or occasion for political upheaval?

March 15 is one of the greatest Hungarian national holidays since 1990. Hungary commemorates the revolution and freedom fight of 1848-1849, when the country rose against the Habsburg rule and wanted to become a sovereign state. The struggle for independence was beaten down by joint forces of Austria and the Russian Empire on August 13, 1849. The following two years belong to the bloodiest times of Hungarian history. The Habsburg ruler’s vengeance led to reprisals, executions and forced exiles. Despite the fall of the ’48 freedom fights, this period is of great importance in Hungarian history; people collectively stood up in order to achieve the country’s independence as well as their fundamental civil and political rights.

The famous episodes of the Ides of March are taught and repeated each year in primary schools within the frame of school commemorations, where children dress up as Hungarian soldiers (huszár), poets, politicians and civilians of that time. They perform the various stages of the day of March 15, when citizens of Budapest gathered in Pilvax café, next to the Danube in the 5^th district. They marched from Pilvax to a press, where they printed copies of the “12 Points”, which included the twelve most important claims of people (see below). The rest of the story is found in history books, and is not in the focus of the present article.

These primary school occasions, and less exciting formal high school commemorations, are probably the only memories of March 15 as a national day for a majority of Hungarian youth. The official, state-organized events are highly politicized and often include the throwing of eggs and shouting of improper things at the (usually leftist) speakers. Nowadays, it is the politically right and extreme right half of the society who devotes its time to attend public events on March 15. It seems to me that our national day is not about commemorating those who gave their lives for freedom and for the ideas they believed in, but rather an occasion for those belonging to the same political side to get together and show their strength and solidarity towards each other, and opposition of the “rest” of society. Why is it that no substantial number of liberal and leftist citizens attend these collective events? Why is it that a national commemoration has to be about politics?

People are unable to put aside their political affiliations during national events in this part of the world. Moreover, in neighboring countries where the Hungarian community commemorates March 15, incidents of quarrels and fights between the majority population and Hungarians often break loose. 

Commemorating 150 year-old events is a symbolic act, which should be independent of the present’s politics. It is supposed to represent the togetherness, not the fragmentation, of the nation.

In occasion of March 15, let the 12 points remind us of this notion:

What the Hungarian nation wants.

Let there be peace, liberty, and concord.

The 12 points

1. We demand the freedom of the press, the abolition of censorship.

2. Independent Hungarian government in Buda-Pest.

3. Annual national assembly in Pest.

4. Civil and religious equality before the law.

5. National army.

6. Equal distribution of [tax] burdens.

7. Abolition of socage [land tenure].

8. Juries and courts based on an equal legal representation.

9. A national bank.

10. The army must take an oath on the Constitution, send our soldiers home and take foreign soldiers away.

11. Setting free the political prisoners.

12. Union with Transylvania.

Eszter Kajtár,
School of Public Policy,