The new issue conservative journal Komnetár was presented at the Hungarian National Museum, the invited guests were the philosopher Dezső Csejtei, Zoltán Szalai, the director general of the MCC, and the writer Árpád Hudy from Arad, the role of moderator was played by Szilárd Horváth.
After the greeting of editor-in-chief Márton Békés, Csejtei asked the question: what is the basis of the conservative revolution? At the beginning of the twentieth century, a trend emerged on the European right - mainly in France and Germany - which turned its attention to words that were previously only used by the left. Such is " revolution", "socialism", "worker" . The right has taken these words, given them new meanings, and incorporated them into their own worldview. Spengler, for example, wrote in the fall of 1919 about the relationship between Prussia and socialism, concluding that true socialism is not Marxism, but the Prussian ethos.
They were not talking about a counter-revolution, but about its continuation, from a different direction.
Hudy believed that it is formally legitimate for the left to suggest that the right has hijacked certain expressions, but " it is not a shame to steal from thieves" . According to the writer, the basic meaning of these words should be returned. According to Hudy, we are in a period of " fertile tension" , but it is also dangerous. These are no longer academic debates, but fierce debates are taking place all over the country. The religious element could be an important component of the revolution, but it is currently collapsing. " Anyone who follows German Catholicism even a little can see that a very serious pillar is falling, and this is also morally weakening this worldview revolution."
According to Szalai, we use the term conservative revolution in two senses, one is the conservative revolution itself, and the other is the conservative revolution as an era, i.e. an era in political history. The first definition is that the Enlightenment and the French Revolution discarded important values, and the conservative revolution wants to bring these values back to the world with a quasi-counter-revolution. Perhaps this is what most authors meant by the term. The authors of the period of the conservative revolution did not know that they were creating in this period, the period between 1919-1932 is called that, primarily in Germany, quoted Armin Mohler.
According to his friends, the word revolution originally refers to the restoration of some state. When modernism inaugurated the revolution as a holy concept, it meant its exact opposite: the sudden, violent, heroic change to the order - be it social, industrial, scientific, technical. Bottomless upheaval was only seen as good, only good can replace the old - of course, the conservative person knows that this is not the case. Conservatism wants to return this word to its original meaning, but the word remains burdened by this, so it creates tension and contradiction. Revolution referred to a cyclical movement, but now describes a linear process.
Szalai added that the word revolution is often a euphemistic term.
Hungarians think of 1848-'49, but in the case of the " Great French Revolution" or the " Soviet Revolution", it is questionable what is rebellion, civil war and what is revolution? The left uses " revolutionary" change in a positive sense and calls its own important events revolutions. What made the events in St. Petersburg a revolution is of course still questionable, but the " coup" obviously doesn't sound good. Spengler traces the revolution back to cyclicality, which must be noticed and experienced, and not to the creation of a completely new reality.
Csejtei explained that the young Spengler attached positive importance to the technique, but later retracted it. Technology is one of the main drivers of the deterioration of the world today. Over time, these authors reach a mature conservative position. Meanwhile, the concept of revolution shapes our lives, Horváth noted. According to Hudy, the word revolution in Hungarian refers back to the boiling state. When we talk about revolution, we don't want to erase national characteristics. At the same time, legitimate national content also hinders cooperation between the national pages of different countries. It didn't help that we had to look at our history through the eyes of our enemies for a long time, and we have to break with that, the writer stated.
Szalai quoted Spengler about the conflict between idealism and reality, which conservatives cannot replace. Those obsessed with political ideas do not start from reality, while a conservative starts from reality, analyzes the situation and makes decisions accordingly. According to Spengler, politics is not made from idealism, but from the interpretation of facts.
Source: Mandarin
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