Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also gave a speech on Monday morning at the 30-year-old Századvég Sovereignty conference. The prime minister recalled the period of regime change and the establishment of the End of the Century.
– Századvég as an institute may have been born thirty years ago, but its conception can be traced back to the eighties. That's when the big things started - reminded Viktor Orbán.
As the Prime Minister said, there are young people who consider the choice of name to be a little lucky, since in 2023 this name will no longer hold its place. "Perhaps we can accept this from them, new times are coming that demand new people. We were quite amateurs back then, especially in matters of communication. However, inexperience was not a mistake, but an added value," he stated. As he explained, they started all this because, as Václav Havel put it, "you can't live in a lie."
– Our generation thought thank you very much, we don't want to continue this. We weren't pretending. By the evening, we had already said that we hated the communists. The only question was whether this feeling of our life would find some suitable form of expression beyond the usual friendly pub crawls, world-changing night conversations and gathering the recognition of girls in university life, he said.
In establishing Századvég, he thanked the older generation. Tamás Fellegi, László Kéri, Csaba Varga, Miklós Csapody - from them and their sense of life, the Bibó István College of Education, "which was good at first, but not enough", became.
- We wanted the Soviets to pull away, the communists to fail, this is how the End of the Century was created: free life begins with free speech, free speech begins with free writing, this was the philosophy - he recalled. He added: two things distinguished them, they were the most inexperienced and the most radical.
– We did not want a long transition, consolidated reforms. When János Kis issued the samizdat that Kádár had to go, László Kövér said that the system had to go, he recalled.
He also brought up their magazine, which was originally called Váltóláz, that was the first idea. "Fortunately, it didn't turn out that way, even though it was more suited to the mood of the time. Around 1985, many of us thought that the Russians would withdraw, the communists would disappear, that the century was slowly coming to an end, hence the name End of the Century," explained Viktor Orbán.
He added: we were not soothsayers, but we saw that the economic reserves of the socialist world were running out, and that the peripheral states of the Soviet Union were waking up.
- Today we know that we were right in our assessment of the situation, it is worth being radical, even if you cannot achieve these goals, because at least there is something to let go of, - declared the prime minister.
As he said, at the beginning there were amateurs, there were mistakes in the first edition of Szazadvég, but the second edition was published well. He added: István Stumpf was their responsible publisher, he had to "take away the trouble", and Tamás Fellegi also helped them. The prime minister added: he is saying all this to point out a difference between the current generation of politicians and the old one.
- Nowadays, it is fashionable for politicians to move between business and politics. This is also fashionable in the West, and the Hungarian socialists do nothing else. We, who were in the editorial board, are different. Once we have entered politics, there is no turning back. We don't like this - stated the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister also addressed the role of György Soros. At one time, they were grinding with him in a mill, since he didn't want the communists to rule Hungary either. That he wanted to rule Central Europe instead of the Soviets was not clear then, he added.
– That's how things started, then there were only a dozen of us, but that wasn't the point. The entire history of Századvég was a story of the heart and patriotism, and let it remain so, said the Prime Minister.
He added: as István Stumpf wrote then, the goal is to do what we want and what is possible. "Then this could not be done just like that, starting the End of the Century was the start of radical change. To help, tell and describe what happened in 1956. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact on the division of East and West was also presented here," he recalled, emphasizing that if it had not happened then, Fidesz would not exist today, and Hungary would not be sovereign now either.
– This is how we got to 1993, which was the date of birth. We were young, but no longer amateurs. In the first parliamentary election, we had a faction of twenty-two people, but we felt that big things were yet to come. We started to organize the hinterland, we needed a broader and more thorough knowledge to obtain the parliamentary majority. And then the communists came back, having learned nothing and forgotten nothing. The real twist in the whole story was that the pro-freedom liberals allowed the communists back. This is now common practice in the West, but at the time it was a great moral shock, Viktor Orbán stated.
Then "we had to tie up our pants", on the other side "what belonged together grew together", and we needed an intellectual workshop, which is how Századvég was created - he reminded.
After losing the election, one thinks a lot about why it happened that way. As he said, they realized that their basic mistake was that they thought that if we live in a democracy, nothing threatens us.
- We had to learn after 2002 that in order for Hungary to remain sovereign, it is only in the interest of us, the Hungarians. Others are better off if we lose it, he declared. The Prime Minister added: they concluded that Hungary will not be sovereign as long as liberal hegemony dominates public thinking. If there is a liberal hegemony, Christians can only come to power with Fortuna's kiss.
– This does not mean that you have to liquidate what is your opponent. Let everyone have a place under the sun. Such an environment must be created, we thought at the time. We created this in 2010, which is why we have been able to win continuously since then, the prime minister said.
He added: In the West, they have not yet understood this, because they are unable to leave the liberal framework. He said: In the West, left-wing and right-wing newspapers write the same thing, in terms of the essence, there is no difference between them. On the other hand, the Hungarian political palette is plural, more sparkling and colorful than that of our Western friends.
Viewed from this point of view, the Hungarian political system is much more democratic than the Western one - stated Viktor Orbán.
– If the majority of Hungarian people can identify with one position, we call it a victory, and those representing the majority position win. Those who cannot accept this and want liberal hegemony are communists, he said, adding: the liberals, the opponents, do not care about people, the starting point of their thinking is an idea.
- Similar to communists, they are activists of an idea. What matters is what Marx or Engels thinks about a question. They are looking at an idea - pointed out the prime minister.
He emphasized: the position is clear, people with this opinion are left alone in the West, the voice of the people is not heard.
"Hungary is important in European politics because we are the country and government that speaks the way the Hungarian people think. And as European people also think. We have influence beyond our real weight in international politics," he stated.
The Prime Minister reminded us: we cannot live in lies, it is time for people to represent their point of view, it is time for changes to take place in Europe as well, and to take back the European institutions. - In the current decade, the fight is going on for the preservation of sovereignty, and Századvég will have a serious task in this. We acquired sovereignty, it is their job and the job of the young people to keep it - concluded Viktor Orbán's presentation.
Cover photo: Prime Minister Viktor Orbán gives a speech at the Századvég Public Knowledge Center Foundation's conference on Sovereignty in the Castle Garden Bazaar on November 13, 2023.
Source: MTI/Prime Minister's Press Office/Zoltán Fischer
