Time to retire communist street names!

The CitizenGO team raised its voice against communist street names a few months ago and started a petition because they believe that "the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, which is entrusted with the opinion, continues to defend the controversial street names". All this is happening because the law according to which it came into force more than ten years ago

public spaces and public institutions may not bear the name of a person who participated in the foundation, construction or maintenance of 20th century autocratic political systems,

or any term or name of an organization that directly refers to such a system.

More than 12,000 people have already sent messages to the MTA

Recently, the organization wrote in its circular that

more than 12,000 people have already signed their petition against communist street names launched in April.

As they put it, the countless "positive feedback" confirmed to them that it was worth "fighting for the truth".

They continued by saying that in June of this year they had a meeting with the head of the MTA's secretariat, from whom they received a promise that

if a list of objected street names is compiled, it will be processed according to the effective procedure.

This is expected to take place at the September meeting of the responsible department - they looked ahead.

The "red pencil" worked

In their circular, they also mentioned that

So we took out the red pencil... and it wasn't difficult:

they compiled professional material covering thirty street names and MTA resolutions

Their general comments include findings that a

the most obvious is the lack of consistency and inadequacy of the "not recommended" and "concerning" labels.

Although the purpose of the law is clarity: to determine whether something is suitable or not suitable for naming public areas and institutions".

They continued by saying, "the characteristic time, motivation, cross-generational meaning and socialization power of naming have not been carefully examined. The loss of value resulting from the replacement of the original street and institution names is not taken into account". In addition, "the biographical data is extremely incomplete, but even in the "not recommended" category, we encounter many slips" , they pointed out in the professional material.

"The ball is bouncing" at MTA

Among others, the name of Károly Marx was cited as an example. In relation to Marx, they recalled that the MTA admits that "based on the literal interpretation of the law, we could classify Marx as one of the founders of the autocratic system, and then they hasten to note that "we cannot under any circumstances classify him as one of the builders and maintainers of the autocratic system". They further mitigate Marx's responsibility by saying that "the simplified version of Marxism was used by several, later XX. a political movement preparing for self-rule in the 19th century tried to appropriate it, and in the communist dictatorship "vulgar Marxism" became the state ideology".

CitizenGO believes

this argument is contradictory and not acceptable.

"Marx's teachings fundamentally contributed to the ideological foundation of the communist dictatorship, so we ask the Hungarian Academy of Sciences to reconsider its position," they underlined.

He concluded the organization's message by saying that "now the ball is rolling at the MTA to fulfill their promise, to review - hopefully change - their resolutions.

If we succeed, we can say goodbye to Uncle Marx and his accomplices!"

- they looked to the future.

Featured image: MTI Photo / Zsolt Czeglédi