Politics of the past: the use and abuse of history - Socialists ...

historical public opinion and self-image is complemented by the
opposition of the noble Hungarian and the plebeian Slovak nations,
and by the traditional myths of sacrifice and survival that small nations
have. (These latter themes are also clearly evident in
Hungarian public opinion). The most striking concept of the plebeian
approach to history has been provided by the Slovak writer
Vladimír Mináč, He asserts ‘If history is the history of kings, thieves,
bloody battles and pillaging, then the Slovaks really do not have a
history. If, however, the essence of history is everyday hard work,
cultivation of the land, and building towns then our history is one of
the most illustrious’.
In Hungarian historical public opinion, the idea and cult of Saint
Stephen has not been translated into a tolerant and inclusive nationalities
policy. The defining stratum of the myth has been nationbuilding
and the adoption of Christianity. In contrast to the thousand
years of oppression, Hungarian stereotypes regard historical
Hungary as a place of ethnic peace. ‘If the Earth is God’s hat,
Hungary is the posy of flowers on it’. 2
Contemporary Hungarian and Slovak historiography
In the last two decades three main trends can be observed in
Hungarian and Slovak historiographies and public historical understanding.
In the first place, new discursive approaches and alternative
social historical narratives, which strive to put into
perspective exclusivity in reading national history, have appeared
in both historiographies. One of the most important consequences
of gradually pushing research on political history into the background
is predictably that historiography for the sake of proving the
legitimacy of the nation state and the majority nation – the historical
right to exist and the right to exclusivity – is thoroughly questioned.
Such history writing is replaced by historical narratives of
society, culture and everyday life and deconstructs national borders
and conflicts.
Secondly, there is a manifest strengthening of interest in ‘common
history’, partly as a result of demands for justice and partly as a
2 Or, as another well-known song from 1848 goes, ’Let it be as it was a long
time ago, let it be as it was a long time ago/may the Croat and the Wallachian
and the Slovak unite with the Hungarian/unite with the Hungarian.’
187 László Szarka