Workers' attracted by the far right: Narratives of exploitation and the need for affirmation

Bartha, Eszter and Tóth, András (2016) Workers' attracted by the far right: Narratives of exploitation and the need for affirmation. In: Nationalizing post-postsocialism: historical legacy or structurally driven shift in Hungary? Indiana University Press. (Submitted)

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Abstract

The article analyzes the process of the formation of new working-class identities in today’s Hungary in the light of lief-history interviews conducted with young skilled workers (below 40). Our starting point is the observation that the radical right-wing party (Jobbik) is relatively successful among this group (Tóth- Grajczjár 2013), whose reasons we analyze in a political and historical perspective. We also use Bartha’s interviews (2011), who conducted interviews with workers who were socialized in the Kádár regime, The interviews were conducted between 2002 and 2004; and at least rhetorically we could state that workers rejected the idea and practice of liberal democracy and the Western model and they were susceptible to ideologies promoting a string state and a strong leader. State socialism declared the working class to be the ruling class, although this thesis was disproved by the fate of the workers. The Kádár regime made a compromise with the working class, and ensured a petty bourgeois lifestyle for them. The change of regimes destroyed many working-class lives. The article draws on interviews conducted with workers, who can be seen as relative winners of the systemic change: the well paid working-class elite, who is working for multinational companies and enjoys a relatively secure employment. The interviews focus on the family, the social background, education, job and work satisfaction, relationship to the trade unions, satisfaction with labour interest representation and the socio-political views. We are trying to answer the question of what factors can explain the attraction of neo-nationalistic ideologies within this group. Bartha Eszter (2011): Magányos harcosok. Munkások a rendszerváltás utáni Kelet-Németországban és Magyarországon. Budapest: L’Harmattan. Feischmidt Margit – Glózer Rita – Ilyés Zoltán – Kasznár Veronika Katalin – Zakariás Ildikó: (2014): Nemzet a mindennapokban. Az újnacionalizmus populáris kultúrája. Budapest, L’Harmattan – MTA Társadalomtudományi Központ. Földes Győrgy (1989): Hatalom és mozgalom, 1956-1989. Budapest: Reform Könyvkiadó – Kossuth Könyvkiadó. Kemény István (1990): Velünk nevelkedett a gép. Magyar munkások a hetvenes évek elején. Budapest, Művelődéskutató Intéze. Pittaway, Mark (2012) The Workers State: Industrial Labor and the Making of Socialist Hungary, 1944-1958. Pittsburgh: The University of Pitttsburgh Press.

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