Arrow Cross Party

I read that the Hungarian Arrow Cross party, a National Socialist party that was in government during WW2, that was particularly hostile to capitalism and Wikipedia says it was similar to the NSDAP before the 'Night of the Long Knives'. Any information or sources on their particular strain of National Socialism?

The Arrow Cross Party is a very interesting subject. Sadly, I do not know more than you about it.

Sotnyk wrote:The Arrow Cross Party is a very interesting subject. Sadly, I do not know more than you about it.

Sotnyk, welcome to our forum. If I remember correctly, you're the Ukrainian fellow from eNationalist. Do you still post there?

I remember reading a book called "The Royal Hungarian Army in World War II" They had a brief section about the arrow cross party, that was quite good.

Stanley Payne—who I consider to be one of the foremost authorities on nationalism, Third Positionism, etc.—essentially characterizes the Arrow Cross Party has having stood for economic principles akin to movements like (pre-Franco) Spanish fascism and Otto Strasser's Black Front (though somewhat less revolutionary than the latter). These groups essentially stood for land reform policies that would expropriate the property of large estates and redistribute them to the peasantry. In addition they sought to implement a corporative planning mechanism for national industry and a nationalization of finance.

The party's leader, Ferenc Szálasi, had sought to integrate the 'best' aspects of both Christianity and socialism into what he called 'Hungarism' (Hungarian national socialism). [This philosophical foundation of the Arrow Cross movement resonated strongly with traditional Strasserist principles.]

Interestingly, following the party's banning in 1937, a political merger transpired between the Arrow Cross, the Hungarian National Socialist Party, the Race-Protecting Socialist Party, and a few other revolutionary nationalist parties—leading to the formation of a united Hungarian National Socialist Party led by Szálasi.

Bladridigan wrote:

Sotnyk wrote:The Arrow Cross Party is a very interesting subject. Sadly, I do not know more than you about it.

Sotnyk, welcome to our forum. If I remember correctly, you're the Ukrainian fellow from eNationalist. Do you still post there?

You're right. I still post there now and then, but I somehow lost my interest in eNat.

Sternn wrote:I read that the Hungarian Arrow Cross party, a National Socialist party that was in government during WW2, that was particularly hostile to capitalism and Wikipedia says it was similar to the NSDAP before the 'Night of the Long Knives'. Any information or sources on their particular strain of National Socialism?

Yes indeed it was very hostile to Capitalism. I know a bit about the movement since both of my grandfathers were part of it. Serfdom in Hungary was abolished ( officially ) during the 1848 Revolution. In practice it continued until the 1860's. After that it practically vanished. Millions of former serfs became free yet they had no land of their own. Thus they were forced to work for the owners of the large farm estates as wage laborers. A sort of Capitalism emerged in Hungary which wore a feudal mask. The condition of the agricultural proletariat was rather unbearable. The large landowners looked down on them and were capable of treating them brutally. Many Jews started to buy up lots of land at about the same time. Oftentimes Jews worked for the large landowners ( as notaries and secretaries etc) and intermarried with them. So it came that the fury of the Hungarian agricultural proletariat was aroused. A few movements that advocated land reform arose but were repressed. Not long after the First World War the Hungarian Soviet Republic was established. Some may have welcomed them at first but it soon became clear that the Bolsheviks ( or more accurately Judeo Bolsheviks) had no intention of giving the peasants land of their own. The Soviet Republic was overthrown by Horthy and his supporters soon enough. At first people lionized him for saving them from the Bolsheviks. However Horthy stood by the Capitalists. He would not hear of land reform or anything of the sort. His cronies terrorized the peasantry. Not to mention the fact that he was rather Pro Jewish as well . That is when the first National Socialist movements arose in Hungary. Some of them imitated the German National Socialists but many were homegrown movements. They were rather small in number ( at first) and had to endure intense persecution at the hands of the government. Then Szalasi Ferenc developed the ideology of Hungarism in the early 1930s. He formed a political party in 1935 ( called the Nation's Will Party I think) which was banned soon after. He kept forming new organizations afterwards ( which were also banned and persecuted) until the Arrow Cross party came into being in 1939. It participated in the elections and got pretty decent results ( around 15%) in spite of being hounded by the government. The Hungarist movement was explicitly Nationalist and Socialist. It advocated land reform ( which would have expropriated the large estates of the landowning nobility and turned them over to the landless peasants) and was also very hostile towards finance capital. I am not sure what policies they advocated for Industry. Industry was not their main concern since Hungary was rather agricultural at the time. Nonetheless it drew most of its support from the proletariat ( particularly the rural proletariat). Supporters of the Horthy regime despised the Hungarists referring to them as " Green Bolsheviks". The Hungarist government ( that arose in the autumn of 1944) was crushed by the Soviets and suffered a heavy blow as a result. Many members immigrated to the West where they kept the movement alive. Hungarists still exist in this day and age ( though few people are familiar with their ideology). Sadly I know of no English translations of the works of Szalasi ( and other Hungarist theorists) but there are several books written ( by Hungarists) about their ideology ( in Hungarian). Contrary to popular belief the movement was not a mere imitation of the NSDAP. Their ideology was rather unique and original. I cannot say that I am a Hungarist ( since I disagree with their plan of uniting all nations in the Carpathian Basin into one State) but I have immense respect for them. They were a true Socialist Nationalist movement and fought both the Capitalists and the Communists. Here is one of their anthems by the way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WQA-hHwaiY. P.S. I may translate some of the movement's official literature into English once I have the chance.

Are there resonating strains of the Arrow Cross in Hungary today? What of the Garda Magyar?

Mojave wrote:Are there resonating strains of the Arrow Cross in Hungary today? What of the Garda Magyar?

Yes there are Hungarist groups in Hungary today that believe in ( more or less) the same things the Arrow Cross believed in. Here is a link to four of their sites: http://mozgalom.org/. You might not be able to read them since they are in Hungarian. There are two organizations in Hungary that use the name Magyar Garda. One of them is called the Uj Magyar Garda and it is associated with the party called Jobbik. I personally dont trust them because ( as far as I know) they have at least one Jewish and one Gypsy member. The other is called the Orzo Magyar Garda and they are fairly decent people ( though small in number). Neither of them is a Hungarist organization but the Orzo Magyar Garda is associated with the PHM ( Pax Hungarica Movement) which is a Hungarist organization.