Invention is a means to overcome non-conforming facts. 

We like to ignore the forces that will determine our lives. The prize of shortsightedness is high for those that ignore the discernible trends. Frequently, what the unaware regards as a positive or negative “accident” is only in its minor details accidental. In reality, such mislabeled events are the consequence of earlier choices and are, therefore, foreseeable for those that look beyond appearances. The aware know that behind the confusing scenery, there lurks a decisive truth and that it is the real puppet master that pulls the strings. 

Those of us that wish to understand the past century - recommended by the three-digit millions killed in its wars and its “peace” – should consider two topics. One is the impact of erroneous theories and their recipes for mankind’s forcible salvation. This demands the scrutiny of totalitarian ideology and practice. The other is the role of the mass. We can read extensively about what happens when individuals coalesce into a crowd. However, unless you have been personally transmuted in a multitude of hundreds of thousands, you miss what takes place through the absorption in such a collective “organism”. In this case, the theory will lack a dimension just as the descriptions of “blue” will to the blind. 

On October 23, your correspondent has again had a “refresher” experience. Dissolving in a mass can elevate you to feel power beyond your means, or it will reduce you into a pebble. In this case and most untypically, singing as one of four hundred thousand an anthem the Communists used not to like, brought the writer to tears. The occasion was the 56th anniversary of ’56. These numbers demand an explanation. It is telling of the power of the “makers of consciousness” that as in this case, they can either give events a new content or delete what does not fit their world-view.

October 23, 1956 marks a seminal event. On that day, Hungary rose in a revolution against Soviet domination. It took Moscow two weeks to restore “order” by violating its promise to evacuate the country and to restore its sovereignty. Even if the USSR proved that it could defeat Hungary, the victory marks the beginning of the decline of Soviet power. The trend ended with the dissolution of the Crimson Empire. Even at the venue of the Revolution, the recall must overcome the Left’s attempt to snub it. Therefore, re-writing the facts and “stealing” the movement by claiming it to be their own, prove to be effective tools. Earlier, other circumstances recommended other means. The local Left was in power at the unwelcome 50th anniversary. That enabled its security organs to attack and disperse a peaceful opposition-led assembly of well over a hundred thousand. (For the text of the original survivor’s report, see the piece I wrote six years ago.)

Today’s center right government has a two-thirds majority and it regards itself as the heir of those that shook the “Evil Empire” in 1956. 

This year, the reigning “Young Democrats” (YD) called for a commemorative celebration. It was to be a march from a scene of heavy fighting in ’56 to end at the square before parliament. Significantly, that locale happens to be the venue of a massacre whose perpetrators remain unpunished. At least four hundred thousand gathered and filled not only the square but also the avenues leading to it. At the same time, the “opposition”, convened by the descendant of the Stalin era’s and the post ‘56 Kádár restoration’s bosses, held their own conclaves elsewhere. 

Besides the “history”, there has been a political reason for asking the citizens for a show of support. The motive is to reduce the ability of the Left to influence the foreign Media and the European Union to suppress reality and to cover it up by their distortions. The purpose of that libel is to discredit those that must cope with a debt created by the Socialists who bought those that accept dependency. One of the maligning pretensions is that the YD is dictatorial and that it is losing support. Unmasking the last allegation has been the intent of the marchers and of those that asked them to fill the streets. 

First, to the size of the crowd. The foreign press liked to talk of “tens of thousands”. That might generously describe the Socialists’ event. Calling those that appeared in favor of the YDs, “tens of thousands” might be mathematically correct. Four or five hundred thousand consists of X times ten thousand. But why not talk about “several dozen”? Obviously, the count intends to cover up a reality that is, to the left-leaning media, an undesirable fact. Furthermore, the term equates the show of the Socialists with the mobilizing power of the YDs. This is done because what counts is not what “is” but what people are led to believe. 

The skewed depiction has produced another “beauty”. Even the reputable “Economist” detects in the two gatherings evidence that Hungary’s society is “split” in the style of the “Disunited States of America”. True, the competing assemblies indicate a division. However, contrary to the insinuated partition into two halves, the discrepancy of the numbers is evidence that society is, to the enormous surprise of this writer, united. 

A reason for calling out the masses had to do with the need to show “Brussels” that a claim of Leftist Eurocracy is wrong. The claim meant is that the YDs have lost their support. Indeed, Hungary is bombarded with the allegation that it is a right-wing dictatorship and that, consequently, even small stand-by credits to her must be withheld. The intent is to extort and to nudge the voters to dismiss the YDs in exchange for praise and money. Earlier this year, to prove their legitimacy, the YDs have already asked for a march to reaffirm the election’s results. Hundreds of thousands followed that call. A recent survey confirms a majority-based legitimacy. 36% sympathize with the YD. The Left achieves 12%. As an indication of political analphabetism and reacting to provocative scolding from abroad, the genuinely “wrong right” scored 11%. 

The reader might have concluded that the ritualized condemnation of Hungary is politically motivated bad-mouthing. The inference should not be that this is the unique problem of a country that is easily ignored. The case presented here is not an isolated one but a typical sample from a thick file. A number of countries, many public persons, and numerous parties, are regularly subjected to public flagellation. More often than not, the reason for denunciation resorts to trumped up charges. These are raised because those censured strive for goals that contradict the accuser’s ideology. The strategy is that, when arguments are lacking, then facts may be invented to make us forget what we perceive and to believe what we are told instead.