Abstract
Focusing on the development of socialist rites of passage in Hungary, the chapter makes two arguments. First, that the early 1960s were a phase of intense experimentation, in which the individual initiative of party cadres played a more important role than specific directives. And second, that the development of a specifically Hungarian form of ‘applied atheism’ had an international dimension as ritual experts traveled across the Eastern Bloc to search for inspiration but also for a ground of comparison. For Hungarian ritual experts, Czechoslovakia was a more important reference point than the Soviet Union in this context. As a composite, the two arguments nuance our understanding of dynamics of the so-called conflict between the religious and atheist world view.
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Notes
- 1.
For a good overview on various definitions: J. A. M Snoek (2006) ‘Defining Rituals’ in J. Kreinath, J. Snoek, M. Stausberg et al. (eds) Theorizing Rituals. Issues, Topics, Approaches, Concepts (Leiden: Brill), pp. 3–15.
- 2.
On the definition of the term ‘ritual experts’ M. Weber, H. G. Kippenberg (ed.) (2005) Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Die Wirtschaft und die gesellschaftlichen Ordnungen und Mächte (Tübingen: Mohr Siebech), pp. 92 ff.
- 3.
Although the term ‘socialist way of life’ was first explicitly introduced as part of the state ideology in the Soviet Union in 1976, the concept existed already earlier.
- 4.
On the Soviet Union see V. Smolkin-Rothrock, dissertation. For East Germany, see F. R. Schulz (2013) Death in East Germany 1945–1990 (Oxford: Berghahn Books).
- 5.
Although Zoltán Rácz was without doubt a central figure and driving force behind the development of socialist rituals, he was not the only one who published on the theory and practice of rituals. Other prominent authors were Endre Lakos Udvardi, who wrote about name-giving ceremonies, László Szűts who wrote about festivals for the agricultural collective or Károly Varga who wrote about the rhetoric of socialist funerals.
- 6.
In the growing scholarship on the cultural history of socialism and the history of everyday life in Hungary in the Kádár era secular rites of passage have so far received almost no attention. One exception is the brief mentioning in T. Valuch (2006) Hétköznapi élet Kádár János korában (Budapest: Corvina Kiadó), p. 139.
- 7.
For an overview on religion in the Soviet Union, T. A. Chumachenko (2002) Church and State in Soviet Russia. Russian Orthodoxy from World War II to the Khrushchev Years (New York and London: M. E. Sharpe).
- 8.
I. Rév (2005) Retroactive Justice. Prehistory of Post-Communism (Stanford: Stanford University Press), pp. 126–128.
- 9.
On the connection between the revolution of 1956 and the emerging cult of socialist ‘martyrs’ in its aftermath see P. Apor (2014) Fabricating Authenticity in Soviet Hungary: The Afterlife of the First Hungarian Soviet Republic in the Age of State Socialism (London: Anthem Press), pp. 125–164.
- 10.
I. Deák (1992) ‘Hungary’, American Historical Review, vol. 97, 1058.
- 11.
M. Pittaway (2012) The Workers’ State. Industrial Labor and the Making of Socialist Hungary, 1944–1958 (Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh University Press), p. 232.
- 12.
On the complex role of Cardinal Mindszenty in 1956: J. Fuisz (2004) ‘Der Beitrag der Religionsgemeinschaften zum Ungarnaufstand 1956’. Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte 17:1, 113–132.
- 13.
‘Az MSZMP Központi Bizottsága Politikai Bizottságának határozata a vallásos világnézet elleni eszmei harcról, a vallásos tömegek közötti felvilágosító és nevelőmunka feladatairól (22 July 1958)ʼ in H. Vass, Á. Ságvári (eds.) (1973) A Magyar Szocialista Munkáspárt határozatai és dokumentumai, 1956–1962 (Budapest: Párttörténeti Intézet), p. 237.
- 14.
Overview of Church–state relations in Hungary in the socialist era in English: J. Wittenberg (2006) Crucibles of Political Loyalty. Church Institutions and Electoral Continuity in Hungary (New York: Cambridge University Press), pp. 80–200. More generally on the legacy of the socialist era: M. Tomka (2005) Church, State and Society in Eastern Europe (Washington, DC: The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy).
- 15.
A good overview on the various areas of the politicization of private life in Hungary: P. Apor (2008) ‘A mindennapi élet öröme’ in S. Horváth (ed.) Mindennapok Rákosi és Kádár korában. Új utak a szocialista korszak kutatásában (Budapest: Nyitott Könyvműhely), pp. 13–50.
- 16.
Z. Rácz (1960) Családi ünnepek és szertartások (Budapest: Népmüvelési Intézet), p. 7.
- 17.
The term ‘atheism’ was applied only rarely in scholarly discourse in Hungary in the 1950s and 1960s. Instead, authors wrote about the ‘materialist worldview’. In the 1950s, atheism in general was not a central topic in political propaganda. The 1960 foundation of the journal Világosság (Light) brought a new dynamic into the discourse about the role of religion in a socialist society. However, the authors of Világosság were more interested in the history of religion than in applying atheism in everyday life. E. László (1966) The Communist Ideology in Hungary: A Handbook for Basic Research (Dordrecht: D. Reidel), pp. 82–83.
- 18.
Today: Magyar Művelődési Intézet és Képzőművészeti Lektorátus. I am grateful to the head librarian, Mária Hargitai for her help with my research.
- 19.
On secular rites of passage in the Soviet Union see: C. Lane (1981) The Rites of Rulers: Ritual in Industrial Society. The Soviet Case (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). More recently on death and dying in the Soviet Union: C. Merridale (2001) Night of Stone: Death and Memory in Twentieth-century Russia (New York: Viking).
- 20.
V. Smolkin-Rothrock (2011) ‘Cosmic Enlightenment: Scientific Atheism and the Soviet Conquest of Space’ in J. T. Andrews, A. A. Siddiqui (eds.) Into the Cosmos: Space Exploration and Soviet Culture in Post-Stalinist Russia (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press), pp. 159–194.
- 21.
A. L. Palkó (2013) ‘Sírva vigadtunk. Ünnepek és ünneplési szokások Magyarországon az 1956-os forradalom és szabadságharc leverését követően’, Valóság 2013:3, 90–111.
- 22.
Rácz (1960) Családi ünnepek, pp. 7–8.
- 23.
These clerics were referred to as ‘peace priests’. On the peace priest movement see S. P. Ramet (1998) Nihil Obstat: Religion, Political and Social Change in East-Central Europe (Duke University Press) 110. For contemporary depictions of the peace priests, for example, the correspondence of Cardinal Mindszenty in A. Somorjai, T. Zinner (2013) Do Not Forget This Small, Honest Nation. Cardinal Mindszenty to 4 US Presidents and State Secretaries 1956–1971. A Documentary Overview (S. I.: Xlibris), p. 166.
- 24.
The last wave of clerical arrests took place in the spring of 1960, when a group of priests and students of theology were arrested. The official charge against them was ‘agitation against the People’s Republic’, but in reality their crime seems to have been their popularity among the youth. I. Mészáros (1994) Kimaradt tananyag. A diktatúra és az egyház, 1957–1975 (Budapest: Márton Áron Kiadó).
- 25.
First position paper on secular rituals with no author but most likely Zoltán Rácz: ‘Javaslat a családi és társadalmi ünnepek, szertartások bevezetésére és elterjesztésére, Budapest, 22 December 1958’ in Népmüvelési Intézet [Institute of Folk Culture] (hereafter NI) 807.
- 26.
Z. Rácz (1964) Családi és társadalmi ünnepek. Kézikönyv a tanácsok és a társadalmi szervezetek aktivistái részére (Budapest: Kossuth Könyvkiadó) p. 9; Z. Rácz, K. Varga (1976) A polgári gyászszertartásról (Budapest: Népművelési Propaganda Iroda), p. 15.
- 27.
‘We have to take care that the new ritual forms should not look too foreign. The participants, especially on the countryside, should recognize as many elements of the rituals as possible as their own, as familiar rites from their own region’. Z. Rácz (1960) Családi ünnepek, p. 4.
- 28.
Pittaway (2012) Workers’ State, p. 232.
- 29.
For general new secondary literature on collectivization in Eastern Europe from a comparative perspective: I. Constantin, A. Bauerkämper (eds.) (2014) The Collectivization of Agriculture in Communist Eastern Europe. Comparison and Entanglements (Budapest: Central European University Press).
- 30.
J. Ö. Kovács (2012) A paraszti társadalom felszámolása a kommunista diktatúrában. A vidéki Magyarország politikai társadalomtörténete 1945–1965 (Budapest: Korall), p. 366.
- 31.
The agricultural collective even received its own celebration in the canon of socialist rituals, the so-called ‘closing the financial year celebrations’, which combined elements of the harvest festivals with a demonstration of endorsement of the agricultural collective. Based on the suggestions manuals made for this celebration, the event also supposed to include the public criticism of those members of the collective who did not fulfill their quotas or duties. Thus, the occasion was not only a celebration of the achievements of the collective but also fulfilled a normative, regulatory function. Here, too, Rácz laid a heavy emphasis on building on local traditions ‘provided they are not antiquated or ridiculous’. L. Szűts, Z. Rácz (1965) Útmutató ttermelőszövetkezeti zárszámadási ünnepség rendezéséhez (Budapest: Népmüvelési Intézet), p. 10.
- 32.
Z. Rácz (1964) Családi és társadalmi ünnepek, p. 15.
- 33.
Magyar Film Híradó, 41/1959 October. (The film clip was presented as part of a newsreel).
- 34.
Propaganda slide film Családi és társadalmi ünnepek (1960) (Budapest: Népművelési Intézet).
- 35.
Local councils in 1960 had other worries, notably the collectivization of agriculture. While the party directives for collectivization were always formulated in concrete and often militaristic terms, including close deadlines and strict quotas, the language of official directives was significantly softer when it came to formulating goals and action plans for the development of socialist culture. Collectivization was considered a process that should follow a strict timeline and be completed within the foreseeable future, party directives from the very beginning considered the introduction and spread of socialist rituals a long-term process, possibly taking several years. While the language of collectivisation was ridden with military terms, the language of introducing socialist rituals remained that of pedagogy.
- 36.
Z. Rácz (1961) ‘Jelentés a csehszlovákiai tanulmányutamról, 5–18 April 1961’, NI 2110, pp. 1–21.
- 37.
The translation: Otakar Nahodil (1955) A csehszlovák néprajz tíz éve 1945–1955 (Budapest: Adakémiai Kiadó).
- 38.
Z. Rácz (1966) Családi és társadalmi ünnepek, p. 66.
- 39.
In 1974 Rácz even published a history of the Jesuit order, in which he worked through the classical themes of anti-clericalism ranging from the relationship between big business and organized religion to the role of Jesuits at the Second Vatican Council. Z. Rácz (1974) Jezsuiták tegnap és ma (Budapest: Kossuth Könyvkiadó).
- 40.
Rácz notes that he started a regular correspondence with Antonín Robek, but efforts to trace down this correspondence have been unsuccessful so far. In a report on a further study trip to Czechoslovakia that Rácz undertook in the fall of 1967, he wrote about Robek as a yearlong correspondent. NI 4838, p. 27.
- 41.
Z. Rácz (1961) ‘Jelentés a csehszlovákiai tanulmányutamról, 5–18 April 1961’, NI 2110, pp. 12–16.
- 42.
It is no coincidence that Rácz wrote an entire separate manual for funerals alone and that he developed and oversaw a training program for socialist funerary orators. R. Zoltán, Z. Rácz, K. Varga (1976) A polgári gyászszertartásról (Budapest: Népművelési Propaganda Iroda).
- 43.
Report on Rácz’s participation at the ‘Conference of Atheists in Komarno’, Z. Rácz (1964) ‘A Csehszlovákiában tett tanulmányútról, jelentés’, 23–28 March 1964, NI 8067, pp. 1–6.
- 44.
Two of Rácz’s colleagues at the Institute for Public Education, József Fodor and Sándor Heleszta visited Czechoslovakia in May 1966. The main focus of their visit was to discuss ‘the cultural interests of rural youth’. NI 4403.
- 45.
Z. Rácz (1967) ‘Jelentés csehszlovákiai kiküldetésemröl, 2–11 October 1967’, NI 4838, pp. 8–9.
- 46.
On the development of the cremationist movement in the Czech context see the excellent essay of Z. R. Nešpor (2013) ‘Cremation Movement in the Czech Lands in the 20th Century’ in E. Venbrux, T. Quartier, C. Venhorst, B. Mathijssen (eds.) Changing European Death Ways (Berlin: LIT Verlag), pp. 119–140. Interestingly, East German experts on funerary culture looked at Czechoslovakia with admiration precisely for the fact that the percentage of cremations was so high. The members of the Institute for Municipal Economy, the institution that since 1962 was responsible for the management of cemeteries and for managing socialist rituals, studied the distribution of crematoria in Czechoslovakia in detail. Source: Museum für Sepulchralkultur, Kassel.
- 47.
Even if they found it problematic. The history of the freethinker movement in Czechoslovakia could not be told in simplified terms of class struggle. From the perspective of the Communist Party in the 1960s, it was freighted with the legacy of an essentially bourgeois movement, even if a left-leaning one.
- 48.
Z. Rácz (1961b) ‘A társadalmi szertartások jelenlegi helyzete Budapesten’ dated 19 July 1961, NI 2033(z), p. 6.
- 49.
Z. Xantus (1979) Hatvan év a kegyelet szolgálatában (Budapest: Fővárosi Temetkezési Vállalat), pp. 57–58, 89–92.
- 50.
§ 11 (5) on cremation in the cemetery law of 1970. ‘10/1970. (IV. 17.) ÉVM-EüM számú együttes rendelet a temetőkről és a temetkezési tevékenységről’ in Hatályos jogszabályok gyűjteménye 1945–1987 (1988), vol. 2 (Budapest: Közgazdasági és Jogi Könyvkiadó), p. 209.
- 51.
Z. Rácz (1967) ‘Jelentés csehszlovákiai kiküldetésemről, 2–11 October 1967’, NI 4838, p. 31.
- 52.
Z. Rácz (1966) ‘Jelentés tanulmányutamról az NDK-ban, 1–20 March 1966’, NI 4403, p. 21.
- 53.
On the relationship between state funerals and ordinary funerals in the GDR see J. Redlin (2009) Säkulare Totenrituale: Totenverehrung, Staatsbegräbnis und private Bestattung in der DDR (Münster: Waxmann).
- 54.
Z. Rácz (1966) ‘Jelentés tanulmányutamról az NDK-ban, 1–20 March 1966’, NI 4403, p. 21.
- 55.
Efforts to trace down this translation have remained without success so far. If such a translation exists, it was never published.
- 56.
The Institute for Municipal Economy in Dresden and the Central House of Culture in Leipzig were the two organizations that published manuals on secular rituals. More broadly on the praxis of East German secular funerals see F. R. Schulz, Death in East Germany. In addition, on the history of funerals in the Soviet occupation zone immediately after the Second World War, see M. Black (2010) Death in Berlin: From Weimar to Divided Germany (New York: Cambridge University Press), pp. 187–229. A detailed analysis of East German manuals on secular funerals: H. Tóth (2013) ‘Shades of Grey: Sepulchral Culture in East Germany’, in E. Venbrux, T. Quartier, C. Venhorst, B. Mathijssen (eds.) Changing European Death Ways (Berlin: Lit Verlag), pp. 141–163.
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Tóth, H. (2016). Writing Rituals: The Sources of Socialist Rites of Passage in Hungary, 1958–1970. In: Betts, P., Smith, S. (eds) Science, Religion and Communism in Cold War Europe. St Antony's Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54639-5_8
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