{"id":2091480,"date":"2023-11-06T04:30:02","date_gmt":"2023-11-06T09:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/destroying-robert-e-lees-statue-marks-a-historic-low-point-but-hungary-shows-it-doesnt-have-to-be-the-endpoint\/"},"modified":"2023-11-06T04:39:25","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T09:39:25","slug":"destroying-robert-e-lees-statue-marks-a-historic-low-point-but-hungary-shows-it-doesnt-have-to-be-the-endpoint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/destroying-robert-e-lees-statue-marks-a-historic-low-point-but-hungary-shows-it-doesnt-have-to-be-the-endpoint\/","title":{"rendered":"Toppling Robert E. Lee’s statue is a low point, but Hungary proves it’s not the end."},"content":{"rendered":"

32<\/div>SHARES<\/span><\/div>

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There is much to \u200bdissect in the \u2062barbaric \u2062removal, destruction, and eventual \u201cremolding\u201d\u2064 of Charlottesville\u2019s statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee<\/a>. But the most astounding aspect of this destruction is the \u200bbrazen and intentional \u2063publishing of a video showing Lee\u2019s dismemberment \u2014 his face being cut off \u200cand \u200dmelted.<\/p>\n

The radical left in the \u2062United\u2062 States has embarked on a\u2062 path\u2062 distressingly similar to Hungary\u2019s experiences during its 40-year Soviet \u2062occupation. The left has\u200b rewritten \u2064American history \u200band perpetrated the iconoclastic destruction of its past. Now the left\u200b desires to mold a \u200dnew future. A quick comparison,\u200c however,\u200c shows that while the United States is on\u2062 a tragic and dangerous path, it is not an \u200birreversible one.<\/p>\n

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Communist Iconoclasm in Hungary<\/h2>\n
Hungary\u2019s \u200bfirst\u2064 experience with revolutionary iconoclasm came not with the Soviets in 1945 but\u2064 with the 1919 communist uprising. Hungary, like many countries in the aftermath of World War I, endured a short-lived<\/a> communist revolution. For\u200c several months, radical revolutionaries controlled Budapest, and they immediately sought to remake it into a proletariat city. As one of their first actions, they \u201cmodified\u201d \u200cmany of the existing statues. <\/p>\n
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The Heroes\u2019 Square Millennium Monument under\u2064 the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919.<\/p>\n
(Image: Fortepan\/Marics Zolt\u00e1n<\/a>\/Open Copyright<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The communist\u200c government<\/a>, for example, desecrated the Millennium Monument in Heroes\u2019 Square. The communists covered the monument, which \u200ddepicted important historical \u2063figures. They\u2062 replaced a \u200bstatue of the original \u200cseven \u2062Hungarian chieftains, who led\u2063 the Hungarian tribes into the Carpathian basin \u2064in the ninth century, with\u2064 a socialist, realist statue of Karl Marx. Throughout the\u200b city, the\u2063 revolutionaries covered statues \u2062with wooden structures honoring communist\u200d heroes<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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The Heroes\u2019 Square Millennium Monument in 2015.<\/p>\n
(Image: Andrew Shiva\/Wikipedia\/<\/a>CC By-SA 4.0<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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The communists made \u200cthese changes for \u2063two reasons. They wanted first to \u200derase a narrative \u2062about the \u200bpeople\u2019s\u2064 history and second to \u2062replace\u2063 it\u200d with an \u2064alternative narrative. It is also \u2064worth noting the circumstances when Hungary\u2019s\u200b statues came down and the communist statues went up. At the time, the Hungarian Soviet Republic was engaged in a three-front\u2062 war \u200cagainst Czech, Romanian, and Yugoslav forces. Yet the communist forces still felt that the\u200b systematic dismantling, \u200ddestruction, \u2063and replacement of Budapest\u2019s statues was worth the time and effort.<\/p>\n
Reactionary Restoration \u200band Soviet Revolution <\/h2>\n
The Soviet Republic, however, was short-lived. Conservative\u200b forces under \u200cAdm. Mikl\u00f3s\u00a0Horthy defeated the revolutionary government in Budapest \u200cand installed a reactionary regime. The\u2064 new government promptly restored the monuments to their previous state.<\/p>\n
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The\u2062 conservative government, unfortunately, would \u2062only prove to be an \u200bintermission in Hungary\u2019s experience \u2064with communism. With Hungary\u2019s entrance into World War II on the side \u200dof Nazi Germany, it \u200bsealed its fate along with \u200dthe rest of\u2064 central Europe.\u2062 Germany\u2019s defeat led to the Soviet Union\u2019s domination \u200cof Central\u200d and Eastern Europe. The USSR subsequently dismantled Hungary\u2019s democratic government and established a \u201cPeople\u2019s Republic.\u201d Soviet rule marked Hungary\u2019s return \u200cto Marxist revolutionary governance and to socialist, realist \u201cideals\u201d on public display.<\/p>\n
Like their short-lived predecessors,\u200d the Soviet-backed government began radically\u200d changing Hungary and, in \u200cparticular, Budapest\u2019s\u200d public space. The revolutionaries renamed streets bearing the\u2062 names of important historical figures, who represented the backward\u200b and classist past of Hungary, according to the\u200d communists. The streets received newer, progressive names like \u201cMoscow\u200d Square,\u201d \u201cStalin Avenue,\u201d and \u201cEngels Square.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Soviet regime did not limit itself \u2063to renaming streets. It remade or demolished statues,\u2063 too. Revolutionaries even targeted Hungarian symbols outside of Hungary. \u2063In a very similar fate to Lee, a Hungarian \u200dmonument in\u200b Mukachevo, Ukraine, was first torn \u200bdown,\u200c melted, and remolded into a red star\u200c in 1945 before being rebuilt in 2008. The town council recently re-destroyed the \u2063monument<\/a>.<\/p>\n
New \u200bSlurs, Same Tactics<\/h2>\n
The accusations against these monuments differed.\u200c But \u2064the communists usually called them bourgeois, aristocratic, or reactionary, \u200dmuch like our current revolutionaries denounce statues \u200das monuments to racism, \u2062sexism, or homophobia. Their intent matched that of the current movement\u200c in America. \u200cThey wanted a revolutionary break\u2062 from \u2062Hungary\u2019s history, tradition,\u2064 and heritage. They installed aesthetic \u200crepresentations of Marxist ideals to promote \u201csolidarity\u201d with the international socialist movement \u200bthat all Hungarians\u200b were supposed to feel in their hearts.<\/p>\n
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The square\u200c surrounding Budapest\u2019s \u200dgrand parliament building particularly \u2063interested \u2064the communist regime. Dotted \u200caround the grand square were statues to \u2062some\u200d of Hungary\u2019s greatest heroes \u2014 from independence fighters like Ferenc R\u00e1k\u00f3czi\u2064 and Lajos Kossuth to former prime ministers such \u2062as\u200b Gyula Andr\u00e1ssy (1867-1871) and \u200dIstv\u00e1n Tisza (1913-1917). The most problematic public display for \u2064the communists was an allegorical monument honoring the Horthy government\u2019s\u200d victory over the Hungarian People\u2019s Republic. <\/p>\n
Over \u2064the first decade,\u2064 the communists \u200bwent to work\u2063 remodeling the\u2064 square. One statue was\u200d allowed to remain, \u2063the one\u200c of Ferenc R\u00e1k\u00f3czi. \u2063The communists rewrote him as a peasant fighter against the aristocratic Hapsburgs. A reference to God on the\u200c pedestal of the \u2063statue, however, was dutifully removed. The Hungarian People\u2019s \u200dRepublic removed\u200b or replaced all others.\u200b Andr\u00e1ssy\u2019s statue\u200d was removed to make room for a temporary bridge near the \u200dparliament. <\/p>\n
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The Hungarian Soviet \u2063Republic\u2019s monument that replaced\u200c Andr\u00e1ssy\u2019s statue.<\/p>\n
(Image: Fortepan\/Marics Zolt\u00e1n<\/a>\/Open Copyright<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cUnknown \u200bvandals\u201d \u2062destroyed Tisza\u2019s statue and the monument to the crushing\u2064 of the\u200d people\u2019s republic. Kossuth\u2019s monument was demolished and \u200brebuilt in a communist style that\u2064 highlighted\u2064 him as a workers\u2019 hero.<\/p>\n
Rebuilding After Revolution<\/h2>\n
Perhaps more shocking than the Soviet desecration of national histories was the general reluctance of countries, after the \u2064fall of communism, to change their\u2062 names or rebuild their lost statues. For many \u200cnations, a \u200cwidespread de-communization effort \u2062only began after the Russian annexation of Crimea and subsequent \u2062invasion \u200dof Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Hungary serves as a\u200c warning about the pathway America is treading, but it\u2064 also can serve as a beacon of\u2062 hope that damage can be undone.\u2063 Beginning in the mid-2010s, Hungary began\u200c a concerted effort to\u200c rebuild and restore the statues\u2063 and monuments that communists destroyed. In Kossuth \u2063Square today, you will see every monument that existed there before the Soviet invasion. What it took, \u200chowever, for Hungary\u200b to accomplish this was political will: \u200cthe willingness of a\u2064 government to stand up for\u200b its own nation\u2019s history and \u2063unapologetically protect \u200dits \u2064heritage, tradition, and ancestors, however controversial certain chapters might have\u200b been.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile,\u2064 the Republican Party, allegedly the \u2063party\u200c of conservatism and \u200ctradition, has remained silent or\u200b apathetic about the unprecedented destruction of historical\u200b statues in the United States. Even \u200dconservatives, like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, \u200chave \u200bbeen\u200d complicit in the removal of Confederate statues <\/a>from the Capitol.\u2062 <\/p>\n
Even if you don\u2019t sympathize with the\u2063 Confederacy, you should see\u2064 that the destruction of\u2064 Confederate statues is the start,\u200c not the\u2062 end, of\u200d this movement. \u2062Once the left eradicates the South\u2019s heritage and culture, leftists will turn\u2062 on \u201cAmerican\u201d heroes. In many cases, they already have.<\/p>\n
Restoring\u200b America\u2019s Cultural Legacy<\/h2>\n
It is past time that our elected\u2064 officials not only stand up against \u200cthe removal and destruction of \u2062our historic statues but demand their immediate reconstruction, renovation,\u200b and reinstallation. If\u200b our politicians fight to rebuild our \u2063history, \u2063then one day, \u2064Lee \u2014 a war hero once hailed by Republicans and Democrats alike \u2014 can once again\u200b look \u200dout upon Monument Avenue, just as Gyula Andr\u00e1ssy once again looks over Budapest\u2019s Parliament\u200b Square.<\/p>\n
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The recently reconstructed monument to Hungary\u2019s prime \u200bminister during the First World War.<\/p>\n
(Image: Andrew \u200cShiva\/Wikimedia\u200c Commons\/<\/a>CC By-SA\u200d 4.0<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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rnrn <\/p>\n
How does the left’s rewriting of\u200d American history compare to Hungary’s experiences during its Soviet \u200boccupation?<\/h2>\n
The Tragic Path: Iconoclasm and the \u2064Remaking of History<\/p>\n
There is much to dissect in the barbaric removal, destruction, and eventual “remolding” of Charlottesville’s statue of Gen. Robert\u2063 E. Lee. But the most astounding aspect of this destruction is the brazen and intentional\u2062 publishing of a \u200bvideo showing Lee’s dismemberment – his face\u2062 being cut off and melted.<\/p>\n
The\u2062 radical left in the United States has embarked on a path distressingly similar to\u2062 Hungary’s\u200c experiences during its 40-year Soviet \u2064occupation. The left has rewritten American history and perpetrated the iconoclastic destruction of its past. Now the left desires to mold a new future. A quick \u2063comparison, however, shows that while\u200d the United States is on a tragic and dangerous path, it is \u200bnot an irreversible one.<\/p>\n
Hungary’s \u2063first experience with revolutionary iconoclasm came not with the Soviets in 1945 but with the 1919 communist uprising. Hungary, like \u200cmany countries in the aftermath of World War I, endured a short-lived communist revolution. \u2063For several months,\u2062 radical\u2062 revolutionaries controlled Budapest, and they immediately sought to \u2064remake it into a proletariat city. As one of their first actions, they “modified” many of the existing \u2064statues.<\/p>\n
The communist government, for example, desecrated the Millennium Monument in Heroes’ Square. The communists covered the monument, which depicted important historical figures. They replaced a\u2062 statue of the original seven \u200bHungarian chieftains, who \u200cled the Hungarian tribes into \u200dthe\u200b Carpathian basin\u2062 in the ninth century, with a socialist, realist statue of Karl Marx. Throughout the city, the revolutionaries covered statues with wooden structures honoring communist heroes.<\/p>\n
The communists made these changes\u2062 for two reasons. They wanted\u2063 first to erase a narrative about\u200b the people’s\u2062 history \u200dand second to replace it with an \u200balternative narrative. It is also worth noting the circumstances when Hungary’s statues came down and \u200bthe communist statues went up. At the time, \u2062the Hungarian Soviet Republic was engaged in a three-front war \u200bagainst Czech, Romanian, and Yugoslav forces. \u2063Yet the communist forces still felt that the systematic dismantling, destruction, and replacement \u200dof Budapest’s statues was worth\u200c the time and effort.<\/p>\n
The Soviet Republic, however, was short-lived.\u2063 Conservative forces under Adm. Mikl\u00f3s Horthy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There’s plenty to analyze in the brutal dismantling and reshaping of Charlottesville’s Gen. Robert E. Lee statue. However, the most shocking part is the audacious release of a video depicting Lee’s disfigurement, with his face being severed and melted. The radical left in the US has crossed a line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1473,"featured_media":2091481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2091480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2091480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1473"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2091480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2091480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2091481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2091480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2091480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2091480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}