Reflections on CPAC Hungary 2024: Lessons for Irish Nationalists

“Avanti ragazzi di Buda
avanti ragazzi di Pest
studenti, braccianti, operai,
il sole non sorge più ad Est.” - Pier Francesco Pingitore, ‘Avanti Ragazzi di Budapest’

“All that is left to the Magyars is their revolutionary enthusiasm, their courage and the energetic, speedy organisation that Kossuth was able to give them.” - Friedrich Engels, ‘The Magyar Struggle’

We sat at a restaurant parallel to St. Stephen’s Basilica, Budapest’s most impressive Church. Thoughts of the delectable Hortobágyi Palacsinta, intact before me a mere minute or so ago, induced hyper-salivation - “Shall, I go for seconds? Afterall, it’s only 2000 forint”, I gluttonously pondered.

The juxtaposition of the grand Christian edifice and the Magyar appetiser warming my stomach spurred mercurial, dissonant thoughts. Preoccupation with the appetites of the stomach is hardly befitting when one finds themselves in proximity to a testament to Christian civilisation.

As I sipped Tokaji wine, immersing myself to the point of oblivion in its sweet nectar, I recollected tertiary level seminars on the topic of ‘Populism’ - the trite invocation of ‘democratic backsliding’, fallacious in its question begging, and slanderous accusations against the designated ‘bad apples’ of global politics; latent academic respectability prevented our tutor from outright condemning them as ‘fascistic’.

I took another sip of the Hungarian saccharine wine, whilst squinting at the Basilica - obscured by the benevolence of solar rays.

Damn, populism has never tasted so good.

The object of my stay, however, was not solely to partake of fine Hungarian cuisine. Rather, my compadres and I had travelled to Budapest with the aim of attending CPAC Hungary 2024, Europe’s premier conservative conference.

We were not disappointed.

The event featured a litany of influential speakers, ranging from Tony Abbott, the former Prime Minister of Australia, to Gavin M. Wax, President of the New York Young Republicans. By far the best speaker was Hungary’s President, Viktor Orbán. Optimistic in tone, his speech heralded the return of national sovereignty to European nations.

Orbán’s nationalism, refreshingly, does not suffer from the petty parochialism typical of European populists. For the President, the efficacy of the Hungarian project evinces the supplantation of unipolar progressive liberalism by national sovereignty, an idea once discarded as “retrograde” by our cosmopolitan elite:

“What I am saying, dear friends, is that this is an unrepeatable opportunity to replace the declining progressive liberal world spirit with another world spirit: a sovereigntist world order.”

This is not empty rhetoric. The Hungarians, in contradistinction to the erstwhile nationalist government in Poland, are taking a proactive approach toward instantiating a sovereigntist order on the European level. If James Connolly wanted the earth, Viktor Orbán’s aims are more modest - eclipsing Brussels’s insidious influence will suffice.

The Hungarian government have adopted a multi-pronged approach to bolster their hegemony. The presence of organisations such as ‘Mathias Corvinus Collegium’ (‘MCC’, hereafter) and ‘The European Conservative’ is demonstrative of their interest in ideational and pedagogical domains, for instance.

The Hungarians are cognisant that political neutrality is a myth; all spheres are susceptible to political contestation. Thus, they have taken up the mantle in the struggle against the forces of nation-wrecking liberalism.

The Hungarian gamble for Europe’s future is beginning to pay off. Recently, Rheinmetall, a standard bearer of Germany’s automotive and arms industry, announced that their first major hybrid site, wherein the “Group's civil business and defence technology activities will be united under one roof”, would be located in Hungary, not Germany.

In their website’s summary of their decision, it states:

“Rheinmetall builds a new plant in Szeged, Hungary, and thereby expands its footprint in the EU and NATO partner country.”

However, given the relatively cordial relationship between Orbán’s government and the Putin regime, it’s unfeasible to adopt an attitude of credulity toward the claim that this move benefits NATO. Considered in light of this, the implications of Rheinmetall’s decision magnifies in significance.

Despite its reputation as a nativist bastion, vociferously opposed to all manifestations of migration, Hungary, and particularly its capital city, boast a sizeable expat community. Of Budapest’s population, circa 6% are foreigners; some arrive for work, others to “find themselves” in a new city”.

The most interesting subsection of this group are the right wing expats. Highly educated, driven, and possessing a sense of vision impossible to actualise in their native countries, they’ve entered a symbiotic relationship with Hungary’s government. The latter’s nativism and efficacious institution building comport with the former’s policy expertise and ideological weight.

Emblematic of the Hungarian approach to alliance building with conservatives from abroad is the aforesaid MCC, “an educational institute and research center devoted to the flourishing of the Hungarian nation”.

Pursuant to this aim, MCC offers fellowships to foreigners, offering them the chance to immerse themselves in Hungary, a model of what their societies could be.

In return, participants:

“take part in MCC’s academic, research and teaching activity as well as writing publications, essays, research papers for recognized periodicals and actively get involved in the Hungarian public life.”

This form of migration is reminiscent of the policies pursued by Queen Elizabeth; under her remit, specialist workers from the continent were enticed to migrate to Britain. In exchange for sanctuary and privilege, they conferred their secrets and skills to their domestic counterparts, in turn building up British industry.

The Hungarians, at least on the intellectual and policy fronts, ostensibly are replicating this strategy. And it’s working. A cursory examination of the ‘Visiting Fellows’ page reveals a relationship between MCC and stalwarts of American post-liberalism, such as Rod Dreher and Gladden J. Pappin.

For the deferential and European-focused Hungarian left wing, it must be jarring that highly educated immigrants favour Viktor Orbán’s conservative policies.

Whilst I’d typically counsel guests to acquiesce to the host’s norms, in this instance one ought to make an exception - it must be stated unequivocally to the Hungarian left, your policies will result in Hungary’s demise.

The best of Europe has its eyes set on the Queen of the Daube. They’re hedging their bets on Hungary, a nation still in a period of gestation, transforming into a European hegemon.

We ought to stand resolutely against Irexit, a tendency that would reduce us to the position of sickly fowl within the UK’s orbit. Like our European allies abroad, Irish Nationalists must bet their chips on the Hungarian Stallion.

Alongside the aforementioned groups, Irish attendees at CPAC will have the chance to network with an array of organisations, ranging from Slovakian Catholics to Italian nationalists.

The phrase “our gallant allies in Europe” is by no means a rhetorical ploy - it was, and if we play our cards right, can be again, a reality.

Whilst our movement is mired by maladies, - ego-centric political actors, un-coordinated political groupings, alienating class-war rhetoric, anti-social behaviour, and conspiracy-mongering - the organic vitality it possesses is perhaps unparalleled in Europe.

The Hungarians have institutions and networks; Ireland has youngellas adorned in Canada Goose jackets atop piebalds - this is the distinction between mature and nascent nationalism. The task for contemporary advanced nationalists is to transmute nascent political energy into concrete forms.

So far, this has manifested in the form of an ever-growing number of political parties - as I type, I’d wager that yet another “party” has emerged; indubitably, it’ll be set up with the best of intentions - the notion that it’s a narcissistic vanity project is anathema to reason and reality in equal measure. Definitely not. That could never happen.

We must approach the task of institution building with utmost seriousness. It is pre-requisite, along with proactive community assistance, to Fidesz’s success. The key to immunity from the system’s attacks lies in the creation of patronage networks and fall-back options for those under professional and social scrutiny.

Status is a fact of life, as are the risks that inhere in involvement in nationalist politics; until Irish Nationalism can proffer, in the case of doxxing, a substitute option for the victim, those with status will eschew our circles, or at best involve themselves in an effaced capacity - in a digital age this manifests in the form of anonymous twitter posting; phrased differently, e-impotence.

To list the innumerable other measures which must be taken would be exhaustive. Suffice to say, we must learn from the model of our European counterparts, particularly the Hungarians.

If Orbán’s government aims to eclipse the ethno-masochistic regimes of the West, it’ll be in need of allies in the region. Ireland, a small nation like the central European powers, shares a natural affinity; circumstantially, our politics increasingly mirror that of Hungary.

We stand to gain from their experience and institutions; they stand to gain from the prospect of a friend in the North-West of Europe. Cross-pollination between our nations is self-evident - hence, why the Irish government has not pursued this course of action.

In closing this piece, it is only fitting that I confer the final word to Ireland’s most realistic and dispassionate penman, Arthur Griffith, who called for our nation to emulate the example of Kossuth and his countrymen:

The Hungarians resorted to a manly policy of passive resistance and non-recognition of Austria’s right to rule – the Irish resorted to parliamentarianism, implying recognition of an English right to rule this country. And one nation today is rich, powerful and able to defy her conqueror, while the other is poor, weak and more tightly held in the conqueror’s grasp.