Miklos Gaspar Tamas on the legacy of the dictatorship

Philosopher Miklos Gaspar Tamas asks why in Hungary politicians who appear to be neutral or to have no party allegiance are always the most popular. "Dictatorships, and in particular the Stalinist and post-Stalinist dictatorship, were perceived as negative by Hungarians because they were based on a single, all-encompassing idea. They imposed a strict moral concept on a chaotic and diverse reality. As a result, things like adherence to principles, loyalty, self-sacrifice, altruism, asceticism, puritanism and integrity are being condemned as dangerous 'communist things'... These virtues, which are valued in private life, are regarded with suspicion in public life... Hungary's new civic society despises civic democracy."

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