Hungary’s Viktor Orban, ally of Trump and Putin, concedes election defeat
With record turnout, Hungarians chose to end the 16-year rule of the prime minister who was a self-proclaimed champion of illiberal Christian democracy.
– Headlines from the Washington Post
The election in Hungary made me look up these pictures of political and propaganda posters that I took inside the Budapest History Museum.
It was December of 2008 and a heady time for me.
I had just voted in my first election— as a new American citizen— and Senator Barack Obama was now President-elect Obama.
The Red Army (officially the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army) was the armed force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, later, the Soviet Union (USSR). Founded in 1918 to defend the Bolshevik revolution, it became one of the largest and most influential militaries in history, pivotal in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II and, in 1946, it was renamed the Soviet Army.
World War I caused the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, resulting in severe consequences for Hungary. The 1920 Treaty of Trianon stripped Hungary of two-thirds of its territory and over half its population. The nation suffered 600,000 soldier deaths, severe economic collapse, and post-war political instability, leading to a conservative, “counterrevolutionary” regime led by Miklós Horthy.
– From Britannica.com
A four-part referendum was held in Hungary on 26 November 1989.
Voters were asked whether the President should be elected after parliamentary elections, whether organizations related to the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party should be banned from workplaces, whether the party should account for properties owned or managed by it, and whether the Workers’ Militia should be dissolved.
All four proposals were passed, the first narrowly by 50.1% of voters, and the remaining three by 95% of voters. Voter turnout was 58.0%.
[From Wikipedia]
“Let the Communist Youth League be the heir to the most beautiful traditions of Hungarian youth, the successor to the youth of March and the sacrificial struggles of the KIMSZ.”
You! Rumor-spreading counter-revolutionary hiding in the dark. Tremble!
“For the country of iron, steel, and machines, vote for the People’s Front!”
This is a 1949 Hungarian propaganda poster for the Hungarian Independent People’s Front.
It was created to encourage citizens to support the Communist-led coalition during national elections, emphasizing industrialization as a key national goal.