Goodbye Kadar?

The Socialist Party's weekend congress was one of transitions. Most of the delegates embraced party discipline, endorsing Ferenc Gyurcsany's policies. And if they did not always understand what was happening to them, they seemed certain that it was right to support their new president in everything. The president himself made it quite clear that there would be consequences for anyone who thought differently. Katalin Szili was the sacrificial lamb.

On one side of Dozsa Gyorgy ut, by the market, pedestrians are forced to avoid people hawking knock-off batteries, homeless people and invalids stumbling along. Poor people are crowding around to buy cheap consumer goods. It's a kind of introduction to the country for beginners. The introduction continues on the other side of the road, but here, the lesson is different. The prime minister and party president is outlining a vision of a progressive, civic Hungary and is giving a multimedia presentation in the Syma Hall, which is surrounded by a heavy police presence.

© Stiller Ákos

J. Zoltan Gal, who chaired one of the sessions, stepped out of his role to summarise the results of the discussions. He said delegates had showed that the party was united and continued to have unbroken confidence in its leader. Superficially, he seemed to be right. The winning candidates for party office won solid victories. Gyurcsany himself won 90 per cent of the votes cast in the party leadership election. At the debate preceeding the vote, nobody seriously criticised the prime minister or the coalition, and nobody demanded a change of direction for the party. Most of the speeches echoed the Gyurcsany line, largely calling for "the same thing, but better." Yet the prime minister and his team did not succeed in getting their "modernisation" measures passed - a set of amendments to the party constitution. It is also significant that Jozsef Sipos, a key figure in the anti-Gyurcsany social policy workshop was re-elected to the party council with a clear 70 per cent of the votes.

And more than a few speakers delivered personal warnings to Gyurcsany. Gyula Horn, the former prime minister and party leader, made perhaps the least ambiguous comment. He said: "Sorry, but we are in serious trouble. The difficult situation is not the sole fault of the government, the party shares some of the blame. We don't speak to people in the way they deserve to be spoken to. By themselves, the reforms won't bring us 70 per cent of the vote in the 2010 elections. We haven't done all we can to stop 'them' from winning in 2010. Feri, you certainly can't be accused of over-emphasising community work. You can't fight without us, and we can't fight without you. Churchill didn't promise blood, sweat and tears alone - he also promised victory. Promise us victory, Feri!"

'Feri' didn't do this. He couldn't have. After spending cuts, and uncertainty resulting from the reforms, amidst plummeting opinion poll ratings, domestic political confusion and local election losses, and more than three years before the elections in question, it would be pointless to talk to the party faithful about another victory. But the party membership's dismay was unmistakeable. It was as if the delegates had only just now realised that there were no alternatives, and the constant political tension was causing them to become frustrated. In vain the prime minister insisted that the question was not Gyurcsany or Orban, since in the eyes of public opinion, the question really is just that. Comments addressed to Orban attracted the loudest applause. And the the prime minister himself set the scene for this, with his theatrical insistence that he would only remain in his post as prime minister and party leader if he won 75 per cent of the party's votes. What was a delegate to think, given that Gyurcsany had manoeuvred his way into becoming the sole candidate for party leader, and was now expecting a guaranteed vote for 'Feri'? Who else could he vote for when the ballot paper listed only one name and there was no opportunity to reopen the nominations?