How many times have Hungarian intellectuals picked up their pens in the last century to send a letter of support or protest relating to the most important and the most trivial matters? Countless times. It is striking that we find fewer such letters of protest in neighbouring countries. In Czechoslovakia, representatives of civil society only raised their voices when confronted by matters of great importance - which is why their voices were listened to on those occasions. Since the first free elections, the signatories of Charter 77 have not been sending open letters on matters of daily politics.

The intellectuals' declaration of 27 March is distinctive, because, while the signatories are lending their support to a serving prime minister and the crisis-struck government he leads, their tone is the pathos-ridden sound of protest. They speak as a "virtual minority" rather than as people defending the powers that be.

The signatories start from two striking premises. "There is no doubt that in the history of Hungary, social democratic and free-thinking principles have functioned not as enemies but as allies, complementing each other - and this is how things must remain in the future. We believe the reform process begun in 2006 is not a matter for party preferences, but the only route leading towards Europe's more developed countries and then to the Euro-Atlantic world." This is Pangloss's logic from Candide - the claim that this world is the best of all world. The Socialist-Free Democrat coalition must stand for ever, regardless of the fact that we still don't know the background to the marriage of convenience forged in 1994 and that the Free Democrats have shrunk from being a medium-sized party to a small party in Budapest, unlikely even to win a place in parliament at the next election.

The liberals have little to lose. They do themselves the most damage if they return to the coalition, as the signatories urge. But why is this collection of metropolitan aesthetes and former party functionaries so exercised about this issue? Their other premise is that there is no salvation outside the coalition and that only Ferenc Gyurcsany's way is the route to Europe. This is striking, since in a month's time he may no longer be the prime minister. The open letter is in truth a declaration of allegiance. It would have sounded dissonant when many were demanding Gyurcsany's resignation following the leaking of the Oszod speech. Now is surely the time for mainstream intellectuals to be keeping their distance from the former Young Communist leader who later became the apostle of the New Left and a millionaire - precisely out of concern for the future of the Left. But as we know, the humanists have never had a sure tactical sense, as we frequently saw in Hungary between 1948 and 1989.

I suspect that the intellectuals are less concerned than they affect to be about a radical restructuring of society, the budget deficit, public administration, healthcare, culture and education. They are interested in holding up the front line. They are alarmed by the "manipulative" politicians, the opposition they associate with brownshirts. "The worst socialism is better than the best capitalism," they say, quoting the classics. Even if society has made it clear with its referendum vote on 9 March that it is fed up with the existing course, the "reform blah blah."

The signatories' greatest fear is that the opposition will win a two thirds majority in early elections - something they cannot allow. I would not be delighted if Viktor Orban's party won so resoundingly that it could reshape Hungary's constitutional order for the long term. But we should admit that if the Left loses the next elections, it only has itself to blame - and not the "manipulated instincts" of the voters. There is no need for hysteria, dear protesters - there is time for a ceasefire. And let us not humiliate ourselves with these kinds of ill-thought-through declarations - especially not after such a clear referendum message. We'll only make ourselves ridiculous.

János Pelle