Sculptures by the Council Flats
A trip to the Szorborpark in Budapest.
In January I was lucky enough to find myself in Budapest. The old cities
of Buda and Pest are separated by a gentle bend on the Danube, and
together they form an architecturally striking city, rich in history but
also thoroughly modern: one of the European Union’s bright new members.
European membership had been the ambition of successive Hungarian
Governments since the fall of Communism in 1989-90, when the Hungarian
Socialist Workers Party realised the jig was up and hung up their hammers
and sickles in a peaceful abdication from political power. To meet the
criteria for EU membership many changes took place in the subsequent
years, including much privatisation, the opening of the Budapest Stock
Exchange and purging the city of Soviet symbols. This included the removal
of communist statues from various city squares and streets.
Statues of revolutionary heroes, socialist philosophers, and the odd
Communist dictator or tyrant, as well as sculptures depicting workers’
solidarity or victorious Soviet soldiers were taken from their prominent
positions in town and banished to a bleak park on the outskirts of Buda.
Lured by a pamphlet that promised a taste of history, I set off in
search of the
Szobor (Statue) Park
on a bright but extremely cold
morning. My mission began with a creaking tram journey to the end of the
line and an unfortunate encounter with a surly person called Ticket
Kontrol. I had apparently purchased the wrong “jegy”. After a mysterious
(but cheap) breakfast at a junction in the middle of nowhere, I was told
to get the yellow bus, and following a slow climb through the Buda hills
was dropped off at the Szorborpark.
A thin layer of snow covered the park - a barren plain surrounded by
dreary grey council blocks. The setting is an inspired piece of
anti-communist propaganda, as if to say ‘old communists don’t die they
just get made to live in a council estate’.
The park was designed by architect Ákos Eleőd, and features a boundary
of an imposing brick wall. The wall is stark and strong, reminding me of
the Iron Curtain’s dual function of fortification and separation. In large
archways on either side of the entrance are looming statues of men who are
preserved as they lived – larger than life.
On the right of the entrance stand Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, shoulder to
shoulder, reflecting the closeness of their work.
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Marx , of course, was the moustachioed, cigar-smoking, wisecracking
star of early Hollywood comedies such as Duck Soup. Or, in fact as I check
my notes more closely, Marx was the German philosopher, economist and
social and political theorist whose seminal work Das Kapital identified
modes of production as the site of class struggle and who, along with his
sidekick Frederick Engels wrote the inspirational and tremendously
influential Communist Manifesto – in which the plans are laid for the
proletarian revolution against capitalism with the as yet to be realised
aim of a classless society.
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On the left (naturally) of the Szorborpark Gate is
Vladimir Lenin, looking uncharacteristically demure in a grey
overcoat. Lenin was a leader in the Russian Revolution of 1917,
founder of the Bolshevik party and the first Premier of the Soviet
Union.
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There is in fact a much more emotive statue of
Lenin inside the park, clutching what we can only assume is a well
worn copy of the Manifesto.
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Leninism adds to the scope of Marxism through the recognition that
globalisation is imperialism, and here we see Lenin with arms outstretched
as if to convey the breadth of his ambition – a world revolution!!
Ironically perhaps, Lenin built a bit of an empire himself with places all
over the Soviet Union named after him and statues much like these found
from Minsk to Hanoi and back again. Lenin had serious popularity issues
and many of these statues were destroyed after the fall of Communism, but
one enthusiastic e-Communist has put together a website of surviving Lenin
statues for those who are interested.
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A leading light of early Hungarian Communism was
Bela Kun.
Kun fought for the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War and then
founded the Hungarian Communist Party in 1918. He was a big
supporter of Stalin, but unfortunately news of this did not reach
Stalin and so Kun was savagely tortured and killed in Stalinist
purge of the Communist ‘old guard’.
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Another featured personality is Captain Miklos
Steinmetz, a Soviet soldier who lost his life in the battle to
liberate Budapest from the Germans in 1944. Steinmetz was on his way
to deliver an ultimatum to the German High Command in Pest, but his
jeep hit a land mine and he was killed.
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The Szorborpark also has a number of sculptures to celebrate
communist ideals or commemorate revolutionary heroes.
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The Workers' Movement Memorial, for example, is quite beautiful in
its simplicity, with cupped hands around a globe. To me, the hands
represent the manual nature of ‘the worker’ and the globe the idea
of solidarity. Together the two elements have a more literal meaning
‘the world is in your hands’. And thus the communist manifesto:
workers of the world unite, the world is in your hands.
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The Soviet Heroic Memorial
Is an interpretation of the physical embodiment of the Soviet ideal:
strength and unity. The two figures are beautifully balanced, one
pointing up, the other pointing down.
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The Hungarian-Soviet Friendship Monument
represents the close relationship between the communist parties of
both countries, although it would probably be fair to say that not
all Hungarians felt the warmth of this rather oppressive friendship.
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And finally, the very large and impressive Republic of Councils
Monument which is absolutely enormous. It was designed from a poster
calling workers to arms. The statue is screaming "Fegyverbe, Fegyverbe"
which in Hungarian means "To Arms! To Arms!"
To wrap up my excellent tour of the Szorborpark, was a trip to the gift
shop where I resisted the temptation to buy a double CD of Communist
Anthems or a KGB cigarette lighter and settled for a postcard instead. It
was a most inspirational visit and I applaud the new Hungary for
recognising the historical and artistic value in these statues and
deciding to keep them rather than destroy them.
