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THE EUROPEAN

CONSERVATIVE

Issue 2 | May 2009

Crises, Crises, Everywhere

No time to stop and drink!

Dont worry, the financial crisis is not going to be mentioned again in this newsletter.
While both liberals and socialists have taken
the crisis as an opportunity to further inflate
the stateand the national debts of our respective countriesmany of us have sat back
and noticed the emptiness not only of our pension funds but also of the proposed solutions
to the financial crisis. Our leaders are salting
the earth with billions of dollars, euros, zlotys or whatever currency they have the right
to print. Some tell us that the financial crisis
is at bottom a moral crisis, but the solutions
are often the same diet of subsidies, buy-ups,
bailouts and, of course, legislation in the form
of regulation.
Jonathan Price

As for the elusive moral crisis within the

financial crisis, what is to be done? Edmund
Burke wrote, All that is necessary for the
triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
But what is a good man to do in a financial
crisis?
Meet up with his friends and discuss those
perennial and permanent things, of course.
Smoke a few cigars, nurse drinks and
enjoy conservatism. (Since conservatism is
enjoyment, my last statement is redundant.)
And do so in the wonderfuland wonderfully
Europeancity of Budapest.
Below, you will find our host, Prof. Dr. Andras
Lanczis, reflections on conservatism in
Hungary, especially after the fall of the Wall.

In Budapest, he will share more on this topic.

For now, let these initial words remind us that
there is much work to be done on our continent,
especially since some European countries
did not have the chance to be politically and
spiritually European for most of the twentieth
century. We speak of rebuilding culture in the
Netherlands or France, yet remnants remain
from before 68 and before WWI, and even
from before the French Revolution; there was
not a systematic de-construction. The nations
behind the Wall suffered harsher blows and
now have nascent conservatism that, as Dr.
Lanczi explains, is just coming to consciousness
of itself intellectually and politically.
How exciting then that we can have our first
meeting in eastern Europe in one of its cultural
Meccas. (Or should I say, cultural Romes or
Heidelbergs?) We will witness and hear of what
has been done in a short time to establish a
viable conservative philosophy and revive some
of the nobler institutions and structures that
were Hungarys share in one of Europes great
empireswhat the communists did their best
to eradicate. We will do all this from a beautiful
villa that overlooks Budapest from a hill. And we
shall visit the House of Terror Museum, nestled
in the heart of the city, reminding it (and us)
of the twin terrors of fascism and communism
that preceded the current halcyon.

Also below is a continuation of something we

began in the first European Conservative. In
each issue, we introduce you to a European
institute or journal that is part of the CER
or that is of general interest to our readers.

Below is a brief introduction to the Edmund

Burke Stichting, the only group of classical
conservatives in the Netherlands. Together
with ISI, it founded and supports the CER.
I encourage you to send your book reviews and
reports on conservative happenings for future
issues of the European Conservative. As the
meeting approaches, I look forward to toasting
another year of the Vanenburg Meeting and the
CER together with friends old and new.
With enjoyment,

Jonathan Price
price@europeanrenewal.org
Director of Educational Affairs, CER

Contents

Crises, Crises, Everywhere, No time to stop and drink!_ ___________________________ 1

Conservatism in Hungary ____________________________________________________ 2
Edmund Burke Stichting, Nine years of progress in the fight against progress________ 3

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Conservatism in Hungary
In understanding the case for conservatism in
post-communist Hungary, an important thing
to keep in mind is that political philosophy
as such has never existed in Hungary. This is
partly because of the rejection of philosophy as
being alien to the Hungarian spirit and partly because of totalitarian ideology, especially
under communism. Thus, there has been no
conservatism as a philosophically-underpinned intellectual trend until the first half of the
20th century. Even then, it only appeared as a
marginal political movement that started with
a short lived and partly English-oriented Conservative Party (1846), which was renewed in
1875 with the support of a moderate press. It
is telling that only one author is worth mentioning by name, Jnos Asbth. He was a writer
and essayist who contrasted his ideas principally against contemporaneous liberalism.

Andrs Lnczi

Kettenbrcke in Budapest

Regarding Hungarys status within the

Habsburg Empire and the dominant German
economic, political, and intellectual influence,
it was nineteenth century liberalism that held
sway over Hungarian intellectual life until
World War I. Since Hungarys primary concern
was her limited sovereignty, renewed attempts
have been made to liberate Hungary from
under alien influence. Conservatism, however,
was associated with the maintenance first of
the Habsburg rule and then Hungarian cultural
superiority over the neighboring nations. The
latter was tied to Hungarian traditionalism,
backed by a strong public spirit.
Alas, it is no wonder that after WWIwhen a
humiliated country regained its independence
the new political discourse wanted to regain
national identity mainly by voicing Hungarys
long history in Europe and her Christian origins.

The most promising young philosopher, Aurel

Kolnai, who later became an eminent political
philosopher abroad, left Hungary in 1920, as
did Karoly Mannheim (Karl Mannheim) and
Mihly Polnyi (Michael Polanyi). All three
thinkers left Hungary in the politically hectic
period of 1919-1920 because they refused
both the short lived communist takeover in
1919, but also the unfolding right-wing regime
afterwards.

The communists, after taking over in 1948,

managed to indoctrinate people against the
previous regime by calling it fascist, antisocial,
nationalist, and clerical. The word conservative
simply disappeared from the vocabulary of
public discourse. The concept reemerged in the
late 1980s, just before the demise of communism
in a most ironic way. Hardliner communists
were called conservatives compared to reform
communists. Thus the former understanding
of the words conservative and conservatism
could not be used in the early 1990s. Moreover,
because of the negative connotation of the
concept, no political party or movement dared
to use it as a symbol of its political doctrine.
This all changed, however, after 2002 when
post-communists together with their liberal
political partners returned to power again.

Conservatism as a philosophy in todays

Hungary can only appear on the periphery
of the intellectual forums; it has never been
able to enter any curriculum or into a more
significant intellectual arena. Conservative
political thought appears scattered mainly in
the departments of political science and various
social sciences, as well as newly established
think tanks, periodicals, and in more and more
blogs (e.g., konzervatorium.hu, jobbklikk.hu,
reakcio.blog.hu). As a result, conservatism
has developed a variety of non-philosophical
representations in Hungarian public life which
range from pure traditionalism to sheer right
wing radicalism. These are political movements
or simply journalists with moderately
intellectual backgrounds.

Another
phenomenon
of
Hungarian
conservatism as a philosophy is that it is
often subservient to Christian theology. Again
following the German pattern, Christian
Democracy has become the mainstream bearer
of conservative ideas in public discourse;
thus, the Jewish element is more often than

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CONSERVATIVE

not excluded from among the traditions of

European conservative ideas. So conservatism
as a set of ideas and political movement is cut
off from its philosophical roots: it is either
based on Christian theology or on an instinctive
or casual worldview which lacks any coherence.
No wonder post-communists have managed
not only to survive but also to take the lead in
intellectual debates. This is in large part also
owing to their commitment to philosophical
argument.
It is also important to understand that even
though conservatism seeks to maintain and
enrich societies characterized by respect
for inherited institutions, beliefs and
practices (Bruce Frohnen, et al., American
Conservatism.), in a post-communist society
we have institutions, beliefs, and practices
that were inherited from communism. Since
the values of conservatism were not present to
begin with, conservatism is hard to explain to
the people, in the classical sense.

This leads us to the issue of religion in a postcommunist state. Religion suffered an almost
fatal blow under communism. Poland is said
to be an exception, but all the other postcommunist countries came face to face with
the devastating ideological rule of communists.
This includes Hungary. Partly because
churches were corrupted by the pervasive

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communist rule, conservatism that places great
emphasis on religion or even the common good
pleasing to God is doomed for the moment.
Latent nihilism is the most suitable term I can
apply for the present intellectual state of the
Hungarian people.

intent of the booklet for a call for pragmatic

political actions. According to opinion polls,
conservatism is capable of ensuring 5-8 per
cent of the vote. Fidesz, the biggest opposition
party in Hungary, has opted for a Christian
Democratic ideology, yet refrains from using
the word conservative for pragmatic reasons.

Towards a stronger conservatism

in Hungary

A foreign observer should also notice that in

Hungary liberals side with post-communists,
and would not form a coalition with any right
wing or conservative political force. It makes
right-left division in Hungary seem chaotic
to anyone using the political cleavages of
solid democracies of the West as a point of
reference.

The present Hungarian right has only one

common integrating feature and that is its
anti-communism. This is becoming less and
less powerful in a democratic political rivalry.
As a result, conservatism has weak but slowly
developing positions. The steps in the last
eighteen years include publishing translations
Edmund Burkes Reflections on the Revolution
in France, Oakeshotts Rationalism in Politics,
Leo Strausss Natural Right and History and
Persecution and the Art of Writing; also several
books by the Hungarian born philosopher,
John Kekes, and some six books by Thomas
Molnar, Robert Nisbets book on conservatism,
and various books by Roger Scruton.
Hungarian thinkers have also started publishing
on conservatism, including monographs on the
classics of conservative thought. An intensive
search has started to unearth the lost traditions
of Hungarian conservative thought, which were
doomed to oblivion by communist ideology.
There have also been renewed attempts to
launch periodicals devoted to conservative
ideas; some of them have proved to be
sustainable
(Szzadvg,
Heti
Vlasz,
Kommentr, Magyar Szemle, Demokrata).
It was an important event when in 2004
an international conference was held on
Conservatism Old and New in Budapest
with the participation of Harvey C. Mansfield,
John Kekes, Kenneth Minogue, and Ryszard
Legutko, among others. Thanks to John Kekes
efforts, Liberty Fund has been holding a
meeting in Hungary once a year for about eight
years.
Partly as a result and partly to ferment
conservative
thought
in
Hungary,
a
Conservative Manifesto was published in
2002. This pamphlet tried to reason through
the basic cultural and political contradictions
of post-communist Hungary. Although it was
received well, many mistook the philosophical

Lastly, three issues that one unavoidably

encounters while trying to understand the

internal issues of conservatism in Hungary are
as follows. First, the issue of new capitalism
and globalization divides conservatives of
various persuasions. A considerable number
of Hungarian conservatives are against not
only globalization but also capitalism as such,
which is identified with the unbridled power of
markets, multinational corporations, and banks.
The handful of neoconservatives in Hungary
is the only supporters of free competition;
traditional conservatives come very close to
a leftist, anti-globalization standpoint. And
conservatives with a philosophical background
are not influential enough to oppose the rest.
Second, conservatives in Hungary should stand
for rule of law because post-communism as a
moral entity is characterized by extreme moral
relativism, determinism, and historicism. But
it is also characterized by a shortsighted and
greedy materialism within a utopian-tainted,
progressive worldview. All these characteristics
are cemented by a cynical negligence of rule
of the law and corruption. There may be a
Rechtsstaat in Hungary but there is no rule of

Andrs Lnczi
is the Director of the Institute of Political
Science and Philosophy at the Corvinus
University of Budapest. He has published
books on Tradition and Modernity in Leo
Strausss Political Philosophy, Democracy and
Political Science, Political Philosophy of the
20th Century. He is also active in the revival
of the Hungarian conservative political
thought (Conservative Manifesto). He is the
Hungarian editor of three relevant books of
political science (Encyclopaedia of Political
Thought, Encyclopedia of Political Science,
and The New Handbook of Political Science).
He has also translated several books including
Leo Strausss Natural Right and History
and Persecution and the Art of Writing. He
was a Fulbright Scholar at the Eric Voegelin
Institute (1997-8), and directed the Liberty
Fund conference in Hungary. Presently he
serves as the Chairman of the Advisory Board
of the Center for European Revival.

communism has preserved the most perverted

view of man, progress, and rationality. Only the
birth of political philosophy and education can
save that part of the world that was ruined by a
purely secular, materialistic, and deterministic
ideology of Marxism-Leninism.

law; both written and unwritten rules remain

unattended to, and you cannot rely upon either
written laws or public morality.
Third, post-communism has neither culture
nor any idea of what makes human life

meaningful. Children and the educational

system are the two biggest losers of the political
changes. Communism exerted the most lasting
and detrimental impact upon the perception of
human nature and human possibilities. Post-

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Edmund Burke Stichting

Nine years of progress in the fight against progress

Conservatismformerly a byword for political irrelevancehas in the last decade become
a badge of honor for those who seek to make
the Netherlands a beacon of dignity and freedom once again. Much of the change has been
brought about by a small but committed group
of conservatives who joined forces to give
conservatism a legitimate place in the Dutch
public debate. The Edmund Burke Stichting
(EBS) was founded in December 2000. Today,
it is the most important platform for conservative thought in the Netherlands.

Diederik Boomsma
Jonathan Price

Before World War II, the Netherlands was

arguably among the most conservative
countries in Europe. But we all know what
happened since then. The furthering of socialist
and liberal ideas and the breaking of taboos
became a matter of national pride for the
freewheeling elites. Nevertheless, EBSs call for
a restoration of traditional values and decency;
for the importance of family, civic associations,
neighbourhoods and churches; for education
and the liberal arts; for free markets and limited
government has received an unexpectedly
warm welcome in Dutch society.

EBS Students preparing for a seminar

Change ideas and you can change

the course of history
EBS is free and independent, both from
government intervention (popularly known as
subsidies) and from political parties. EBS does
not exist to transform its interests into power
but believes in the power of ideas and the
importance of a healthy, cultural and societal
debate for future political decisions. Ideas
both good and badhave consequences. No

one who believes that changes to the current

system are essential and that changing ideas
changes the course of history can remain
passive. He will want to make a contribution to
the formulation and spread of good ideas.

EBS is completely dependent on the

contributions and donations of private citizens,
companies and other foundationspeople
and organizations that are convinced of the
necessity of investing in ideas. This investment
has an excellent
rate of return, even
in these difficult
financial times. We
count on this spirit
in the younger
generation of Dutch
men and women,
an
intellectual
entrepreneurship,
as it were.

As EBS sees it, conservatism is inter alia a

political philosophy, not a life conviction or a
religion. It offers a consistentand an above
all realisticvision on human beings, society,
and government, as well as the relations
between them. Once interested students see
this, it is not long before we hear from them
again, usually asking for more resources or

The freedom and

prosperity that the
West still enjoys are
not the result of an Students discussing virtue ethics at the EBS Summer
inevitable historical
book recommendations or just to speak about
process but a great moral achievement,
permanent things.
grounded in the ideas, institutions, customs
and practices of the classical and JudeoChristian traditions. These have developed
because they correspond to an understanding
of human nature, human needs, and the
moral order of the world. New generations
must be made aware of these truths. After
the social and educational revolutions of the
sixties and seventies, schools and universities
in the Netherlands have become bastions
of progressive and left-liberal thoughtand
remain so to this day. Dutch students are now
mostly ignorant of, rather than in rebellion
against, the Western Tradition. This means
EBS still has much more work to do, but it also
presents new opportunities. Over the last three
years, students seem to have become more open
to questioning prevailing liberal dogmas. We
find many young adults expressing a nostalgia
for the ideas of moral and cultural order of
which their parents generation disinherited
them. For young people who are interested
in ideas, EBS seeks to serve as an intellectual
oasis where they can reconnect with their
three-thousand year old tradition.

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CONSERVATIVE

Presenting conservative ideas in

the public sphere
EBS carries out its mission in two ways. The
first way is by voicing conservative opinions
in the media, e.g., television appearances,
public debates, lectures and opinion articles.

Over the years, EBS members have published

more than seven-hundred articles in leading
newspapers and magazines. Two books have
been particularly successful in spreading
conservative ideas in the Netherlands: Bart Jan
Spruyts In Praise of Conservatism (2003) and
Andreas Kinnegings The Geography of Good
and Evil (2005), an English translation of
which is being published by ISI in August.

The student program

The second way in which EBS carries out its

mission is through its student program. During
its first five years, EBS operated a public policy
program directly alongside its educational

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program. It became increasingly clear,
however, that the second approach was much
more fruitful. Instead of writing specific policy
proposals, we found it much more effective
to organise seminars on conservative ideas
for young, promising liberal and Christiandemocrat politicians, journalists, students
and others. In 2006, EBS started focusing
exclusively on its educational work. The student
program aims to build a new generation of
conservative leaders, equipped with a solid
understanding of the ideas that guide and
sustain a free and virtuous society, and to
revive the ideal of the Christian gentleman and
its female counterpart, the Christian lady.
The EBS student program consists of a range
of activities that together form a surrogate
for some of what the universities should
be teaching. We organize several one-day
introductory conferences during the academic
year in Leiden, Utrecht, or The Hague. Topics
include: What is conservatism? and What
is the West? For more advanced students,
EBS runs a Great Books Club, conferences,
seminars, lectures, and colloquia on a range
of different subjects, including Natural law
and Democracy and Populism: Is Dutch
democracy turning into an ochlocracy? The
highlight of the program is the week-long
summer school with the best students of the

Mark Henrie of ISI speaking to students

at an EBS summer school

year. Students prepare by reading an extensive

selection of books and essays, and spend the
week immersed in lectures and discussions.
One of the messages that the EBS tries to
convey is that the students themselves have to
take responsibility for absorbing and preserving
the civilisation that underpins our culture and
freedom. The summer schools are concluded
with a black-tie reception. A few months later,
alumni organise a reunion to study one of the
topics or thinkers discussed at the summer
school in greater depth.

The Burke Lecture

The EBS also organizes lectures for a wider

audience, of up to 300 guests. Key topics have
included Holland as an idea, foreign policy,
and the issue of the multicultural society. These
meetings repeatedly led to lively exchanges
between experts, members of parliament and
cabinet ministers, all under the watchful eye
of the media. In recent years, Roger Scruton,
Belgian philosopher Herman

de Dijn
, and Onno
Ruding, a former Dutch Minister of Finance,
have held the annual Burke Lecture.

Jonathan Price
is a writer living and working in Amsterdam,
and is the Director of Educational Affairs at
the Center for European Renewal. He edits the
Clarion Review (www.clarionreview.com).
and the European Conservative.

Beyond Holland

Members of EBS were repsonsible for

gathering the founding members of the Center
for European Renewal and began the annual
Vanenburg Meetings. The success of these
yearly gatherings of classical conservatives
from all over Europe and America is due in
large part both to the foundation that EBS laid
in the Netherlands and the broad internation al
and evangelical spirit that has always been part
of the Dutch character.

Diederik Boomsma
is a political advisor to the Christian Democrats
in Amsterdam (CDA). He is also a freelance
journalist and editor. Formerly, he was an
editor of Opinio, a popular weekly opinion
magazine in the Netherlands.

With these programs in place, a young and

enthusiastic board, and the help of our
supportersboth here and abroadEBS
looks forward to growing its programs and
the cultural import of its ideas in the years to

Published by the Center for European Renewal | P.O. Box 85633 | 2508CH The Hague | The Netherlands
Editor-in-Chief: Jonathan Price (Center for European Renewal | The Netherlands)
Managing Editor: Jakob E:son Sderbaum (Konservativt Forum | Sweden)
Layout: Bernhard Adamec (Europa Institute | Austria) Copy editing: Emma Elliot (The Netherlands)
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