The lecture intends to offer some insights into the question of why the newly formed, skilled industrial “elite” workforce mainly employed in multinational companies in Hungary, is attracted by right-wing, populist ideologies and political forces, and what factors can be identified that account for the decreasing – or even diminishing – appeal of the “old left” in this stratum of the workers. The research takes a special account of the legacy of state socialism, and it analyzes the causes of the loss of the collective memory of the working class of the failed “workers’ state”. As the lecture seeks to demonstrate, this loss of the collective consciousness contributes to the rise of a new, right-wing or even far-right wing political culture among workers, who can be deemed to be opinion-leaders at the shopfloor.
Image: Erdei Katalin Fortepan 76462