Children of Communism

"There is no other book like this: a fascinating microhistory that lays bare Communist Eastern Europe in all its contradictions. Children of Communism brings to life a forgotten and fascinating moment from the summer of 1969. Budapest of that time might as well be as far away as the moon Neil Armstrong was about to set foot upon, yet Sándor Horváth brings it up close. In his wonderfully-researched narrative, the hippies of Castle Hill help us understand how the repressive state drew upon social norms, how alternative cultures and communities could nonetheless flourish in Communist Hungary, and how political opposition could emerge from countercultural performance."—Padraic Kenney, Indiana University

"Horvath's highly original study of youth in Budapest is a major contribution to the history of Hungary in the Communist era, and also to the wider social history of Europe in the post-1945 era. His vivid exploration of the state and police archives, as well as his interviews with some of the original participants, skillfully shows how the regime's clumsy efforts to repress the disorderly actions of a group of young people laid bare the tensions between state and society in post-1956 Hungary as well as the new attitudes of young people in the 1960s."—Martin Conway, University of Oxford

"The study of youth culture and youth protest in the Communist countries of East-Central Europe during the post-Stalin era has advanced a great deal over the past three decades, thanks to the opening of crucial archival collections and opportunities for scholars to interview key participants. Sándor Horvath's book is an invaluable contribution to this burgeoning literature, setting a lofty standard for future studies of the topic. Horvath examines youth culture in Hungary in the 1960s in the larger context of Communist rule and the interactions between the Communist regime and Hungarian society. He shows how the authorities — at times deliberately but often inadvertently — helped to shape the identities of young people in Hungary and, conversely, how the activities of youth groups and individuals influenced the regime's efforts to maintain strict control at a time when information about rock music and other 'alien' practices and ideas of the younger generation in the West was increasingly filtering across the Iron Curtain, especially into Hungary and Poland. Horvath's book will appeal to a wide audience and will be particularly rewarding for scholars interested in youth culture, Communist systems, protest movements (contentious politics), and 20th-century Hungarian politics and society."—Mark Kramer, Harvard University

"Relying on oral histories and other primary sources, Horváth explores how the Communist regime manipulated state-sponsored tabloid media during the trial to legitimize its own role as guardians of public safety and to portray the youth as social deviants who were instruments of Western-style decadence. . . . Highly recommended."—C. P. Vesei, Baldwin Wallace University, Choice

"A very timely book, demonstrating why the Soviet political police were worried so much by the "criminal Americanization" that was reaching Soviet youth from socialist Hungary as well. Horváth's book is an original explanation of the role of "youth revolt" during the 1960s, which became the pattern for social and cultural developments in countries of the Warsaw Pact."—Sergei I. Zhuk, Hungarian Studies Review

"Horváth shows how the state and youth actors were involved in social discourse that, on the one hand, formulated state socialist norms of behavior for young people or marked deviant behavior, and on the other hand, served to continuously justify existing power relations. (translated from German)"—Maren Francke, H-SOZ-KULT