Is the Peace Movement a Political Movement? Political Socialization in the 1980s
Evenings on Peace Square, Pt. 2.
The formation and activities of the Peace Group for Dialogue are widely regarded as having helped mobilize a younger generation that had previously appeared largely passive, while also providing a model for political organizations that played an important role in preparing the ground for the transition to democracy in the second half of the decade. To what extent was the Dialogue a political movement? How did political socialization unfold during the final decade of the Kádár era? What political and cultural forces drove the growing activism and changing public mood of the period? What parallels and differences can be observed between civic activism then and today? How did examples from abroad influence Hungary’s movement culture? The panel discussion will explore these questions.
Participants:
Melinda Kassai, former member of the Dialogue
Dániel Mikecz, political scientist and scholar of social movements
Mária Vásárhelyi, sociologist and public opinion researcher
Moderator: Zsolt Enyedi, political scientist and sociologist (Department of Political Science, CEU), former member of the Dialogue
As part of the program, a curator-led exhibition tour will be offered at 5:00 p.m. by Zoltán Viszket and Miklós Zsámboki.
The event will be held in Hungarian.
The exhibition On Peace Square – The Peace Group for Dialogue is open free of charge through October 25, 2026 at the Blinken OSA Archivum’s Centrális Gallery.
The series is organized in cooperation with the Blinken OSA Archivum, the Historical Archives of the State Security, and CEU’s Department of Political Science.