Let the River Flow: Fighting a Dam in Communist Hungary

David A.J Reynolds

doi:10.5195/ahea.2020.391

Abstract

Faced with communist Czechoslovakia and Hungary’s 1977 scheme to construct a diversion canal and hydroelectric dam system on the Danube, a movement gradually arose in Hungary to fight the plan. This national dissident campaign, which started with discussion groups and technical articles, not only brought in an extraordinary cross-section of opinion and background—united around the preservation of natural heritage—but played a key part in the rebirth of a lively civic society within a long repressed political and intellectual culture. The story of this movement’s arguments, strategies, and ultimate success is both a key story in the decay and collapse of communist rule in Hungary, but a case study in how a non-western European/American approach to the politics of preservation can rally support and achieve consensus.

Highlights

Faced with communist Czechoslovakia and Hungary’s 1977 scheme to construct a diversion canal and hydroelectric dam system on the Danube, a movement gradually arose in Hungary to fight the plan
“The Danube, which is past, present, future,” wrote the great Hungarian poet Attila József, musing on the connection between the ancient and the current of his country, “entwines its waves in tender friendly clasps.”. As he begins the poem, A Dunánál [‘By the Danube’], gazing at the river, he is seized by the connection between the centuries that had passed by the river, but between the Danube and himself: “As if my heart had been its very source” (József 2013: 52–55)
When the hammer blows of modern technology threaten these links? There have been responses that will not sit within Western European and American ideas of environmentalism

Summary

Introduction

Faced with communist Czechoslovakia and Hungary’s 1977 scheme to construct a diversion canal and hydroelectric dam system on the Danube, a movement gradually arose in Hungary to fight the plan. The Stalingrad hydro-electric plant on the Volga was a stunning, heroic monument, one akin to the greatest works of art, gushed the Hungarian Communist Party daily, Népszabadság [‘The People’s Freedom’] in connection to the model Soviet project after the first dam agreement was made between Czechoslovakia and Hungary in 1958 (Kien [Vargha] 1984).

Results

Conclusion