Count Ervin Batthyány (17 October 1877 – 9 June 1945) was a Hungarian political activist, school founder and journalist. He promoted
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
principles in early 20th century Hungary.
Early life
Ervin Batthyány was born on 17 October 1877 in Bögöte to Ferenc Batthyány and Edit Trefort. Ervin's father was a wealthy landowner from the
Batthyány
The House of Batthyány () is the name of an ancient and distinguished Hungarian Magnate family. Members of this family bear the title Count/Countess ( Graf/Gräfin) Batthyány von Német-Ujvar respectively, while the title of Prince (Fürst) vo ...
family, and his mother was the daughter of Education Minister
Ágoston Trefort
Dr. Ágoston Trefort (pronunciation: a:gɔʃtɔn 'trɛfɔrt 7 February 1817 – 22 August 1888) was a Hungarian politician, who served as Minister of Religion and Education from 1872 until his death. He was the President of the Hungarian Acad ...
. Both belonged to a circle of intellectuals receptive to reform.
Ervin graduated from high school in
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
, and studied in Cambridge and London. There, he became influenced by the ideas of
Edward Carpenter
Edward Carpenter (29 August 1844 – 28 June 1929) was an English utopian socialist, poet, philosopher, anthologist, an early activist for gay rightsWarren Allen Smith: ''Who's Who in Hell, A Handbook and International Directory for Human ...
,
William Morris
William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...
,
Leo Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
and
Peter Kropotkin
Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activis ...
. In London, he met with Kropotkin on one occasion.
Afraid of his political leanings, and fearing that he would divide his inherited land among wage earners, Batthyány's family had him placed in a mental sanatorium in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
in 1901. He stayed there for two years, leaving in 1903 with the help of
Ervin Szabó
Ervin Szabó (born as Samuel Armin Schlesinger; 23 August 1877 – 29 September 1918) was a Hungary, Hungarian social scientist, librarian and anarcho-syndicalist revolutionary.
Life
Born Samuel Armin Schlesinger, Szabó's parents were assimilat ...
, the prerequisite for which was to write a scientific paper. He wrote on Carpenter's ideas for transforming society.
Anarchist activism
Batthyány first espoused his anarchist views at one of the debates of the ''Társadalomtudományi Társaság'' (Social Science Society) titled "The Direction of Social Development". The debates were held from February to May 1904 in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry building in Budapest. At the time, his idea of anarchism was most strongly influenced by Morris and Kropotkin, though he would later advocate for not only tactical, but strategic unity between socialists and anarchists in his 1906 publication ''Socialism and Anarchism''. The panel also hosted socialists represented by Ervin Szabó, liberals represented by
Gusztáv Gratz
Gusztáv Gratz (30 March 1875 in Gelnica, Gölnicbánya – 21 November 1946 in Budapest) was a Hungary, Hungarian politician, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1921. He was a correspondent member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. ...
and Christian socialists represented by
Sarolta Geőcze
Sarolta Geőcze de Szendrő ( hu, szendrői Geőcze Sarolta; 27 December 1862 – 23 September 1928) was a Hungarian Christian socialist women's rights activist and educator.
Life
Geőcze was born on 27 December 1862 in the village of Bacskó in ...
. During this time, Batthyány considered conservatism, liberalism and Christian socialism parts of a common strand of social theory that wished to preserve the social order limited by "theocratic prejudices", opposed by socialism and anarchism.
On 29 October 1905, Batthyány set up a libertarian school or "reform school" for peasant children on his estate in Bögöte. The estate was managed by his personal friend Herbert Nadler. Ervin Szabó attended the opening ceremony, and the socialist agitator Lajos Tarczai was made head teacher. Around 60 children attended Batthyány's school, and it enjoyed the support of several of the villagers such as the doctor. Eventually, the teacher from the local
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
school transferred to his school as well. The school was opposed by the local Catholic chaplain and other conservative landowners from the area.
In Bögöte, Batthyány set up a printing press and started the journal ''Testvériség'' (Brotherhood), associated with the
Szombathely
Szombathely (; german: Steinamanger, ; see also other alternative names) is the 10th largest city in Hungary. It is the administrative centre of Vas county in the west of the country, located near the border with Austria. Szombathely lies by t ...
social democrats. He published several studies on Kropotkin and Tolstoy, also focusing on printing brochures. He would soon break with the social democrats due to ideological differences.
In Budapest, Batthyány wrote for the journals '' Világszabadság'' (World Freedom) and ''A Jövő'' (The Future). In 1907, he started an anarchist paper titled ''Társadalmi forradalom'' (Social Revolution), during which his views evolved from an anarchism in the vein of Kropotkin, in the direction of
anarcho-syndicalism
Anarcho-syndicalism is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that views revolutionary industrial unionism or syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and thus control influence in b ...
. At the anarchist conference in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
in 1907, he presented a written presentation on the situation of anarchism in Hungary. He quickly handed over the position of editor of his new journal to the Budapest Anarchist Group that formed around him, and from then on he gradually withdrew from the movement.
Final years and death
In 1910 he returned to England, and in 1913 he requested the termination of his Hungarian citizenship. The school in Bögöte was taken over by the state in 1921.
In England, Batthyány married Alice Nuellens (1857–1933). He died in England in 1945.
Legacy
In his village of Bögöte, the cultural center bears the name of Ervin Batthyány. A plaque was unveiled in his honor in 2006.
See also
*
Anarchism in Hungary
Anarchism in Hungary emerged from the social democratic movement in the late 19th century, coming to play a prominent role in the anti-militarist movement during World War I and in the subsequent revolution that culminated in the Hungarian Soviet ...