Political self-restraint of civil society movements in communism and the electoral autocracy of Hungary

In autocracies, informal, autonomous movements of dissenting civil society are crucial in constructing or protecting a democratic political culture. The comparative analysis demonstrates how underground communities in communism and student protest movements in current electoral autocratic Hungary nurtured the spirit of political freedoms, while refraining from mobilizing for political change. I explored the following movements: (1) the Balatonboglár Chapel Studio of officially unacknowledged artists (1970–1973), (2) the Monday Free University where prohibited lectures on social sciences and humanities were delivered (1978–1985), (3) the Student Network (2011–2013), and (4) the FreeSZFE (2020) advocating for academic autonomy. I used concepts of Eastern European radical theorists on civil society as interpretative frames. Parallel phenomena were found regarding their goals and operation, governmental attacks, and resilience strategies. The hypotheses of the comparability of their situation regarding the state authorities’ attitude and their contribution to the preservation of democratic culture, based on desk research, were tested through qualitative, semi-structured interviews with key members of the above movements and experts. The paper explores how civil society movements resisting arbitrary political power, even if unsuccessful in protest and despite political self-restraint, contribute to the rediscovery of politics and free action in autonomous spaces of appearance.