Racial Protectionism in Everyday Life

Interwar realities forced László to try to make a place for himself in a transformed middle class, an evolving milieu in which origins and networks of connections were no longer enough to preserve one’s social status and rank. It was László’s specialized knowledge that allowed him to make connections with members of the racial-protection societies in which Budapest’s political leaders played decisive roles. His racially protectionist work as a journalist made it possible to exploit cultural expressions of nationalism for everyday political purposes. He had no political power himself, but the articles he published and the speeches he wrote exerted a significant cultural and political influence on the members of certain social circles.