In Search of the Nation

The 1920 Treaty of Trianon attempted to carve nation-states out of the multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian monarchy, compelling individuals to "choose" a national identity. Searching for a definition of magyarsag (Hungarian-ness) which was neither territorial nor racial, a group of young Hungarian-speaking intellectuals turned to the villages to find an "original" Hungarian culture. The interaction between Hungarian intellectuals and laborers spawned a left-wing nationalist movement called Sarlo (sickle). This history of the Sarlo movement provides the unique opportunity to study a socially heterogeneous group of youth for whom national identity took predominance over all other facets of their personal identity.