COMMENT: The right wing [1] government of Hungary [2] continues to manifest programs [3] and ideological pronouncements disturbingly reminiscent of that country’s past–a fascist nation allied with the Axis in World War II.
Under the stewardship of the Arrow Cross organization, Hungary fought alongside Nazi Germany and was an enthusiastic participant in Hitler’s social agenda as well.
Now that nation has implemented a forced labor program for its large, growing number of unemployed workers.
Will the U.S. undergo something similar in the not too distant future? If the GOP gets back into power, that is a possibility that should not be too readily dismissed.
After all, the Republicans have already demonstrated their implacable hostility toward those collecting unemployment benefits and social security. Constructing a forced labor program wouldn’t be all that much of a reach for the GOP.
In that context, one should not forget that the GOP’s Ethnic outreach organization was crafted under the stewardship of Laszlo Pasztor [4], a veteran of the Arrow Cross. That organization has been well represented within the Republican ethnic outreach milieu.
“Hungary to Introduce Forced Labor, Labor Camps”; Little Green Footballs; 8/3/2011. [5]
EXCERPT: The labor plan will result in 225 million euros savings annually for the government and in turn facilitate a massive reduction in national wage levels. The payment paid for those undertaking the forced labor is based on the social assistance rate of 28,500 forints (110 euros) per month, i.e., a sum which is less than half the monthly minimum wage of 78,000 forints.
In recent years thousands of public employees have been laid off, leading to staff shortages in some areas. The labor plan will free up workers to be exploited in forced labor schemes for major state works programs related to infrastructure and agriculture. Hungarian media have cited the construction of soccer stadiums, road works, maintenance of drainage systems and the construction of dams as examples of the new “community service”.
400,000 Hungarians are immediately eligible to carry out such labor. In a recent interview Orban made clear that, in his view, such forced labor was urgently required. In future dams will be constructed “not with the technology of the 21st century (...), but by hand.”
The plan envisages that the unemployed can be used either for state projects, or “loaned out” to private companies. . . .