Hungary : an electoral battlefield for the imperialist sharks of America, Russia and Europe

In the face of democratic mystification, the proletariat must resume the path of struggle

An ally who does more harm than good. This is what the Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán must have thought of the American Vice President J.D. Vance after learning the scale of his defeat by his rival and former ally Péter Magyar, who had earlier come ostentatiously to offer him his support. It must be said that, with a margin of nearly 12 percentage points, the rejection expressed by the Hungarian population towards Orbán is undeniable. All the self-proclaimed anti-fascists, from the European conservative right to the bourgeois “far” left (!), rushed to celebrate the end of the rule of this emblematic figure of illiberal democracy, a model for the European far right — from Marine Le Pen to Giorgia Meloni, via Matteo Salvini, Geert Wilders and Alternative für Deutschland — and one of the few political figures able to boast the support of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Even the indescribably ridiculous Trotskyists of Lutte Ouvrière (Workers’ Struggle) rejoiced at the victory of a conservative candidate — who has spent his entire career within the ranks of Fidesz and in the apparatus linked to Orbán’s government, and who, like his predecessor, is notoriously anti-immigration — convinced that this “electoral defeat” could “encourage a working-class awakening” (!) (1) (2).

Although it can reasonably be assumed that nothing will change for the Hungarian proletariat, nor for immigrant proletarians, for whom Hungary serves as a transit point towards Western Europe — a Europe still perceived as a mythical Eldorado by millions of workers fleeing hell — it is nevertheless certain that this decisive shift at the top of the Hungarian government will have a number of significant repercussions on inter-imperialist relations. Let us examine the question more closely.

INTERFERENCE? DID YOU SAY INTERFERENCE?

European leaders and their mouthpieces — the media — repeatedly warned of the risks of foreign interference in these elections. It must be acknowledged that powerful imperialist interests stood behind the main candidates: American and Russian imperialism behind Viktor Orbán, and European imperialism behind Péter Magyar. To secure the victory of their candidate, all were prepared to resort to any manoeuvre, from the most blatant, such as the visit of the American Vice President J.D. Vance, who came to warn Hungary of the threat posed by “European bureaucrats” and to emphasise Orbán’s supposedly positive track record, to the most sophisticated, such as attempts to manipulate the vote through fake profiles, sometimes even using artificial intelligence to spread disinformation. The European press therefore dwelt at length on numerous cases of Russian interference, such as the creation of a fake Euronews website — a pan-European multilingual news outlet — the creation of fake Twitter and TikTok accounts spreading AI-generated videos attributing false positions to Péter Magyar, and, according to the media outlet VSquare, the deployment by Russia of military intelligence agents and social media specialists to advise Orbán in his campaign. (3)

However, what the media paid less attention to was the countervailing pressure exerted by the European Union in support of Péter Magyar. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the leaders of France, Germany, Austria and Poland — all notoriously pro-Ukrainian — made no secret of their desire to see Magyar win and were among the first to congratulate him. Although their forms of interference were less blatant than those of their rivals, the fact remains that the Commission President made it clear that, in the event of Magyar’s victory, the release of tens of billions of euros in aid frozen by the European Union following the deterioration of relations with Hungary would be highly likely. Undoubtedly, this promise of massive funding, in an especially difficult economic climate, convinced more than a few voters to give the opposition candidate a chance.

The visit of Ursula von der Leyen on Friday 17 April, less than a week after the electoral victory of Péter Magyar and even before the swearing-in of the new prime minister, is further evidence of the European Union’s determination to regain control over Hungary — to the detriment of the outgoing illiberal-democratic government — two and a half years after a similar victory of pro-European forces in Poland (4).

Beyond the further fragmentation of the pro-Russian camp, now limited to Slovakia led by the Social Democrat Robert Fico and to the Czech Republic led by Andrej Babiš, a billionaire of the Trumpist type, this electoral victory has very concrete implications for the Russo-Ukrainian conflict.

THE RUSSO-UKRAINIAN WAR: THE REAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE HUNGARIAN ELECTIONS

Since the spectacular withdrawal of the United States under Donald Trump, the European Union has become the main provider of arms and financial assistance to Ukraine. By 2026, the European Union had spent a total of €194.9 billion in support of Ukraine, including €91.3 billion in military aid and €92.7 billion in financial support. Over the same period, US assistance amounted to €64.6 billion and €47.3 billion respectively (5).

The latest initiative is a European loan of €90 billion to the Ukrainian government, promised in March 2025 but so far blocked by Orbán’s Hungary. This loan was a central issue in the elections, as Péter Magyar pledged to lift the Hungarian veto if elected. His victory will therefore represent a breath of fresh air for Ukraine in its protracted war, with no prospect of victory or even of a near-term end to the hostilities. However, it would be a mistake to overestimate the shift in the balance of power between Russia and Ukraine implied by this victory. Hungary under Magyar will hardly be more pro-Ukrainian than under Viktor Orbán. Although it is likely that the ostentatious blocking of financial aid and the leaking of internal EU information to Sergey Lavrov — for which the Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó is responsible — will come to an end, Hungary will probably continue to obstruct any rapprochement between the EU and Ukraine.

Although during his election campaign he deliberately avoided taking a clear position on this issue, his earlier stances — particularly in the European Parliament, of which he has been a member since 2024 and where he has consistently voted against sending weapons or troops to Ukraine, as well as against Ukraine’s accession to the European Union — reveal his true intentions. Even Le Monde considers it necessary to emphasise that, on the question of the invasion of Ukraine, the positions of Viktor Orbán and Péter Magyar partly coincide. As for the Ukrainian minority in Hungary, numbering nearly 25,000 people, Magyar even stated that the situation “continues to deteriorate”, suggesting a possible hardening of the state’s stance towards this minority (6).

These positions of Péter Magyar can only come as a surprise to the most hardened liberals, convinced that with his victory liberalism, democracy and the rule of law will return to power. In reality, it is once again the effective method of Marxist economic materialism that enables us to navigate the murky waters of realpolitik without falling into the numerous traps into which petty-bourgeois left-wing and “far” left idealists fall.

CLOSENESS TO RUSSIA: A TEMPORARY IDEOLOGICAL ALIGNMENT, OR THE PRODUCT OF HUNGARY’S ENERGY DEPENDENCE?

In reality, diplomatic relations and trade are not determined by political ideologies, but by the economic structure of states. Hungary, together with Slovakia, is one of the main European importers of Russian oil. The main pipeline enabling these two countries to use Russian oil is Druzhba pipeline, 4,000 kilometres long, built by the USSR in the 1960s to supply its “partners” — in reality, its semi-colonies — in the Eastern Bloc.

Although the European Union banned imports of Russian oil and gas in 2022, it made an exception for these two countries, as well as for the Czech Republic, granting them time to diversify their suppliers. Although alternatives exist on paper — notably the possibility of purchasing oil via Croatia through the Adria pipeline — in practice they prove too costly for the Hungarian and Slovak bourgeoisies to consider. Moreover, the Druzhba pipeline is highly profitable for the Hungarian state, as it is the majority shareholder in MOL, the company that operates the pipeline. What weight do European values and alignment with the EU carry in the face of the “icy water of egotistical calculation” (Manifesto)? It is therefore no surprise that since 2021, despite the war and the growing shift of European countries away from Russian energy, the share of Russian oil in Hungary’s total oil imports has risen from 68% to 86% (7).

This restraint — euphemistically speaking — on the part of the Hungarian political class, across all political orientations, towards Ukraine is thus explained above all by the threat that country poses to oil supplies. Since the summer of 2025, Ukraine, in an effort to paralyse the Russian economy, has intensified attacks on the infrastructure of the Druzhba pipeline, causing supply disruptions and provoking the anger of Hungary and its Slovak ally. Viktor Orbán even made the lifting of his veto on the $90 billion loan to Ukraine conditional on the resumption of Russian oil supplies (8). Although it is likely that Hungary will lift its veto as a gesture of goodwill towards restoring relations with the EU, we can be certain that this energy dependence will remain a source of tension in relations between Hungary, the EU and Ukraine.

DOES MAGYAR’S VICTORY REPRESENT A “LESSER EVIL” FOR THE PROLETARIAT?

All our petty-bourgeois democrats and humanists, especially those from Trotskyist groups, who pride themselves on their “flexible” tactics aimed — as they claim — at improving the immediate situation of the proletariat, might argue that, while there will be only minor changes in foreign policy, Magyar’s victory at least represents a slight improvement in domestic policy. But is this really the case?

There is no doubt that the Hungarian proletariat has undergone a real ordeal during the long rule of Viktor Orbán, as his government deployed heavy artillery in the form of anti-proletarian legislation. Its most significant measure is probably the labour market flexibility law, adopted in 2018, which allows employers to require their employees to work up to 400 hours of overtime per year — equivalent to two months of work — with these compulsory overtime hours paid only after three years (9). As for social benefits, their disbursement was significantly tightened during these 16 years of Orbán’s rule, notably through the introduction of an obligation to perform public works in exchange for receiving them (10).

As if this anti-proletarian policy were not enough, Hungary has, since the beginning of the decade, been facing a worsening economic situation. Employment levels and economic growth have stagnated, while inflation has cumulatively exceeded 50% since 2020, peaking at 17% in 2023. This situation has significantly worsened the standard of living of the population, which undoubtedly explains Magyar’s sweeping victory far more than geopolitical concerns or even opposition to corruption. Older people, the traditional voters of Fidesz, have been the hardest hit, facing growing poverty and struggling to afford food, medicines or heating (11).

The situation is even more serious for immigrant proletarians, exposed to constant police repression — exacerbated by police impunity — to internment in inhumane conditions, and to the possibility of being forcibly deported at any time. Let us not be mistaken: behind Viktor Orbán’s anti-immigration rhetoric does not lie a desire to make Hungary a country entirely free of migrants — on the contrary, since 2019 Hungary has increased the immigration of foreign workers, particularly from Asia, in order to compensate for labour shortages (12) — but rather an opportunity for the Hungarian bourgeoisie to have at its disposal a labour force subjected to the harshest working conditions, deprived of even minimal protections in terms of workplace safety or sick leave, and facing the constant threat of dismissal if it fails to generate sufficient profit.

Will the situation of the Hungarian proletariat improve under Péter Magyar’s government? All indications suggest the opposite. Although the likely release of frozen EU aid will provide some relief to the Hungarian economy, Magyar will prove just as hostile to workers as his predecessor. Although the deliberate vagueness of his programme may initially have secured the support of all segments of the population, there is no doubt that his liberal and conservative inclinations will become evident once he takes power, in the context of a worsening global economic crisis. As for migrants, they already know what awaits them, since Magyar is just as hostile to them as his predecessor. He has even pledged to halt the inflow of foreign workers, whom Viktor Orbán was forced to admit in order to compensate for labour shortages (13).

IN THE FACE OF ANTI-FASCIST MYSTIFICATION, IN THE FACE OF ANTI-WORKING-CLASS ATTACKS — THE ONLY PATH: THE RESUMPTION OF CLASS STRUGGLE

The Hungarian proletariat, like the rest of the world proletariat, remains a victim of the counter-revolution, as evidenced by the enduring success of anti-fascist mystification in mobilising a section of the class in the interests that are not its own. Whether illiberal or liberal-democratic, bourgeois politicians are all enemies of the proletariat, and the proletariat must fight them. Instead of allying itself with one faction of the bourgeoisie against another, it must sweep away this scourge with the “iron broom” (Trotsky) of its dictatorship: totalitarian, supranational, of a single class and a single party.

But before it can reach this summit, it will first be necessary to rediscover the methods of class struggle and to build a genuine communist party drawing on all the lessons of its rich revolutionary history, during which its militancy was squandered in a ruinous alliance with social democracy, as was the case during the revolution of 1919 in Hungary. It will not be easy, given the damage caused by the Stalinist counter-revolution and the democratic illusions it engendered, which have weighed and continue to weigh on the proletariat: there is, however, no other path.

(1) Fidesz was originally a Christian-democratic party of centre-right orientation, which brought together the moderate conservative opposition to the Stalinist regime. Since 2010, the party has progressively hardened its conservative, anti-minority, anti-immigration, anti-proletarian and nationalist line, becoming a far-right party admired by nationalists and post-fascists throughout Europe and North America.

(2) https://www.lutte-ouvriere.org/portail/editoriaux/hongrie-claque-electorale-doit-engager-sursaut-ouvrier-193476.html

(3) See, in particular https://www.bfmtv.com/international/europe/elections-en-hongrie-une-ong-denonce-le-redeploiement-d-un-reseau-de-faux-comptes-sur-x-pour-influencer-le-vote_AD-202604110187.html;https://www.france24.com/fr/europe/20260408-elections-hongrie-des-campagnes-influence-pro-orban-sur-tiktok; https://fr.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/03/25/fake-euronews-le-reseau-de-desinformation-pro-kremlin-vise-les-elections-en-hongrie ; https://vsquare.org/putins-gru-linked-election-fixers-are-already-in-budapest-to-help-orban/ ; https://www.courrierinternational.com/article/politique-a-l-approche-des-legislatives-les-soupcons-d-ingerence-russe-crispent-la-hongrie_241470

(4) https://fr.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/04/13/hongrie-von-der-leyen-souhaite-des-progres-rapides-avec-peter-magyar

(5) https://www.touteleurope.eu/economie-et-social/etats-unis-ou-europe-qui-aide-le-plus-l-ukraine/

(6) https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2024/05/06/en-hongrie-peter-magyar-nouveau-venu-dans-le-paysage-politique-mobilise-les-anti-orban_6231863_3210.html

(7) https://www.rtbf.be/article/un-jour-une-carte-droujba-l-oleoduc-qui-maintient-l-europe-sous-dependance-russe-et-qui-fache-washington-11606014

(8) https://www.courrierinternational.com/article/geopolitique-les-attaques-ukrainiennes-contre-l-oleoduc-droujba-revoltent-la-hongrie_234382

(9) https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2019/01/05/nouvelle-manifestation-en-hongrie-contre-la-reforme-du-droit-du-travail_5405481_3210.html

(10) https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/130711/la-hongrie-veut-mettre-en-place-des-camps-de-travail-obligatoire

(11) https://www.humanite.fr/monde/hongrie/hongrie-apres-16-ans-de-regne-lere-orban-plus-proche-que-jamais-de-la-fin

(12) https://www.wsj.com/articles/hungary-loudly-opposed-to-immigration-opens-doors-to-more-foreign-workers-11567944008

(13) https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2026/04/11/peter-magyar-l-homme-qui-veut-detroner-viktor-orban-a-la-tete-de-la-hongrie_6679280_3210.html

April 22, 2026

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