Arrow Cross Party - Ideology

Ideology

The party's ideology was similar to that of Nazism, although a more accurate comparison might be drawn between Austrofascism and Hungarian fascism which was called Hungarism by Ferenc Szálasi – extreme nationalism, the promotion of agriculture, anti-capitalism, anticommunism and militant antisemitism. The party and its leader were originally anti-German, so it was a long and very difficult process for Hitler to compromise with Szálasi and his party. The Arrow Cross Party conceived Jews in racial as well as religious terms, although the necessary scientific capital for a widespread and elaborate program of eugenics simply did not exist in Hungary at the time. Thus, although the Arrow Cross Party was certainly far more racist than the Judeophobic Horthyite regime, whose antisemitism was based solely on Christian belief, it was still very different from the German Nazi Party. The Arrow Cross Party was pro-Catholic and its antisemitism had its origins in Christian belief. It was also more economically radical than other fascist movements, advocating worker rights and land reforms. In a sense, the Arrow Cross Party was more like Germany's NSDAP prior to the Night of the Long Knives when the socialist faction among the Nazis (led by Ernst Roehm) was murdered or subjugated.