The Hungarian right’s new class theory: socialist managers, liberal ideologues and the betrayal of the democratic transition

Throughout its decades-long history, Hungary's governing party, Fidesz, has turned to intellectuals for a sense of political direction. This article explores the ideas of Gyula Tellér, a sociologist who shaped the party's worldview from the mid-1990s until his passing in 2023. Tellér served as an advisor to Viktor Orbán for many years and was responsible for the content of his infamous illiberalism speech of 2014. His central thesis was that socialist managers and liberal ideologues had united to form a ruling class in post-communist Hungary. In his view, that ruling class operated a vast political, economic and cultural apparatus, which impeded the realization of the nation's democratic and bourgeois aspirations. His ideas were not an expression of some kind of shapeless populism. They were inspired by new class theory, a tradition of sociological analysis which has a long history in Eastern Europe and the United States. This article breaks down Tellér's core arguments about the post-communist elite and situates them within the frame of new class theory. Tellér's ideas facilitated Fidesz' pivot to the right in the mid-90s and justified its authoritarian practices in the years to come.