Past, Present and Future: An Irreverent Treatment of History

By Laszlo Solymar

The present book is about history, written through the satirical eyes of a Hungarian refugee in the early 1960s, a few years after he settled in England. The title Past, Present and Future, together with the subtitle An Irreverent Treatment of History, explains beautifully what the book is about. Brief but profound historical judgments are made about everything that matters: socialism, capitalism, communism, Nazism, colonialism, revolution, science, religion, war and peace, and stability and anarchy. The common factor is power. Everything is explained by the love of power by individuals, groups, social classes, dictators, and nationsby people who are high up and by people who are low down.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Jul 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496984951

Laszlo Solymar

Laszlo Solymar was born and educated in Hungary. In the aftermath of the Hungarian Revolution he escaped to England. He joined the University of Oxford in 1966 where he is now an Emeritus Professor. During his career he had Visiting Professorships at the Universities of Paris, Copenhagen, Osnabruck, Berlin, Madrid, Budapest and London.

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© 2014 Laszlo Solymar. All rights reserved.

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Published by AuthorHouse 06/26/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-8494-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-8495-1 (e)

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CONTENTS

PROLOGUE: THE BIRTH OF AN IDEA

PART I: SOME BASIC CONCEPTS

PART II: CONTEMPORARY HISTORY

PART III: AN EXCURSION INTO THE FUTURE

Past, Present and Future

an irreverent treatment of history

Laszlo Solymar was born and educated in Hungary. In the aftermath of the Hungarian Revolution he escaped to England. He joined the University of Oxford in 1966 where he is now an Emeritus Professor. During his career he had Visiting Professorships at the Universities of Paris, Copenhagen, Osnabruck, Berlin, Madrid and Budapest

By the same author

Getting the Message: A History of Communications

The Rhineland War: 1936

The Portrait of a Genius

Three Scientists of the Ancient World: Anaxagoras, Archimedes, Hypatia (with John Wain)

Anatomy of Assassinations

TO CLARE AND ERIC ASH

TO CLARE FOR ENCOURAGEMENT

TO ERIC FOR HELP

PREFACE

I came to England in 1956 after the failure of the Hungarian Revolution. I got a job within a couple of weeks. I started to work in December 1956 at Standard Telecommunications Labs Ltd. as a research engineer. I was a reasonably good research engineer. I received the Faraday Medal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers in 1992 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1995. I liked engineering but my interests were wider. I managed to publish books on other subjects too. The first of those was ‘Getting the Message: a History of Communications’. As the title implies this is a historical work covering all aspects of communications starting in Babylonian times. I wrote also a set of radio-plays with John Wain about scientists in the ancient world entitled ‘Anaxagoras’, ‘Archimedes’ and ‘Hypatia’, broadcast by the BBC on three consecutive weeks in 1992. I wrote two further plays, published recently, with the title ‘The Rhineland War: 1936’ and ‘The Portrait of a Genius’. My latest work is non-fiction, entitled Anatomy of Assassinations.

The present book is about History, written through the satirical eyes of a Hungarian refugee. What dates best the book is the section heading, Hungary, Suez, Cuba, referring to three invasions. Under Cuba, the event that is analyzed is the Bay of Pigs disaster, that took place in April, 1961. Nowadays when one thinks of Cuba in a military context it is the Cuban missile crisis that comes to mind. This is clear evidence that the book was written and finished before October 1962.

The title is Past, Present and Future. The aim is to make historical judgements which, perhaps a little cynically, explain events, ideologies, motivations, social systems, etc. and even make a leap into the future, into a future some of it is already in the past. Was I right in guessing the future? Not really. Who could have predicted in 1962 that within the next 40 years China will have a flourishing capitalist system operating under the watchful eyes of the Chinese Communist Party. Or take another example: I predicted that before the close of the millennium there will be a United States of Europe, and its official language will be German. Well, the European Union does exist so that part of the prediction was all right but German is not the official language. I presume there is still a chance that my prediction will be true twenty years from now on.

For help on a grandiose scale I must thank Professor Eric Ash, Emeritus Rector of Imperial College, who was a simple Dr. Eric Ash at the time.

PROLOGUE

THE BIRTH OF AN IDEA

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this book is to explain history. If this aim cannot be regarded as entirely modest, yet, it cannot be too difficult either. For if we call it difficult what should we say about the prediction of historical events? It must surely be easier to be wise after the event.

Prediction has to be regarded as a much more complex problem, a fact which seems to have been well appreciated by our ancestors who respected prophets much more than historians. Now if prediction is so difficult then anyone who could see into the future has great merits. Did such people ever exist? Let us forget for the moment the magicians, the oracles of Delphi and the Etruscan haruspices as the evidence of their ability appears to be less then conclusive. But there is no need to go so far back. For did not the twentieth century realise the fantastic dreams of Jules Verne? Did not the proletariat make the revolution as predicted by Karl Marx? Has not the capitalist economy been proved to be controllable as predicted by James Maynard Keynes? We have to admit that prophets have existed and we might even venture to suppose that some still exist today.

However these prophets are not equally dangerous. Jules Verne never harmed anyone nor would I regard most authors of science fiction as enemies of the people. But social science is a different matter. A good prediction may have fatal consequences. If a general tendency is discovered, the discoverer (or rather his faithful disciples) will make it a firm rule, an unalterable Law of Nature, and the better the prediction the greater is the danger. A prophecy when proved to be right for a limited period, will be generally accepted, repeated on many occasions and will be the embodiment of wisdom itself.

Unfortunately after a time even the best prophecy is bound to fail. The predictions are valid no longer but they survive in the mind of the disciples. The few men who recognise the need for revision will be unanimously declared traitors and immediately beheaded.

One might think that those unfortunate circumstances would dissuade people from discovering new laws. However facts do not bear out this surmise. The number of authors risking prophecies is for ever increasing. Today no one can reach the heights of eminence if he does not give at least a few hints on the future of mankind. I hope therefore that I might be permitted a few glances into the future rather than confining the present investigation to the past. Let us nourish the hope that no one will take them seriously and only a very limited number of people will have to be executed for not accepting them.

HOW TO CREATE

A NEW THEORY.

THE WISDOM OF THE INCAS

Before attempting to elucidate the general and unified theory of history I wish to acquaint the reader with the recipe known to the Incas as long as three thousand years ago.

If you want to create a new theory in any of the social sciences. be not of faint heart. Choose your subject, an approach, a method. Build a system. and then give answer to all possible questions which can arise. It is irrelevant what the theory is about as long as it is compact. Lay down one Fundamental Truth which can be of common sense nature or alternatively it should be totally incomprehensible. Do not try to justify it, there is no need for it. The rest is quite simple. Provided your starting point is always the same there is no limit to the conclusions you can reach. If some of the answers make sense do not get panicky, carry on persistently, the desired obscurity will soon be attained. Do not be afraid of obvious contradictions,