A jövő mint történeti probléma. 1918 és 1945 Európában
The Future as a Historical Issue. 1918 and 1945 in Europe

Summary/Abstract: This article explores the ways of imagining and planning of possible futures that emerged in the two postwar periods of Europe, 1945 and 1918. Elites, intellectuals and large proportions of European societies found it very likely that the future was possible to anticipate, that it was possible to foresee large and decisive trends of social developments, therefore it was possible to plan even large systematic changes. However, the multiplication of ideas about the issue and attempts to plan the future also suggest that crucial components of prognosis about further development were shaken and the “future” of Europe itself became uncertain. The hopes and fears concerning the future as well as the ways to cope with them show striking similarities in the two proper postwar periods of 20th century Europe, roughly the years between 1918-1922 and 1945-1949. This paper tries to make sense of these discontinuities and seeks to link these commensurable aspects of the postwar periods together. It also asks if these interlinked discontinuities reveal a specific set of techniques for managing the future in the postwar periods; if there was a specific postwar “regime of the future”. In order to adequately address these questions, the article extends the scope of investigation beyond the sphere of politics. It investigates how social groups and even individuals were engaged in a broad cultural process of mastering the future that encompassed aspects of the human environment and the deepest layers of individual identities.

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