JÁSZI, OSZKÁR

JÁSZI, OSZKÁR (1875–1957), Hungarian political scientist. Born in Nagykároly (now Romania), Jászi was converted to Christianity as a child. He was editor of the radical periodical Huszadik Század ("Twentieth Century") from 1906 to 1919.

Jászi was particularly concerned with the problem of national minorities. In his book, A nemzeti államok kialakulása és a nemzetiségi kérdés ("The Evolution of the Nation States and the Nationality Problem," 1912), he argued that these minorities should be granted full cultural and social autonomy. But later he believed that the question of Russian Jewry could be resolved by the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. He advocated that the Jews of Hungary should assimilate. In 1912 he became an assistant professor of political science at the University of Kolozsvár. In 1918, following the outbreak of revolution, he was made minister of national minorities. He recognized the right of the Jews to national self-determination and also attempted to negotiate a permanent settlement with the national minorities within the Hungarian Republic. When the Hungarian Soviet regime came to power in 1919, Jászi left Hungary for Vienna and then Munich. He published a history of the revolution in Hungary, Magyar kálvaria – magyar föltámadás (1920; Revolution and Counter Revolution in Hungary, 1924). In the following year he immigrated to the United States where he lectured at Oberon College, Ohio, and became professor of political science there in 1941. Jászi was the author of numerous works on politics and political science including A történelmi materializmus állambölcselete ("History of Historical Materialism," 1904), Műyészet és erkölcs ("Arts and Ethics," 1904), and The Dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy (1929).

bibliography:

Magyar Irodalmi Lexikon, 1 (1963), 525; Magyar Életrajzi Lexikon, 1 (1967), 807; uje, 6 (1942), 46; O. Jászi, Magyar kálvária – magyar föltámadás (1969²), 7–11, introd. by I. Borsody.

[Baruch Yaron]