Roger Scruton was deeply engaged in efforts to resist the oppression of communist regimes in Central Europe. His involvement in the underground universities and active support of dissidents was recognized with the First of June Prize from the Czech city of Plzeň, the Czech Republic's Medal of Merit (First Class) presented by President Václav Havel, the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, and the Silver Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary. Often at considerable personal risk, Scruton organised seminars on forbidden topics, smuggled in censored books, and smuggled out exam papers of students for whom he arranged the possibility of taking Cambridge University degrees. Back home, at a different, though no less real, personal risk he publicly criticised the communist ideology, which in the West was championed and idealized by many influential figures.
Scruton believed that communism was a dehumanizing force, which destroyed the individual’s capacity to form meaningful social bonds by not only taking away their fundamental freedoms but undermining the very notions of accountability, judgement, or duty. His aim therefore was not merely to provide opportunities of which totalitarian oppression deprived its victims, but to help them to maintain their mutual availability to one another as persons through the life of the mind.
The fundamental danger that Scruton saw in communism has outlived it: without the constant intimidation the need of preservation of identity and individuality began losing its urgency, making way for a different kind of threat the newly freed communities were often ill prepared for. But like the danger, the response Scruton offered remained unchanged: the study of the human heart and soul through the products of culture in which they find expression. He saw this as a duty we have to one another, and continued to advocate and promote this in all its forms throughout his life.
The Life of the Mind, an interview series by Dr Mikołaj Sławkowski-Rode, Senior Fellow in the Philosophy of Culture, explores themes connected both to the challenges the region faced under communism, and the new reality it finds itself in today. Guests of the series will include those who worked together with Roger behind the Iron Curtain, his former students, as well as those who, like him, care about the culture and identity of Central Europe.
27 April, 2021: Marek Matraszek, Poland
Marek Matraszek worked alongside Scruton in Central Europe, having first served as Secretary of the U.K.-based Jagiellonian Trust before becoming the Director of the Jagiellonian Foundation in Poland. He was later appointed to serve as the representative to the Margaret Thatcher Foundation in the region and as the Poland Director of the Windsor Group. Today Matraszek is a political adviser to a range of Western multinationals in Poland and Central Europe and serves on the Roger Scruton Legacy Foundation’s Board of Directors.
Watch the interview with Matraszek here.
24 June, 2021: Ferenc Hörcher, Hungary
Ferenc Hörcher is a historian of political thought, legal theorist, political analyst, poet and art theoretician. He is Head of the Research Institute of Politics and Government of the University of Public Service, Hungary, and a Senior Research Fellow of the Institute of Philosophy of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Hörcher is a member of the editorial board of Politeja, Journal of the Faculty of International and Political Studies of the Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland and Hungarian Review. He studied in Budapest, Oriel College, Oxford, and King's College, Cambridge and at the European Academy of Legal Theory in Brussels. He researched in Vienna, Göttingen, Edinburgh and at the University of Notre Dame in the US. He is the author of A Political Philosophy of Conservatism: Prudence, Moderation and Tradition (2020), The Political Philosophy of the European City: From Polis, through City-State, to Megalopolis? (2021) and is currently writing Politics and Art in Roger Scruton's Conservative Philosophy.
Watch the interview with Hörcher here.
31 August, 2021: Martin Luterán, Slovakia
Martin Luterán is a native of Kosice, Slovak Republic. Luterán founded the Ladislav Hanus Fellowship in Bratislava, a one semester study & enrichment program for Slovak university students. Following the success of the Hanus Fellowship, Luterán founded the Kolegium Antona Neuwirtha in 2009, a one year residential program for Slovak university students designed to offer a deeper experience of intellectual and spiritual exploration and enrichment. Luterán’s goal, as rector of the Kolegium, is to help form Slovak university students who will lead their country in 20-30 years. Luterán was a 2001 Witherspoon Fellow at the Family Research Council and a 2015 Visiting Professor at the John Jay Institute and holds a PhD from Oxford University.
Watch the interview with Luterán here.