Truth and/or peace: the political toolkit of the Hungarian Jewish Congress (1868-69).

Controversial religious or quasi-religious issues were responsible for the split within Hungarian Jewry. At the Congress, dividing lines over non-religious, 'political' controversies correlated only loosely with those over religious issues, as a rule. In this paper we limit ourselves to corroborating this thesis by taking a closer look at three items on the Congress's political agenda: (1) electoral issues, (2) centralization, and (3) ecclesiastical analogies. The paper demonstrates the profound impact that Hungarian contemporary political discourse exerted on Congress delegates in both camps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]