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Béla Kun
Béla Kun
The native form of this personal name is Kun Béla. A personal name is the Proper name identifying an individual Person. This article uses the Western name order. A personal name is the Proper name identifying an individual Person.

Béla Kun (February 20, 1886 – August 29, 1938), born Béla Kohn, was a Hungarian Communist politician, who ruled Hungary, as the leader of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, for a brief period in 1919. Events 1472 - Orkney and Shetland are left by Norway to Scotland, due to a Dowry payment Year 1886 ( MDCCCLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 708 - Copper coins are minted in Japan for the first time (Traditional Japanese date: August 10, 708) Year 1938 ( MCMXXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Hungary (Magyarország 'mɔɟɔrorsaːg) officially in English the Republic of Hungary ( Magyar Köztársaság, literally Magyar (Hungarian Republic Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based A politician (from Greek " Polis " is an individual who is involved in influencing public decision making through the influence of Politics or a person The Hungarian Soviet Republic or Soviet Republic of Hungary (Magyarországi Tanácsköztársaság was a Communist regime established in Hungary from Year 1919 ( MCMXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common

Contents

Early life

Kun was born in Szilágycseh, Transylvania, Austria-Hungary (today Cehu Silvaniei, Romania). Transylvania (Ardeal or ro ''Transilvania'' Erdély, see also other denominations) is a Central European region located in the eastern half of the Carpathian Cehu Silvaniei (Szilágycseh is a town in Sălaj county Transylvania, Romania. Romania ( dated: Rumania, Roumania Kun's father, a village notary, was a lapsed Jew, and his mother a lapsed Protestant. Civil law notaries are trained Jurists who often receive the same training as advocating jurists &mdash those with a legal education who become litigators such as Barristers Judaism (from the Greek Ioudaïsmos, derived from the Hebrew יהודה Yehudah, " Judah " in Hebrew יַהֲדוּת Yahedut Protestantism refers to the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated in the 16th century Protestant Reformation. Béla Magyarized his birth surname, Kohn, to Kun in 1906. Hungarian ( magyar nyelv) is a Uralic language (more specifically a Ugric language) unrelated to most other languages in Europe. Although Kun was hostile to all forms of religion, his Jewish roots and advocacy of revolutionary communism resulted in hatred for him - and other Hungarian Jews - who were viewed as accomplices in the anti-Christian atrocities that followed his accession to power. Despite his secular upbringing, he was educated at a famous Reformed kollegium (grammar school) in the city of Kolozsvár (modern Cluj-Napoca, Romania). The Hungarian Reformed Church (Magyarországi Református Egyház in Hungarian) is a key representative of the Magyar Christianity being numerically the second-largest denomination (pronunciation in Romanian: /'kluʒ na'poka/ Klausenburg Kolozsvár Napoca Castrum Clus Claudiopolis קלויזנבורג Kloiznburg until 1974 Cluj, is the third Romania ( dated: Rumania, Roumania

At the kollegium Kun won the prize for best essay on Hungarian literature that allowed him to attend a Gymnasium school. Hungarian literature is literature written in the Hungarian language, predominantly by Hungarians. Kun's essay was on the poet Sandor Petőfi and his concluding paragraphs were:

The storming rage of Petőfi's soul… turned against the privileged classes, against the people's oppressor… and confronted them with revolutionary abandon. Sándor Petőfi (born January 1 1823, Kiskőrös, (slov Malý Kereš) Hungary – died most likely July 31 1849 Petőfi felt that the country would not be saved through moderation, but through the use of the most extreme means available. He detested even the thought of cowardice… Petőfi's vision was correct. There is no room for prudence in revolutions whose fate and eventual success is always decided by boldness and raw courage… this is why Petőfi condemned his compatriots for the sin of opportunism and hesitation when faced with the great problems of their age… Petőfi's works must be regarded as the law of the Hungarian soul… and of the… love of the country"[1].

Before the First World War, he was a muck-raking journalist with sympathies for the Hungarian Social Democratic Party in Kolozsvár. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All For other meanings see Muckraker (disambiguation The term muckraker most associated with a group of American investigative reporters A journalist (also called a newspaperman) is a person who practices Journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events trends The Hungarian Social Democratic Party ( Magyarorszagi Szociáldemokrata Párt, MSZDP is a Political party in Hungary. In addition, Kun served on the Kolozsvár Social Insurance Board, from which he was later to be accused of embezzling. Kun had a fiery reputation and was several times involved in duels. As practiced from the 11th to 20th centuries in Western societies a duel is an engagement in combat between two individuals with matched weapons in accordance with their combat In May 1913, Kun married a music teacher of middle-class background named Iren Gal.

Early career in the labor movement

The young Béla Kun
The young Béla Kun

During his early learning ages at Kolozsvár, Kun became friends with the poet Endre Ady, who introduced Kun to many members of Budapest's left-wing intelligentsia. Endre Ady (Érmindszent - November 22 1877 Budapest - January 27 1919 was a Hungarian Poet. Budapest ( also /ˈbʊ-/) is the capital city of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary it serves as the country's principal Political, For the coffee shop company often called Intelligentsia for short see Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea.

Kun fought for Austria-Hungary in the First World War, and was captured and made a prisoner of war in 1916 by the Russians. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya He was sent to a POW camp in the Urals, where he became a Communist. Riphean redirects here For the time period see Riphean stage The Ural Mountains (Ура́льские го́ры Uralskiye In 1917, Kun was caught up in what he regarded as the romance of the Russian Revolution, the idea of which fulfilled for him certain spiritual needs previously unsatisfied. The February Revolution (Февральская революция in 1917 in Russia was the first stage of the Russian Revolution of 1917. Paradoxically, he held Russians to a certain degree in contempt, feeling that Communism was much better suited to "civilized" nations such as Hungary rather than "barbaric" Russia. During his time in Russia, Kun became fluent in Russian (he was also fluent in German, and competent at English). Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages.

In March 1918, in Moscow, Kun co-founded the Hungarian Group of the Russian Communist Party (the predecessor to the Hungarian Communist Party). Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of Hungarian Communist Party (in Hungarian Magyar Kommunista Párt or Kommunisták Magyarországi Pártja) was founded on November 24, 1918, and He travelled a lot, including to Petrograd and to Moscow. Saint Petersburg ( tr: Sankt-Peterburg,) is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of He came to know Vladimir Lenin there, but inside the party he formed the ultra-radical left-wing political opposition to Lenin and the mainstream Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists ( Большевик Большевист (singular, derived from bolshe, "more" were a faction Kun and his friends (such as the Italian Umberto Terracini and the Hungarian Mátyás Rákosi), aggregated around Grigory Zinoviev or Karl Radek; instead of Lenin's pragmatism, they espoused and advertised the politics of "revolutionary offensive by any means". Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Mátyás Rákosi ( born March 9, 1892 as Mátyás Rosenfeld - died February 5, 1971 was a Hungarian communist politician Gregory Yevseevich Zinoviev (Григо́рий Евс́еевич Зин́овьев alternative transliteration Grigorii Ovseyevish Zinoviev born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Karl Berngardovich Radek ( October 31, 1885 - May 19, 1939) was a socialist active in the Polish and German Lenin often called them "kunerists".

In the Russian Civil War in 1918, Kun fought for the Bolsheviks. The Russian Civil War (1917–1923 was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed During this time, he first started to make detailed plans for exporting Communism to Hungary. In November 1918, Kun, with at least several hundred other Hungarian Communists, and with a lot of money given to him by the Soviets, returned to Hungary.

To the Soviet Republic

In Hungary, the resources of a shattered government were further strained by refugees from lands lost to the Allies during the war and that were due to be lost permanently under the projected Treaty of Trianon. In general allies are people groups or nations that have joined together in an association for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose The Treaty of Trianon is the peace treaty concluded at the end of World War I by the Allies of World War I, on one side and Hungary, seen as a successor Rampant inflation, housing shortages, mass unemployment, food shortages and coal shortages further weakened the economy and stimulated widespread protests. In economics inflation or price inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services over a period of time Unemployment occurs when a person is available to work and currently seeking work but the person is without work. In October 1918, the so-called "Aster Revolution" established a shaky democratic coalition government. Kun founded the Hungarian Communist Party in Budapest on November 4, 1918. Events 1333 - Flood of the Arno River, causing massive damage in Florence as recorded by the Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani Year 1918 ( MCMXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common

Kun immediately began a highly energetic propaganda campaign against the government: he and his followers engaged in venomous and slanderous attacks against the President, Count Mihály Károlyi and his Social Democratic allies. Propaganda is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people Count Mihály Ádám György Miklós Károlyi de Nagykároly ( March 4, 1875 - March 19, 1955) was briefly Hungary 's Social democracy is a Political ideology of the left and centre-left

Kun's speeches had a considerable impact on his audiences. One who heard such a speech wrote in his diary:

Yesterday I heard Kun speak… it was an audacious, hateful, enthusiastic oratory. He is a hard-looking man with a head of a bull, thick hair, and moustache, not so much Jewish, but peasant features, would best describe his face… He knows his audience and rules over them… Factory workers long at odds with the Social Democratic Party leaders, young intellectuals, teachers, doctors, lawyers, clerks who came to his room… meet Kun and Marxism. [2]

In addition, the Communists held frequent marches and rallies and organized strikes. Strike action, often simply called a strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal by Employees to perform work. Desiring to attempt a Communist revolution, which, lacking mass support, could only be a coup d'état, he communicated by telegraph with Vladimir Lenin[3]. Kun acquired a sizable following, though the Social Democrats, who were Hungary's largest party, continued to dwarf the Communists.

On February 22, 1919, the Communists led a rowdy demonstration outside the Social Democratic newspaper Népszava that ended in a shootout that killed four policemen. Events 1495 - King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city's throne Year 1919 ( MCMXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common After this incident, Kun was arrested and charged with high treason. After his arrest, the Budapest police subjected Kun to insults and gave him a beating in the full view of a tabloid reporter. A tabloid is a Newspaper industry term which refers to a smaller newspaper format per spread to a weekly or semi-weekly alternative newspaper that focuses on local-interest

The news of the beating and Kun's gestures of forgiveness brought Kun much public sympathy. He remained in prison until March 21, 1919. Events 630 - Byzantine emperor Heraclius restores the True Cross to Jerusalem. Year 1919 ( MCMXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common

On March 19, 1919 the French Colonel Fernand Vyx presented the "Vyx Note", ordering Hungarian forces to be pulled back further from where they were stationed. Events 1279 - A Mongolian victory in the Battle of Yamen ends the Song Dynasty in China. Year 1919 ( MCMXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common It was assumed that the military lines would be the new frontiers that would be established by the peace conference between Hungary and the Allies. The Vyx Note created a huge upsurge of nationalist outrage, and the Hungarians resolved to fight the Allies rather than accept the national borders. Károlyi resigned from office in favor of the Social Democrats. For their part, the Social Democrats realized that Hungary needed allies for the coming war and in their view, the only ally on offer was Soviet Russia. As Kun was known to be friendly with Lenin, it was assumed that including him in the government would bring Soviet aid for war against the Allies.

The Social Democrats first approached Kun on the subject of a coalition government. Such was the desperation for the Social Democrats to have Kun receive promised Soviet support that it was Kun, a captive, who dictated the terms to his captors. This was despite the Red Army's full involvement in the Russian Civil War and the unlikelihood that it could be of any direct military assistance. The Red Army ( Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия R aboche- K rest'yanskaya K rasnaya A rmiya

Kun demanded the merger of the Social Democrat and Communist parties, the proclamation of a Soviet Republic and a host of other radical measures. The Social Democrats agreed to all of his demands. On March 21, 1919, a Soviet Republic was announced; the Social Democrats and Communists were merged under the interim name Hungarian Socialist Party, and Béla Kun was released from prison and sworn into office. Events 630 - Byzantine emperor Heraclius restores the True Cross to Jerusalem. Year 1919 ( MCMXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common

The Social Democrats continued to hold the majority of seats in government. Of the thirty-three People's Commissars of the Revolutionary Governing Council that ruled the Soviet Republic, fourteen were former Communists, seventeen were former Social Democrats, and two had no party affiliation. Council of Ministers of the USSR (Совет Министров СССР tr With the exception of Kun, every Commissar was a former Social Democrat and every Deputy Commissar was a former Communist.

The Soviet Republic, 1919

On March 21, 1919, Kun and the small Communist Party made their move, establishing the Hungarian Soviet Republic, the second Communist government in Europe after Russia itself. Events 630 - Byzantine emperor Heraclius restores the True Cross to Jerusalem. Year 1919 ( MCMXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The Hungarian Soviet Republic or Soviet Republic of Hungary (Magyarországi Tanácsköztársaság was a Communist regime established in Hungary from In the Soviet Republic, Kun served as Commissar for Foreign Affairs, but he was the dominant personality in the government during its brief existence. As Kun reported to Lenin: "My personal influence in the Revolutionary Governing Council is such that the dictatorship of the proletariat is firmly established, since the masses are backing me"[4].

The first act of the new government was to nationalize virtually all private property in Hungary. Nationalization, also spelled nationalisation, is the act of taking an industry or assets into the Public ownership of a national government Contrary to advice from Lenin and the Bolsheviks, Béla Kun's government refused to redistribute land to the peasantry, thereby alienating the majority of the population. Instead, Kun declared that all land was to be converted into collective farms and, due to a lack of anyone qualified to run them, he kept on the former estate owners, managers and bailiffs as the new collective farm managers. Collective farming is an organization of agricultural production in which the holdings of several farmers are run as a joint enterprise Bailiff (from Late Latin baiulivus, Adjectival form of baiulus) is a Governor or Custodian (cf

In an effort to win peasant support, Kun cancelled all taxes in rural areas, which in fact hurt the government as the peasants took the view that any government that would not collect taxes was by definition a weak government. The Soviet Republic exacerbated high inflation by printing more money and it also proved incapable of solving the housing shortage. In economics inflation or price inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services over a period of time To provide food for the cities, the Soviet Republic resorted to food requisitioning in the countryside through a red militia known as the Lenin Boys. The Lenin Boys were a band of Communist enforcers formed to support the short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919

Within the Socialist Party, there was a bitter, yet ultimately pointless, dispute over the permanent name of the party. The former Social Democrats preferred "Hungarian Socialist Worker's Party", while former Communists wanted the "Hungarian Socialist Communist Worker's Party". Within the ranks of the former Communists themselves, a split developed between the rural and urban factions.

After a failed anti-communist coup attempt on June 24, Kun organized retribution in the form of the Red Terror via the secret police, revolutionary tribunals and semi-regular detachments like Tibor Szamuely's bodyguards, the Lenin Boys (however, the numbers of victims are estimates ranging from 370 to about 600 persons executed[5]; most sources list 590 proven killings). Events 972 - Battle of Cedynia, the first documented victory of Polish forces takes place The Red Terror in Hungary ( vörösterror) was a series of atrocities aimed at crushing political rivals during the four-month regime of Hungarian Soviet Republic. Secret police (sometimes political police) are a Police agency which operates in Secrecy to maintain National security against internal The Red Terror in Hungary ( vörösterror) was a series of atrocities aimed at crushing political rivals during the four-month regime of Hungarian Soviet Republic. See also Tibor Szamuely (historian,l the subject's nephew Tibor Szamuely ( December 27, 1890 &ndash August It has been argued that the major limiting factor on the Red Terror was the former Social Democrats such as József Pogány. John Pepper, real name József Pogány, also known as Joseph, (1886 - 1937 was a Hungarian Jewish -born Communist active in the

Opposition appeared to be centered on the city of Szeged and around Rear Admiral Miklós Horthy, who formed a National Army to fight the Soviet Republic. Szeged ( (approximate pronunciation Seg-ed (known also by alternative names) is the fourth largest City of Hungary, the Regional centre Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya ( Vitéz nagybányai Horthy Miklós vitez nɒɟbaɲɒi horti mikloʃ German Nikolaus von Horthy und Nagybánya However, the National Army never saw action and only marched on Budapest after the withdrawal of the Romanians in November. It is also worth noting that the Horthy regime staged a White Terror in 1919–20. In general the term White Terror refers to acts of violence carried out by Reactionary (usually monarchist or conservative) groups as part of a

The Soviet government only lasted for 133 days, falling on August 1, 1919. Events 30 BC - Octavian (later known as Augustus enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Year 1919 ( MCMXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The Soviet Republic had been formed to resist the Vyx Note, and created the Hungarian Red Army to do so. Given the disparity in power between Hungary and the Allies, Hungarian chances for victory were slim at best. To buy time, Kun tried to negotiate with the Allies, meeting the South African Prime Minister, General Jan Smuts at a summit in Budapest in April. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa The Prime Minister of South Africa was the Head of government in South Africa between 1910 and 1984 Field Marshal Jan Christiaan Smuts, OM, CH, PC, ED, KC, FRS (24 May 1870 &ndash 11 September 1950 was a prominent Agreement proved impossible, and Hungary was soon at war later in April with the Kingdom of Romania and Czechoslovakia, both aided by France. See also Kings of Romania The Kingdom of Roumania (or ' Romania ' in post-1969 and also current spelling was the old Romanian state based on a form of Czechoslovakia may also refer to what is now the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The Hungarian Red Army achieved some success against the Czechoslovaks, taking much of Slovakia by June. Slovakia (long form Slovak Republic; Slovak:, long form, is a Landlocked country in Central Europe with a population of over five million

However, the Hungarians were repeatedly defeated by the Romanians. By the middle of July 1919, Kun decided to stake everything on an offensive against the Romanians. The Allied Commander in the Balkans, the French Marshal Louis Franchet d'Esperey wrote to Marshal Ferdinand Foch on July 21, 1919: "We are convinced that the Hungarian offensive will collapse of its own accord… When the Hungarian offensive is launched, we shall retreat to the line of demaracation, and launch the counteroffensive from that line. Louis Félix Marie François Franchet d'Espérey ( 25 May 1856 &ndash 8 July 1942) was a French general during the First Ferdinand Foch OM GCB (2 October 1851 – 20 March 1929 was a French soldier military theorist and writer credited with possessing "the most original Events 356 BC - Herostratus sets fire to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World Year 1919 ( MCMXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Two Romanian brigades will march from Romania to the front in the coming days, according to General Fertianu's promise. You, see, Marshal, we have nothing to fear from the Hungarian army. I can assure you that the Hungarian Soviets will last no more than two or three weeks. And should our offensive not bring the Kun regime down, its untenable internal situation surely will[6].

The Soviets promised to invade Romania and link up with Kun, and were on verge of doing so. However, military reversals suffered by the Red Army in Ukraine stopped the invasion of Romania before it began. Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe. The Romanians then invaded Hungary, took Budapest, crushed the Communists, and on 1 August 1919 forced them to hand over power to a Social Democratic party. Events 30 BC - Octavian (later known as Augustus enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Year 1919 ( MCMXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common

Activity in Austria and the Crimean areas

Béla Kun then went into exile in Vienna, then controlled by the Social Democratic Party of Austria. Vienna ( in Wien; see also other names) is the Capital of Austria, and is also one of the nine States of Austria. The Social Democratic Party of Austria ( German: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, or SPÖ) is one of the oldest parties in Austria. He was captured and interned in Austria, but was released in exchange for Austrian prisoners in Russia in July 1920. Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich

Once in Russia, Kun rejoined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and was put in charge of the regional Revolutionary Committee in the Crimea. Crimea (kraɪˈmiːə or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Крим Автономна Республіка Крим Avtonomna Respublika Krym; Крым In this position he is alleged to have given instructions to kill thousands of members of Crimean ethnic minorities. Victor Serge, among others, claims in Memoirs of a Revolutionary that Kun also killed ten thousands of White prisoners of war (specifically, detachments of general Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel, troops which had been promised amnesty if they would surrender, and were then murdered). Victor Lvovich Kibalchich (ВЛ Кибальчич ( December 30 1890 - November 17 1947) better known as Victor Serge, was The White movement (Beloie Dvijenie Белое движение whose military arm is known as the White Army (Belaia Armia Белая Армия or White Guard Baron Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel (Пётр Николаевич Врангель (Peter von Wrangel ( August 15, 1878, Zarasai, Lithuania (then It is said that the Crimean massacres created outrage in the Soviet Communist Party and caused Lenin to censure Kun. Adding to the outrage within the Party was the fact that the massacres had been perpetrated against Russians by a Hungarian outsider. However, the sourcing of these claims is problematic [7] and the fact that Kun became member of the highest committee of the Komintern and was shortly afterwards sent to Berlin clearly contradicts Lenin's alleged response. [8]

The "March Action" in Germany

Kun became a leading figure in the Comintern, as an ally of Grigory Zinoviev. The Comintern ( Com munist Intern ational also known as the Third International) was an international Communist organisation founded in Moscow In March 1921, Kun was sent to Germany to advise the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. The Communist Party of Germany ( German Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands &ndash KPD) was a major political party in Germany between 1918 He encouraged the KPD to follow the "Theory of the Offensive" as supported by Zinoviev and other Kunerists.

On 27 March a decision was taken by German Communist Party leaders to launch a revolutionary offensive in support of the miners of central Germany. Events 196 BC - Ptolemy V ascends to the throne of Egypt. 1309 - Pope Clement V excommunicates Kun was the driving force behind the German Communist Marzaktion Putsch (which ended in complete failure).

At the beginning of April, Otto Horsing, the Social Democratic Party of Germany Oberpräsident of Saxony, gave instructions to police and paramilitary forces to occupy the copper mines and chemistry plants around Halle, "to prevent sabotage and attacks on managers". The Provinces of Prussia constituted the main administrative divisions of Prussia. The Free State of Saxony (Freistaat Sachsen ˈzaksən Swobodny Stat Sakska is the easternmost federal state of Germany. Halle is the largest city in the German State of Saxony-Anhalt. His real motivation was to prevent a Communist takeover and pacify the area, with force if necessary, and purge local unions and local organizations of Communist influence.

Under the leadership of the Anarchist Max Hoelz, an armed opposition to the state began to unfold. Anarchism is a Political philosophy encompassing theories and attitudes which support the elimination of all compulsory Government, i The KPD called on the working class throughout Germany to arm itself in solidarity with the armed opposition. But they had completely misjudged the mood of the German people, and the uprising remained mainly isolated to central Germany. Even unified, Hoelz's anarchists and the KPD had no real mass support, and government forces deployed without significant opposition (the strikers were unwilling to participate in armed conflict with the police). There were even instances (like the factory of Krupp Factories or the ship factory of Hamburg) where the workers drove out communist agitators from the workplace with clubs. The Krupp family, a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, have become famous for their Steel production and for their manufacture of Hamburg (English, German: ˈhambʊɐk local pronunciation Low German / Low Saxon: Hamborg) is the second-largest city in Germany

The background and organization of the "March Action" is somewhat obscure. There were those (like Ruth Fischer, leader of KDP) that claimed that Lenin and Soviet Communist leaders wanted to deflect public attention from the inner problems and crisis of the Comintern and Communist Party. Others have said that the March Action was a direct result of the overzealousness of Lenin's radical, Kunerist opposition, who were anxious to prove their worth to the Party.

In the end, Lenin blamed himself for appointing Kun and charged him with responsibility for the failure of the German revolution. Lenin was considerably angered by Kun's actions and his failure to secure a general uprising in Germany. In a closed Congress of the Operative Committee - as Victor Serge writes - called his actions idiotic ("les bêtises de Béla Kun"). Victor Lvovich Kibalchich (ВЛ Кибальчич ( December 30 1890 - November 17 1947) better known as Victor Serge, was However, Kun did not lose his membership in the Operative Committee, and the closing document accepted at the end of the sitting formally confessed the "battle spirit" of the German Communists.

Kun was not stripped of his Party offices, but the March Action was the end of the radical opposition and of the theory of "Permanent Offensive":

"The final analysis of things shows that Levin was politically right in many ways. The thesis of Thallheimer and Béla Kun is politically totally false. Phrases and bare attending, playing the radical leftist. "[9].

Through the 1920s, Kun was a prominent Comintern operative, serving mostly in Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia, but ultimately his notoriety made him useless for undercover work.

Late career

Béla Kun monument in Budapest
Béla Kun monument in Budapest

Kun's final undercover assignment ended in 1928 when he was arrested in Vienna by the local police for travelling on a forged passport. When Kun was in Moscow, he spent much of his time feuding with other Hungarian Communist émigrés, several of whom he denounced to the Soviet secret police, the OGPU, which arrested and imprisoned them in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The State Political Directorate was the Secret police of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic ( RSFSR) and the Soviet Union from 1922 until

During Joseph Stalin's purge of the Communist old guard in the late 1930s, Kun was accused of Trotskyism. Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party Great Purge (Большая чистка transliterated Bolshaya chistka) was a series of campaigns of Political repression and Persecution Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. He was arrested in June 1937, imprisoned and executed. In fact, Kun was by this time a fanatical Stalinist, who strongly supported Stalin's actions. Stalinism is the political regime named after Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union from 1929–1953 It is believed that the proximate cause of his elimination was an effort by Stalin to remove any "foreign" figures who had influenced the Comintern. The Comintern ( Com munist Intern ational also known as the Third International) was an international Communist organisation founded in Moscow

Over time, accounts have differed over the precise date and manner of Kun's death. It was well-established that Kun had been tortured by the NKVD, but accounts differ from that point forward. The NKVD ( НКВД, ru Народный Комиссариат Внутренних Дел ''Narodnyy Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del'') or People's Commissariat Some accounts reported that Kun was secretly executed in 1937. Other accounts maintain that Kun was sent to the Gulag and executed there either in 1938 or 1939. The Gulag was the government agency that administered the penal labor camps of the Soviet Union. Kun's widow was also sent to the Gulag, as were his daughter and son-in-law. When Kun was politically rehabilitated in 1956, as part of the de-Stalinization process, the Soviet party told its Hungarian counterpart that Kun had died in prison on November 30, 1939. The Cold War ensued as the USSR and the United States struggled indirectly for influence around the world

In 1989, the Soviet government announced that Kun had been actually been executed by firing squad in the Gulag more than a year earlier than that, on August 29, 1938[10] (the 2002 edition of Encyclopædia Britannica still reported the old execution date of November 30, 1939). The Gulag was the government agency that administered the penal labor camps of the Soviet Union. Events 708 - Copper coins are minted in Japan for the first time (Traditional Japanese date: August 10, 708) Year 1938 ( MCMXXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Encyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopaedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica Inc Events 1700 - Battle of Narva — A Swedish army of 8500 men under Charles XII defeats Year 1939 ( MCMXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

Legacy

It is difficult to overstate the impact of Kun's brief and failed regime on Hungarian history. Though the executions meted out in the Red Terror were, by contrast to other such upheavals, relatively few, shock and horror at Kun's excesses remained deeply imprinted on the Hungarian consciousness for years to come. The Red Terror in Hungary ( vörösterror) was a series of atrocities aimed at crushing political rivals during the four-month regime of Hungarian Soviet Republic.

One bitter repercussion was the association of Hungary's Jews with the suffering inflicted by the Communists; as Kun and many of his colleagues were seen as Jewish, it was easy for anti-Semitic activists in Hungary to fuel fears of "Jewish-Bolshevist" conspiracy.

Another was the severe rightward direction of Post-Kun Hungary. The election of admiral Miklós Horthy, the chief of the reactionary National Army, as Hungary's regent was a stark political about-face, and the heat of Horthy's anti-communist feelings was legendary. Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya ( Vitéz nagybányai Horthy Miklós vitez nɒɟbaɲɒi horti mikloʃ German Nikolaus von Horthy und Nagybánya It was partly to keep the "Asiatic barbarians" of Soviet Communism at bay that Horthy gradually helped steer his country into an alliance with Communism's greatest foe, Adolf Hitler. Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately It was a fatal partnership; Hitler would eventually crush Horthy's regime, invade Hungary, and install a puppet government, which helped the Nazis deport more than 400,000 Hungarian Jews to the gas chambers at Auschwitz concentration camp. "Auschwitz" redirects here For the town see Oświęcim Auschwitz-Birkenau () was the largest of Nazi Germany

Ironically, Hitler's stranglehold on Hungary was finally loosened by the army of the dreaded Soviet Union. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 After the war, Horthy remained in exile, while the Soviets inaugurated a 50-year Communist regime under the leadership of Mátyás Rákosi, one of Kun's few surviving colleagues from the 1919 coup. Mátyás Rákosi ( born March 9, 1892 as Mátyás Rosenfeld - died February 5, 1971 was a Hungarian communist politician

Endnotes

  1. ^ Tokes, Rudolf Béla Kun: The Man and the Revolutionary pp. 170–207, from Hungary in Revolution edited by Ivan Volgyes, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1971 p. 173.
  2. ^ Tokes, Rudolf Béla Kun and the Hungarian Soviet Republic New York: F. A. Praeger, 1967 pp. 111–2.
  3. ^ Borsanyi, Gyorgy The life of a Communist revolutionary, Béla Kun Boulder, Colo: Social Science Monographs; 1993, pp. 146–7.
  4. ^ Janos, Andrew The Politics of Backwardness in Hungary, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982, p. 197.
  5. ^ Borsanyi, Gyorgy The life of a Communist revolutionary pp. 197–8.
  6. ^ Borsanyi, Gyorgy The life of a Communist revolutionary, pp. 435–6.
  7. ^ Borsányi (1979): Kun Béla. Politikai életrajz, Kossuth: Budapest, p. 408
  8. ^ Borsányi (1979): Kun Béla. Politikai életrajz. Kossuth: Budapest, p. 230
  9. ^ Lenin's letter to G. Zinoviev
  10. ^ "New information about death of Bela Kun," from BBC transmission of Hungarian Telegraph Agency in English, February 14, 1989

References

External links

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