Kun, Béla (bā`lŏ k
n), 1886–1937, Hungarian Communist. A prisoner of war in Russia after 1915, he embraced Bolshevism. After the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in 1917 he was sent to Hungary as a propagandist. In 1919, Count Michael Károlyi Károlyi, Count Michael, 1875–1955, Hungarian politician, of an ancient noble family. A liberal, he organized (1918) a national council for Hungary after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and was made premier.
..... Click the link for more information. and his government resigned and the Communists and Social Democrats formed a coalition government under Kun. Kun set up a dictatorship of the proletariat; nationalized banks, large businesses and estates, and all private property above a certain minimum; and ruthlessly put down all opposition. He raised a Red Army and overran Slovakia. The allies forced Kun to evacuate Slovakia, and a counterrevolution broke out. Kun was at first victorious over the counterrevolutionists, but he was defeated by a Romanian army of intervention and was forced to flee to Vienna. Kun's Red Terror was followed by a White Terror. Nicholas Horthy de Nagybanya Horthy de Nagybanya, Nicholas (hôr`tĭ də nŏ`dyəbä'nyŏ), Hung.
..... Click the link for more information. became regent of Hungary. Kun, after being held at an insane asylum in Vienna, went (1920) to Soviet Russia. He reappeared (1928) in Vienna and was briefly imprisoned but was allowed to return to the USSR. There he took an active part in the Comintern until he was accused of anti-Stalinism and perished in the Communist party purges of the 1930s. In the late 1950s and 1960s his reputation was restored in the USSR.
(born Feb. 20, 1886, Szilágycseh, Transylvania, Austria-Hungary—died Nov. 30, 1939?, U.S.S.R.) Hungarian communist leader. He fought in the Austrian army in World War I, was captured by the Russians, and became a Bolshevik. After returning to Hungary in 1918, he founded the Hungarian Communist Party. When Count Károlyi resigned in March 1919, Kun headed the new Hungarian Soviet Republic. He created a Red Army that reconquered much of the territory lost to Czechoslovaks and Romanians and eliminated moderate elements in the government. In August the regime collapsed, and Kun fled to Vienna and then Russia. As a leader of the Comintern, he tried to foment revolution in Germany and Austria in the 1920s. Eventually accused of “Trotskyism,” he fell victim to Joseph Stalin's purge trials.
n), 1886–1937, Hungarian Communist. A prisoner of war in Russia after 1915, he embraced Bolshevism. After the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in 1917 he was sent to Hungary as a propagandist. In 1919, Count Michael Károlyi Károlyi, Count Michael, 1875–1955, Hungarian politician, of an ancient noble family. A liberal, he organized (1918) a national council for Hungary after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and was made premier...... Click the link for more information. and his government resigned and the Communists and Social Democrats formed a coalition government under Kun. Kun set up a dictatorship of the proletariat; nationalized banks, large businesses and estates, and all private property above a certain minimum; and ruthlessly put down all opposition. He raised a Red Army and overran Slovakia. The allies forced Kun to evacuate Slovakia, and a counterrevolution broke out. Kun was at first victorious over the counterrevolutionists, but he was defeated by a Romanian army of intervention and was forced to flee to Vienna. Kun's Red Terror was followed by a White Terror. Nicholas Horthy de Nagybanya Horthy de Nagybanya, Nicholas (hôr`tĭ də nŏ`dyəbä'nyŏ), Hung.
..... Click the link for more information. became regent of Hungary. Kun, after being held at an insane asylum in Vienna, went (1920) to Soviet Russia. He reappeared (1928) in Vienna and was briefly imprisoned but was allowed to return to the USSR. There he took an active part in the Comintern until he was accused of anti-Stalinism and perished in the Communist party purges of the 1930s. In the late 1950s and 1960s his reputation was restored in the USSR.
Bibliography
See study by R. L. Tökés (1967).
Kun, Béla
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Béla Kun, drawing by Béla Uitz, 1930; in the Legújabbkori …
(credit: Courtesy of the Legujabbkori Torteneti Muzeum, Budapest)
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