The idea of a communist Hungary is usually associated with the Cold War that arose post-World War II. Hungary, however, had a brush with communist leadership several decades before, in the aftermath of the First World War.
The short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic ultimately failed. It was, nevertheless, an important part of Hungarian history, and it set the stage for Hungary to follow.
The End of the First World War
The horrors of the First World War spurred radical change among the people of Europe. As a member of the Central Powers, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was on the losing side of the war and suffered grievously as a result.
Austria-Hungary suffered as many as 2 million military and civilian deaths as a result of the war, a figure that represented between 3.5% and 4.0% of the total population. Following the war’s end, the Habsburg monarchy collapsed, and all over the empire, the constituent states declared their independence.
By the end of the war, protests were already gripping the country. Workers’ strikes were put down with violence, and the armed forces suffered mass desertions. The Hungarian people were prepared to fight for a new government that represented their interests rather than those of the upper echelons of society.
The Aster Revolution (so named for the symbol of the aster flower that its supporters wore) resulted in the formation of the First Hungarian People’s Republic on November 16, 1918, just five days after the armistice that ended the First World War. The new government was led by Count Mihály Károlyi, who became its president.
Before this, however, Hungary had acceded to the demands of United States President Woodrow Wilson for a unilateral disarmament of the Hungarian army to pave the way for an armistice, and Károlyi found himself in a very difficult position.
Without an army, Hungary became a target for its neighbors—newly independent as well as established states—who wanted to increase their power in the wake of the First World War. Romanian, Franco-Serbian, and Czechoslovak troops all entered Hungary looking for gains.
Severely weakened, the Hungarian government was unable to defend itself from external or internal threats. Formed just eight days after the declaration of the First Republic of Hungary, the Party of Communists from Hungary was established under the leadership of Béla Kun, acting in a close relationship with the Soviet Union.
The Collapse of the First Hungarian People’s Republic
The lead-up to the change in power was a result of tensions between the Social Democrat Party and the Communists. These tensions were brought about by the fact that both parties drew their support from the working class and competed with each other for the support of the proletariat.
On February 20, 1919, a demonstration turned violent, and the editorial offices of a newspaper, Népszava (People’s Word), run by the Social Democrats, were attacked in an incident that left seven people dead. In response, the government issued arrests for the leadership of the Party of Communists. The arrests were violent and resulted in increased sympathy for the communists amongst the Hungarian proletariat. The government also closed the party headquarters of the Party of Communists and banned their daily newspaper.
With the increased sympathy for the communists, the government feared a backlash. It made moves to placate the communists by reopening the party headquarters, reinstating their newspaper, and allowing the communist leadership to receive visitors in prison.
Other developments, however, would seal the fate of the First Hungarian People’s Republic. The Vix Note was sent by Fernand Vix, a delegate of the Entente to the Hungarian government, announcing that Hungary had to withdraw troops from more territories than the Hungarians had expected.
The note was received on March 19. Mihály Károlyi found himself in a difficult position whereby rejecting the ultimatum would put Hungary in danger, and accepting it would lose him widespread support among nationalists concerned about Hungary’s loss of territory. Furthermore, the French demanded a response the same day.
Károlyi announced that Prime Minister Dénes Berinkey, along with his government, would resign, and a new government would be formed by the Social Democrats in order to deal with the issue.
Károlyi’s trust in the Social Democrats backfired. He announced that only the Social Democratic Party could form a new government, but Social Democrat leaders began talks with the leaders of the Party of Communists while the latter were still in prison. They planned to merge the two parties to form the Hungarian Socialist Party.
Károlyi was not informed of this development, and on March 21, the Hungarian Socialist Party decided to remove him from power. Károlyi was arrested but managed to flee to Paris four months later.
Establishment of the Hungarian Soviet Republic
With widespread support in Hungary and with an alliance with the predominant Social Democratic Party, Béla Kun had launched a coup against Károlyi’s government and declared the formation of the Hungarian Soviet Republic on March 21, 1919.
In so doing, the Hungarian communists claimed they had the support of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to expel Hungary’s invaders and restore the country’s territorial integrity.
Sándor Garbai was named president, but in reality, Kun, as Commissar of Foreign Affairs, wielded most of the power.
Communist Policies
After the communists came to power, they enacted major reforms. Governance was based on the model of a dictatorship of the proletariat in a move that echoed the events following the Russian Revolution that brought Vladimir Lenin to power.
Noble titles and privileges were abolished. Free speech and assembly were guaranteed, while education was made free, and minorities were given cultural rights.
Much of the industrial and commercial sector was nationalized, along with schools, libraries, transport, banking, and land. There was a strict separation of church and state. Although the new government allowed for freedom of religious expression, there was a backlash from the religious sector, and many of Hungary’s most religious citizens opposed the communist takeover.
As a result of the economic dynamic that resulted from the end of a disastrous world war and the shift in governance, Hungary suffered from high inflation as well as resource shortfalls.
Addressing the issue of security, the army and police force were replaced, and new organizations were created. The Red Army and the Red Guard were founded to take over the operations and were filled with loyal communists, often without any experience.
In addition, a paramilitary force known as the “Lenin Boys” was created. This group carried out attacks on supposed opponents of the government and killed several hundred people in their quest to secure the government from internal danger.
Foreign Relations
Following the establishment of Béla Kun’s government, the Entente sent a delegation under the leadership of General Jan Smuts to strike a deal with the Hungarian Soviet Republic. He offered to lift economic sanctions if the Hungarians withdrew their forces to the line demarcated in the Vix Note, but this offer was rejected, and Smuts went back with no deal.
Béla Kun had little intention of courting the Western powers and instead turned to the East, looking for support among fellow communists. He sought an alliance with the Russian Soviet Republic but was rejected by Lenin, as Russia was in a state of civil war. Lenin also suggested that before Russia could help Hungary, the government would have to purge itself of the Social Democrats as they did not represent communism. Kun agreed to this.
On the military front, the Hungarian Red Army began a campaign against the newly established Czechoslovakia and saw initial military success. Despite promises to restore Hungary’s borders, the Hungarian government declared the Slovak Soviet Republic instead, under the leadership of Antonín Janoušek, who was essentially a puppet. This move led to a split in the army between nationalists and communists. The nationalists wanted a return of Hungary’s territorial integrity, while communists viewed the spread of communism as being far more important.
The Slovak Soviet Republic collapsed on June 7 following the withdrawal of Hungarian troops.
As a result, the government lost a lot of support from the army, and its chief, Aurél Stromfeld, resigned in protest. To add to the military woes, the Romanians refused to pull back despite French promises of a withdrawal from the eastern areas of Hungary. This led to clashes between those remaining loyal to the Hungarian Red Army and Romanian troops.
Initial successes gave way to a Romanian counteroffensive, which forced the Hungarian army into a full retreat, with Romanian forces advancing toward Budapest.
Collapse
A factor critical to the support of the communist government was the issue of land reform. The Kun-led government failed in this regard. Miscalculating the class consciousness, or lack of it, from the agrarian sector, reforms were bureaucratic and failed to inspire revolutionary sentiment amongst the peasantry.
In an article from the Communist International in 1919, Laszlo Rudas pointed out that the peasants were “in the best of cases indifferent to the fate of the dictatorship of the proletariat.” Given they represented around half of Hungary’s total population, failing to win them over as defenders of the revolution was an error that led to the downfall of the communist government.
Rudas further criticized the government for wasting its energies on musical societies and theater performances when efforts should have been invested in winning over the support of all Hungarian people and consolidating a powerful base of support.
Without enough support to bolster the country’s defenses, the Romanian army pushed through to Budapest. Béla Kun and other high-ranking officials fled to Vienna, leaving in their place a transitional government that was overthrown by the anti-communist Fehérház Bajtársi Egyesület (White House Fraternal Association).
Aftermath
August 1 is the officially recognized date of the collapse of the Hungarian Soviet Republic. Béla Kun later moved to the Soviet Union, where he became an official in Communist International. He was executed in the 1930s on charges of Trotskyism during Stalin’s purges.
With a new, vehemently anti-communist government, Hungary turned into a bloodbath as various elements of Hungarian society were targeted in a campaign of violence that saw communists, leftists, and Jewish people as the primary victims.
Jewish people had held disproportionately high numbers of positions within the communist government, and as a result, a wave of anti-Semitism gripped Hungary. The link between communism and Jews would persist for many decades, finding fertile ground during the Second World War when Hungary was allied to Nazi Germany.
The Hungarian Soviet Republic lasted 133 days, from March 21 to August 1, 1919. Although its existence can be heralded as a success in that it proved that communist takeovers were not just limited to a handful of countries, it ultimately failed due to an inability to consolidate power within Hungary’s own population as well as an inability to defend itself from foreign military action.
Ultimately it served as a lesson for communists around the world as a cautionary tale for what could happen without careful preparation and foresight in establishing a communist government.
