Hungarian Soviet Republic (1919): Bela Kun's Short-Lived Regime

The Hungarian Soviet Republic was a communist state that ruled Hungary for 133 days, from 21 March to 1 August 1919. Led in practice by Bela Kun, it nationalised industry and land, built a Red Army that fought Czechoslovakia and Romania, and used terror against its opponents. Its fall brought a Romanian occupation of Budapest, a violent counter-revolution and the authoritarian regime of Miklos Horthy.

Background: defeat and the Vix Note

When Austria-Hungary collapsed in the autumn of 1918, the liberal aristocrat Count Mihaly Karolyi took power in Budapest after the so-called Aster Revolution of 31 October, and Hungary was proclaimed a republic in November. His government faced economic ruin, returning soldiers and the advance of Czechoslovak, Romanian and Serbian forces into territories claimed by the new neighbouring states.

Bela Kun, a journalist who had become a communist as a prisoner of war in Russia, returned to Hungary in November 1918 and founded the Hungarian Communist Party. He was arrested in February 1919. On 20 March 1919 the Allied mission in Budapest, headed by the French Lieutenant-Colonel Fernand Vix, delivered a note demanding a further withdrawal of Hungarian troops, which would have given Romania more land. Karolyi’s government refused and resigned.

The Soviet Republic

The Social Democrats, hoping that Soviet Russia might help Hungary defend its borders, merged with the imprisoned communists. On 21 March 1919 they proclaimed the Hungarian Soviet Republic. Sandor Garbai became president of the Revolutionary Governing Council, but Kun, as Commissar for Foreign Affairs, was its leading figure and kept in contact with Lenin by radio.

The regime nationalised banks, factories, large estates and housing, and introduced reforms in education and culture, with the philosopher Gyorgy Lukacs among its commissars. Land was turned into state collective farms rather than divided among peasants, which alienated the rural majority. Food shortages, a worthless new currency and requisitioning made the regime increasingly unpopular.

The Red Army and the wars

The Hungarian Red Army, organised by its chief of staff Aurel Stromfeld, at first did well. In late May and June 1919 it advanced into Slovakia against Czechoslovak forces, and a short-lived Slovak Soviet Republic was proclaimed at Presov on 16 June. Under pressure from the Allied leader Georges Clemenceau, who promised that Romanian troops would withdraw from eastern Hungary, Kun pulled his forces back. The promise was not kept, and Stromfeld resigned.

In April Romanian forces had already advanced to the Tisza river. On 20 July 1919 the Hungarian Red Army attacked across the Tisza but was beaten back within days, and the Romanians advanced towards Budapest.

Terror and fall

To deal with opposition, the regime set up armed units, the most notorious led by Tibor Szamuely and the so-called Lenin Boys. They suppressed revolts and carried out executions; historians usually count several hundred victims of the Red Terror.

On 1 August 1919, as the Romanian army approached, Kun and other leaders resigned and fled to Austria. A short-lived Social Democratic government followed, and Romanian troops entered Budapest on 3-4 August and occupied the city until early 1920. Counter-revolutionary officers’ detachments loyal to Admiral Miklos Horthy then carried out a White Terror against communists, socialists, peasants and especially Jews, killing more people than the Red Terror. Estimates range from about 1,000 to several thousand.

Key people

• Bela Kun (1886–1938): communist leader and Commissar for Foreign Affairs, later executed in the Soviet Union during Stalin’s purges.
• Sandor Garbai (1879–1947): Social Democrat and formal head of the Revolutionary Governing Council.
• Tibor Szamuely (1890–1919): commander of the regime’s terror units, who died while fleeing in August 1919.
• Aurel Stromfeld (1878–1927): former imperial officer who led the Red Army’s northern campaign.
• Miklos Horthy (1868–1957): former Austro-Hungarian admiral who led the counter-revolutionary National Army and entered Budapest in November 1919.

Myths and facts

Because Kun and many other commissars were of Jewish origin, antisemitic propaganda portrayed the regime as a Jewish plot. This myth, which ignored the fact that most Hungarian Jews were not communists and that many suffered under the regime, was used to justify the White Terror and anti-Jewish laws in interwar Hungary.

Timeline

• 1918, 31 October: The Aster Revolution brings Mihaly Karolyi to power.
• 1919, 20 March: The Vix Note demands further Hungarian withdrawals.
• 1919, 21 March: The Hungarian Soviet Republic is proclaimed.
• 1919, 16 June: A Slovak Soviet Republic is proclaimed at Presov.
• 1919, 20 July: The Hungarian offensive across the Tisza begins and soon fails.
• 1919, 1 August: Bela Kun resigns and flees to Austria.
• 1919, 4 August: Romanian troops enter Budapest.
• 1920, 1 March: Miklos Horthy is elected regent of Hungary.

Why it matters

The Hungarian Soviet Republic was the most significant attempt to spread the October Revolution to Central Europe, alongside the Spartacist Uprising in Germany. Its failure helped shape interwar Hungary as a conservative, anti-communist state under Horthy, and the turmoil weakened Hungary’s position before the Treaty of Trianon of 1920, which stripped it of about two-thirds of its former territory.