Hungarian Soviet Republic

(1919)

The Hungarian Soviet Republic was short-lived soviet republic, which lasted from March 21 to August 1, 1919.

Under pressure from the revolutionary masses, the petty-bourgeois government of Count Károlyi was obliged to resign and hand over power to the Social-Democratic Party. The latter, lacking any authority among the masses, had to share power with the leaders of the Hungarian Communist Party. A Council of People's Commissars was formed, comprising both Communists (Bela Kun, Tibor Szamuely, Eugen Varga and others) and Social-Democrats.

The Entente replied to this revolution with blockade and war, hurling at Red Hungary the White troops of Romania and Czechoslovakia. After a four months' struggle the Romanian army took Budapest and proclaimed the dictatorship of Admiral Horthy.

The organiser of the Red Army, Tibor Szamuely, was killed while trying to cross the border from Hungary into Austria, tens of thousands of Communists and proletarians were shot, and some emigrated to Austria, where they were set free thanks to intervention by Soviet Russia.

Documents

The Constitution of the Hungarian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic
March 21: Agreement, concluded in the Budapest prison between the communist party and the social-democratic parties of Hungary
March 28: Appeal to the Workers and Soldiers of all Countries from the Communist International (alternate translation)
March: Letter of the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI) to the Congress of Hungarian Communists
June 12: To the Conference of the Socialist Party in Hungary, Central Executive Committee of the Communist International
July: Appeal of the ECCI on Behalf of the Hungarian Soviet Republic
Hungarian Socialists Appeal to the Entente Workers
The Last Appeal of the Hungarian Soviet Government to the Working Class of Hungary
August 5: ECCI statement on the fall of the Hungarian Soviet Republic

Béla Kun

March 11: Letter to Ignatius Begor
April 19: Address to the Budapest Workers' Council
April 22: Letter to V.I. Lenin
July: A Message to the American Workingmen

V.I. Lenin

March 22: Wireless Message of Greeting on Behalf of the Eighth Congress of the R.C.P.(B.) to the Government of the Hungarian Soviet Republic
March 22: Wireless Message of Greeting to the Government of the Hungarian Soviet Republic
March 23: Record of Wireless Message to Béla Kun
End of March: Negotiations with Béla Kun
April 4: Radio-Telegram to Béla Kun
April 7-8: Radio-Telegrams to Béla Kun
April 23: Postscript to the Appeal to Hungarian Internationalists
May 13: Telegram to Béla Kun
May 27: Greetings to the Hungarian Workers (alternate translation)
June 18: Letter to Béla Kun
End of July: Letter to Béla Kun

Articles from The Communist International

L. Rudas Proletarian Revolution in Hungary
June: Julius Alpári The Course of the Revolution in Hungary
June: Eugene Varga Communist Hungary
July: Julius Hevesi Economic Revolution in Hungary: From Capitalistic to Socialistic Production
A. Rudnyanskii Trade Unions and Counterrevolution in Hungary

Articles from The Revolutionary Age

March: Greetings to the Soviet Republic of Hungary!
April: To the Left, Nepszava, December 25, 1918 (extract)
April: The Victory of the Hungarian Proletariat
July: Joseph Pogany Soviet Hungary's Task
August: A. Nyemanov The Hour of Trial in Hungary

Articles from The Liberator

July: Count Karolyi Tells Why An Interview by Hiram K. Moderwell
August: Crystal Eastman In Communist Hungary

Articles from The Class Struggle

May: Communism in Hungary

The aftermath

November: Collapse of Hungarian Soviet Republic
November: Law and Order in Hungary
December: An Appeal from the Hungarian Communist Party to the International Working Class

Subsequent analyses

1976: Gilles Dauvé / Denis Authier Hungary from The Communist Left in Germany 1918-1921
1979: Tibor Hajdu The Hungarian Soviet Republic [off-site link]

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Hungarian Soviet Republic Poster Collection
Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Archive

Archive maintained by Zdravko Saveski