The Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919

Résumé du document

The Russian revolution of 1917 was like a big bang for the world. A new world seemed possible, and nobody could ignore what was happening in Russia. For many, a world revolution was about to liberate the humanity from exploitation. Moscow was considered the new beacon of the humanity. Within the socialist movement, many considered Bolshevism as a new form of domination of the proletariat. For example, the British Labour refused to follow this form of dictatorship and the unrest about the Russian Revolution within the French Socialist Party began as early as 1918. Others saw it as the model to follow. Eventually, the last organized Bolshevik movements and tried to spread the revolution in their own country. Nevertheless, the Bavarian Soviet Republic only lasted a few days before being eradicated, and the Spartakist revolt in Berlin failed as well.
Events went differently in Hungary. From March to August 1919, it was officially a soviet republic. Bela Kun, a former prisoner of war in Russia, played an important role in the shaping in the new regime. Nevertheless, the strangest element of this revolution cannot be put aside. The Soviet regime was not led by communists, but by socialists who managed to dominate Bela Kun and its followers by merging both parties within the Hungarian Socialist Party. On that account, this regime was very different from the Russian one.
The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of this secular form of soviet regime, its patterns, and its legacy. Similarly to Russia, Hungary underwent a bourgeois revolution before the soviet revolution broke up. This will be analysed first. Bela Kun is considered to be the leading figure of the revolution, hence its personal history will be central in the second part. Then the struggle between the socialists and the communists, central before and during the revolution, will be extensively analysed. Besides, the Soviet Republic, in itself, will be analysed as well. Finally, we will turn to the fall of the Soviet Republic and its legacy.

Extraits

[...] Kun and his Hungarian group saw their activities dropping down. All he could do is prepare his men for the revolution in their own country, which wasn't at first a concrete perspective. The priority of the Bolsheviks was indeed Germany. The birthplace of socialism was seen as a key element for the development of a socialist society in Russia and the beginning of the world revolution. After Brest-Litovsk, however, Germany's military defeat was far less predictable than was the Monarchy's downfall. [...]

[...] In fact, while merging with the socialists, the Bolsheviks lost what constituted their strength in Russia: a strategy of constant plotting aiming at a communist revolution. Being included in a Party, they had to remain loyal to him, and couldn't act in a provocative way. Party's patriotism hence also applied to them. IV The Soviet Republic and its fall As said formerly, the communist only had a marginal role within the new regime. For example, in June 1919, at the first congress of the Socialist Party, only 60 to 90 delegates out of 327 were communist. [...]

[...] At first, they succeeded to prevail within the Revolutionary Governing Council, but as the communists revealed to be poor policy-makers, from the third week it was the socialist whose views prevailed in the field of domestic policies. All what the communists fully control was the political police, the Hungarian Cheka led by Otto Korvin, and the Lenin Boys. But by the end of April the socialists sent an ultimatum to Kun in order to withdraw its support to these organizations. From then on, they were socialist controlled or disbanded. In the Budapest Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, the proletarian quasi-parliament of Budapest with large powers, they failed as well. [...]

[...] Credit must go to the workers and the soldiers for the victory of the revolution in Budapest. Their success was complemented by rural mass movements and the actions of the peasantry. Nevertheless, some may argue that during the night of the revolution it was the soldiers, not the workers who determined the course of events. Indicative of the distinctively democratic and regular character of the revolution was that following its victory various popular organs-workers councils, soldier's councils and people's councils- mushroomed throughout the country with amazing speed. [...]

[...] Béla Kun, future leader of the short-living Hungarian Soviet Republic, was one of them. Belà Kun was born in a small Transylvanian in 1886. In 1902, when he was sixteen, Kun joined the Hungarian Social Democratic Party. Active in the socialist sector, mainly in radical newspapers and in the worker's insurance, Kun remained however largely unknown outside the small world of socialist politics. Besides, he hadn't any function within the socialist apparatus. This would change in the future. Captured in 1916 by the Russians, he was shipped to a POW camp near Tomsk, in Siberia. [...]