Labour lawyer turned Communist who was interior commissar and a Red Army commander in the Hungarian Soviet Republic
Born to a Jewish family in Gelse, he became a lawyer and, as legal adviser to the railway workers’ federation, defended the leaders of the national railway strike in 1904. He joined the Social Democratic Party in 1908 and moved steadily left until he became a Communist. In March 1919 he agreed with Béla Kun in prison on introducing the dictatorship of the proletariat; in the Soviet Republic he was commissar for the interior and for trade, then commanded the Red Army’s III Corps in the northern campaign and became commander-in-chief in July. After the fall he emigrated to Austria and led the exiled Communist movement. He died in Cannes in 1928, and his ashes were placed in the Kremlin Wall.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1904Defended the leaders of the railway strike
- 1908Joined the Social Democratic Party
- 1919Commissar for the interior and for trade
- 1919Commander of III Corps; commander-in-chief from July
- 1919–1928Exile in Austria; leader of the exiled Communist movement