Tibor Szamuely

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Tibor Szamuely (1890 – 1919) was a Hungarian Communist leader. He started his political activities as a member of the Hungarian Social Democratic Party.

Szamuely was a soldier during World War I, in which he was captured by the Russians in 1915. After the Russian Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 he was released, and became a Communist. He went to Germany and in December 1918 he took part in the formation of the German Communist Party with Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg.

In March 1919, there was a Communist revolution in Hungary, under the leadership of Béla Kun, and Tibor Szamuely became another prominent leader of the young Hungarian Soviet Republic. He occupied a number of posts, but finally became people's commissar for Military Affairs and chief of the “Red Terror” organization to combat counterrevolutionary activities. In in late May 1919, Szamuely made a trip to Moscow to campaign for world revolution together with Lenin. Szamuely’s own personal guards were nicknamed The Lenin Boys.

The Hungarian Soviet Republic only lasted for a couple of months until the communist government was overthrown with the aid of several invading foreign forces. Szamuely managed to evade the “White Terror” and fled towards Austria, but after making an illegal border crossing, he was seized by the Austrian authorities and was killed. Some sources say he committed suicide.

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