Name Bela Szanto Died 1951, Budapest, Hungary | Role Hungarian Politician | |
Bela Szanto (1881–1951) was an Hungarian Communist politician active in the Hungarian Revolution of 1919 who later became a critic of the Communist party as led by Bela Kun.
Szanto joined the Communist Party of Hungary at age 19, and was elected to the Central Committee in 1919. In the Hungarian Soviet Republic he served as People's Commissar for Defence. After the revolution collapsed, Szanto fled first to Vienna and then to Moscow. He played an active role in the ECCI, VKP and Profintern.
In 1930 Szanto published a history of the Hungarian revolution, in which he criticized the actions of Bela Kun, the central leader of the Hungarian communists. This caused hostile relations between Szanto and Kun. With Soviet support, Kun was ousted from the Hungarian party leadership, but Szanto was also targeted, being expelled from the Communist Party and for a time arrested. He was rehabilitated in 1940, and in 1945 returned to Hungary.