Quick Facts
Biography
Béla Szántó (1881–1951) was a Hungarian Communist politician active in the Hungarian Revolution of 1919 who later became a critic of the Communist party as led by Béla Kun.
Szántó 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, Szántó fled first to Vienna and then to Moscow. He played an active role in the ECCI, VKP and Profintern.
In 1930 Szántó published a history of the Hungarian revolution, in which he criticized the actions of Béla Kun, the central leader of the Hungarian communists. This caused hostile relations between Szántó and Kun. With Soviet support, Kun was ousted from the Hungarian party leadership, but Szántó 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.