A Communist Odyssey : : The life of József Pogány/John Pepper / / Thomas Sakmyster.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Central European University Press eBook-Package 2013-1998
• VerfasserIn: Sakmyster, Thomas,
• Place / Publishing House: Budapest ;, New York : : Central European University Press, , [2022]; ©2012
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (265 p.)

A group of Central European communists, most of them Hungarians, in the interwar period served the world communist movement as international cadres of the Comintern, the Moscow-based Communist International. As an important member of this cohort, József Pogány played a major role in the Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919, the "March Action" in Germany in 1921, and, under the name of John Pepper, in the development of the American Communist Party of the 1920s. During the 1920s he was an important official in the Comintern apparatus and undertook missions on three continents. A prolific writer and effective organizer, he was one of the most flamboyant and controversial communists of his era. Some of his comrades praised him as "the Hungarian Christopher Columbus." Others, like Trotsky, called him a "political parasite."This study is based on newly available primary sources from Hungary, Russia, and the United States; it is the first ever written about this colorful and well-travelled Hungarian communist. Examines Pogány's development as a socialist and communist, the influence of his Jewish origins on his career, the reasons for his remarkable success in the United States, and the circumstances that led to his arrest and execution in the Stalinist terror.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- List of Abbreviations -- CHAPTER 1 The Making of József Pogány -- CHAPTER 2 The Revolutionary, 1918–1919 -- CHAPTER 3 The Communist -- CHAPTER 4 Vienna, Moscow, and Berlin -- CHAPTER 5 The “Hungarian Christopher Columbus” -- CHAPTER 6 “Pepperism” in America -- CHAPTER 7 The Comintern Cadre -- CHAPTER 8 Pepper and the “American Question,” 1924–1928 -- CHAPTER 9 Return to the New World -- CHAPTER 10 End of the Odyssey -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index -- Illustrations