István Vági (24 June 1883 – 13 August 1938) was a Hungarian socialist politician.

Biography

Vági was born in to a

Reformed Reform is beneficial change. Reform, reformed or reforming may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine Places * Reform, Al ...

family and was trained carpenter. He had been a union member since 1902. During the

Hungarian Soviet Republic The Hungarian Soviet Republic, also known as the Socialist Federative Soviet Republic of Hungary was a short-lived communist state that existed from 21 March 1919 to 1 August 1919 (133 days), succeeding the First Hungarian Republic. The Hungari ...

, he served as political commissar of the construction workers' battalion in the Red Army. After the fall of the Soviet Republic, he was secretary of the Social Democratic Party organization, first in Győr, then in Pécs. Vági was one of the leaders of the left opposition within the

Hungarian Social Democratic Party The Social Democratic Party of Hungary (, , MSZDP) is a social democratic political party in Hungary. Historically, the party was dissolved during the occupation of Hungary by Nazi Germany (1944–1945) and the communist period of Hungary from ...

and maintained contacts with the banned

Hungarian Communist Party The Hungarian Communist Party (, , abbr. MKP), known earlier as the Party of Communists in Hungary (, , abbr. KMP), was a communist party in Hungary that existed during the interwar period and briefly after World War II. It was founded on Novem ...

(KMP). In January 1925 he was expelled from the Social Democratic Party. Vági was one of the co-founders of the Socialist Workers' Party of Hungary (MSZMP), a new, legal workers' party founded by left-wing social democrats and communists. At the founding party congress on April 14, 1925, Vági was elected chairman of the MSZMP. At the first KMP party congress in Vienna in August 1925, Vági was also elected to the Central Committee of the KMP, which was still illegal in Hungary. At the end of 1925, he and other officials were arrested and brought to trial. However, Vági was acquitted on August 4, 1926, due to a lack of evidence, as the police could not prove the close connection between the legal MSzMP and the illegal KMP. Before the 1926 parliamentary elections, Vági led the MSZMP's election campaign. In February 1927, Vági was arrested again, this time sentenced to four and a half years in prison. After his release in 1932, he emigrated to the Soviet Union. He then worked in the Central European department of the Red International of Trade Unions. In 1935, he was elected to the Moscow Soviet. On March 23, 1938, Vági was arrested on trumped-up charges of espionage during the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

and sentenced to death by firing squad on July 29, 1938. The sentence was carried out on August 13, 1938. István Vági was posthumously rehabilitated on November 26, 1955. In 1983, the Hungarian Post issued a special stamp to mark Vági's 100th birthday.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vagi, Istvan 1883 births 1938 deaths Hungarian Communist Party politicians Social Democratic Party of Hungary politicians Hungarian emigrants to the Soviet Union Great Purge victims from Hungary Soviet rehabilitations