Tibor Szamuely (December 27, 1890 – August 2, 1919) was a Hungarian politician and journalist who was Deputy People's Commissar of War and People's Commissar of Public Education during the Hungarian Soviet Republic. Early life Born in Nyíregyháza, in northeastern Hungary, Szamuely was the oldest son of five children of a Jewish family. After completing his university studies he became a journalist, and started his political activities as a member of the Hungarian Social Democratic Party. Political career Szamuely was drafted and fought as a soldier during World War I; in 1915, he was captured by Russia. After the Russian October Revolution in 1917, he was released. By then, Szamuely had become interested in communism. In Moscow, he organised a communist group together with Béla Kun among the Hungarian prisoners of war. Many of them, including Szamuely and Kun, joined the Soviet Red Army and fought in the Russian Civil War. In January 1918, he resided in Moscow, where he worked with Kun to organize Hungarian prisoners of war who supported the Russian Revolution. He was also a member of the Central Committee, responsible for the management of war prisoners. On March 24, he was appointed political deputy of the Communist group of Hungarian war prisoners. Between April 14 and 18, during the sessions, he participated in the meeting of the deputies. From April 3, 1918, he published a communist newspaper, Socialist Revolution, with Béla Kun. Many Hungarian war prisoners refused to join the Russian Red Guard, despite his efforts. Several Hungarian officers were executed in Russia as a result. Szamuely later went to Germany and in December 1918, he participated in the formation of the Spartacist League, with Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. He returned to Budapest on January 3, 1919. He became a member of the Central Committee of the Hungarian Communist Party and joined the editing of the Red Paper. On February 20, he went into exile but continued his activities in the exiled Central Committee, such as participation in the organisation in the party's paramilitary. Szamuely was an extremist in his views and his methods. In February 1919, as the communists in Budapest became prepared to rebel against the Social Democrat-Communist coalition government, he wrote in the pages of the Vörös Újság (Red News): "Everywhere counter-revolutionaries run about and swagger; beat them down! Beat their heads where you find them! If counter-revolutionaries were to gain the