Elek Köblös
Encyclopedia
Elek Köblös was an Austro-Hungarian
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

-born Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 and Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

 communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...

 activist and political leader. He was also known by the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

s Balthazar, Bădulescu, and Dănilă.

Early years

Elek Köblös was born May 12, 1887 into an ethnic Hungarian family in Sáromberke (present-day Dumbrăvioara, part of Ernei
Ernei
Ernei is a commune in Mureş County, Transylvania, Romania, composed of six villages:*Căluşeri / Székelykál*Dumbrăvioara / Sáromberke*Ernei*Icland / Ikland*Săcăreni / Székes*Sângeru de Pădure / Erdőszengyel-History:...

, Mureş County
Mures County
Mureș is a county of Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania, with the administrative centre in Târgu Mureș.-Geography:The county has a total area of 6,714 km²....

) in Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...

.

After completing elementary school in his native village, he continued his studies in Aiud
Aiud
Aiud is a city located in Alba county, Transylvania, Romania. The city has a population of 28,934 people. It has the status of municipality and is the second-largest city in the county, after county seat Alba Iulia. The Aiud administrative region is 142.2 square kilometres in area.- Administration...

. He dropped out of school after four years, and started as an apprentice carpenter
Carpenter
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....

 in Târgu Mureş.

As a carpenter, Köblös became active in the trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

 movement and was won over to the ideas of revolutionary socialism
Revolutionary socialism
The term revolutionary socialism refers to Socialist tendencies that advocate the need for fundamental social change through revolution by mass movements of the working class, as a strategy to achieve a socialist society...

. He took part in revolutionary activities in the Austro-Hungarian empire at the end of 1918, fighting against Romanian troops in defense of the Hungarian Soviet Republic
Hungarian Soviet Republic
The Hungarian Soviet Republic or Soviet Republic of Hungary was a short-lived Communist state established in Hungary in the aftermath of World War I....

. When Transylvania was incorporated into Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

 in 1920, Köblös became a Romanian citizen.

Political career

Elek Köblös was a delegate to the May 1921 Congress of the Socialist Party of Romania
Socialist Party of Romania
The Socialist Party of Romania was a Romanian socialist political party, created on December 11, 1918 by members of the Romanian Social Democratic Party , after the latter emerged from clandestinity...

, where supporters of the Russian October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...

 established the "Socialist-Communist Party" (soon renamed the Communist Party of Romania). Köblös was arrested at the closing of the Congress on May 12, 1921, and implicated in the Dealul Spirii Trial before being released in 1922.

In October 1922, at the 2nd Congress of the Romanian Communist Party held at Ploesti, Köblös was elected member of the Central Committee, together with Gheorghe Cristescu
Gheorghe Cristescu
Gheorghe Cristescu was a Romanian socialist and, for a part of his life, communist militant. Nicknamed "Plăpumarul" , he is also occasionally referred to as "Omul cu lavaliera roşie" , after the most notable of his accessories.-Early activism:Born in Copaciu Gheorghe Cristescu (October 10, 1882...

, Alexandru Dobrogeanu-Gherea
Alexandru Dobrogeanu-Gherea
Alexandru Dobrogeanu-Gherea or Alexandru Gherea was a Romanian communist militant and son of socialist, sociologist and literary critic Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea...

, Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu
Lucretiu Patrascanu
Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu was a Romanian communist politician and leading member of the Communist Party of Romania , also noted for his activities as a lawyer, sociologist and economist. For a while, he was a professor at Bucharest University...

, Marcel Pauker
Marcel Pauker
Marcel Pauker was a Romanian communist militant and husband of the future Romanian Communist leader Ana Pauker....

, Eugen Rozvan
Eugen Rozvan
Eugen Rozvan was a Hungarian-born Romanian communist activist, lawyer, and Marxist historian, who settled in the Soviet Union late in his life.-Biography:...

, and Boris Stefanov
Boris Stefanov
Boris Stefanov was a Romanian communist politician, who served as general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1936 to 1940.-Early life and activism:...

. Köblös headed the party's trade union section, with particular attention given to the woodworkers' union, of which he was the head.

In 1924, at the 3rd Congress held in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, Köblös was appointed general secretary
General secretary
-International intergovernmental organizations:-International nongovernmental organizations:-Sports governing bodies:...

 of the Romanian Communist Party, replacing the disillusioned Gheorghe Cristescu. He continued in this position until 1927. During this period, Köblös came into conflict with Marcel Pauker.

In the summer of 1924, Köblös travelled to Soviet Russia
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

, where he attended the 4th World Congress of the Communist International on behalf of the Romanian party.

Köblös returned to Romania in 1925, where he headed a secret meeting of the party Central Committee in July which decided to use the existing workers' and peasants' bloc as a legal outlet for Communist Party activity. This effort at legal work proved unsuccessful, however, and Köblös was forced to flee the country in the fall of 1925. He remained in exile until 1927, staying in Vienna and the Soviet Union as a part of the Romanian Communist Central Committee in exile.

In 1927, Köblös returned to Romania, where he once again came under police scrutiny. He hastily fled to Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

 but was arrested at Košice
Košice
Košice is a city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary...

 by Czechoslovak authorities and held for possible extradition
Extradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...

 to Romania. A major press campaign was launched on Köblös' behalf, with many international leftist activists, including French novelist Henri Barbusse
Henri Barbusse
Henri Barbusse was a French novelist and a member of the French Communist Party.-Life:...

, successfully lobbying the Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

 authorities not to extradite Köblös to Romania. Köblös was finally allowed to leave for the Soviet Union.

In June 1928, Köblös attended the 4th Congress of the Romanian Communist Party, held in Kharkov in the Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

. Köblös came under severe criticism at that party gathering for perceived errors in the Romanian party's political line and despite engaging in public self-criticism
Self-criticism
Self-criticism refers to the pointing out of things critical/important to one's own beliefs, thoughts, actions, behaviour or results; it can form part of private, personal reflection or a group discussion.-Philosophy:...

 for these alleged shortcomings, Köblös was not re-elected to the party's Central Committee.

In December 1929, the Russian Communist Party and the Comintern once again condemned the political activity of Köblös and he was forbidden to take part in any further work of the Romanian Communist Party. Instead, Köblös returned to carpentry in an aviation factory.

Arrest and execution

Köblös continued to make his home in the Soviet Union. He ran afoul of the secret police
Secret police
Secret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy and beyond the law to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian political regime....

 during the Great Terror
Great Terror
Great Terror may refer to:* Reign of Terror , a period of extreme violence during the French Revolution, last weeks of which are sometimes referred to as the Red Terror or Great Terror...

 of 1937, when he was arrested, accused of espionage.

Köblös was executed on October 9, 1938, most likely in the Lubyanka prison, Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

.

Elek Köblös was posthumously rehabilitated
Rehabilitation (Soviet)
Rehabilitation in the context of the former Soviet Union, and the Post-Soviet states, was the restoration of a person who was criminally prosecuted without due basis, to the state of acquittal...

 in 1968, during Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...

's move to establish his legitimacy in Communist Romania
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...

.

Additional sources

  • Vladimir Tismăneanu
    Vladimir Tismaneanu
    Vladimir Tismăneanu is a Romanian and American political scientist, political analyst, sociologist, and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park...

    , Fantoma lui Gheorghiu-Dej, Editura Univers, Bucharest, 1995
  • Dosarele Istoriei, 10/1998
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