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

CHAPTER 5 · The “Hungarian Christopher Columbus”

CHAPTER 5 The “Hungarian Christopher Columbus” I wish I could have gone to America. Napoleon Bonaparte, in Act 3 of / JÓZSEF POGÁNY’S NAPÓLEON The American Communist movement that Pogány, using the name Joseph Lang, encountered upon his arrival in New York in mid-July 1922, was in considerable disarray, racked by a bitter factional struggle, a proliferation of rival organizations, and economic woes. Since its inception in 1919, the CPUSA had to contend with state and federal authorities that sought to suppress the movement. As a result, in its first two years the party had been forced to operate underground. By 1921, however, government repression had eased and at the insistence of the Comintern a legal Communist Party, called the Workers’ Party (WP), was established. The membership in the two arms of the party, the underground and the legal, largely overlapped, but there ensued a fierce struggle over which organization should have precedence in directing the overall Communist movement. In 1922, the CPUSA had a relatively small following among workers. There were at most twelve thousand dues-paying members, the majority of whom were foreign born. Their connection to the national Communist movement was largely through the CP’s language federations, which published ethnic newspapers, established clubs and insurance societies , and clung stubbornly to their autonomy. The Hungarian Federation , which eagerly awaited the arrival of Pogány, was typical. Many of its two hundred dues-paying members, concentrated mainly in New York and Cleveland, were aliens with a limited ability to communicate in English. To serve their needs and promote Communist objectives, the Hungarian Federation published a daily newspaper written exclusively in Hungarian, the Új Előre (New forward).1 1 Party membership data can be found in RCPUSA, 515/1/148 and 515/1/206. Draper has suggested that the true figure for 1922 was about 6,000. Draper, American Communism, 353, 391. For the state of the CPUSA in 1922, see Klehr, American Communist Movement, 37–38; Draper, Roots of American Communism, 358–62; and Zumoff, “Communist Party,” 82–83. For the Hungarian Federation and the Új Előre, see Sakmyster, ”Communist Newspaper,” 41–70. Soon after his arrival in New York Pogány appeared at the headquarters of the WP, introduced himself, and arranged to have his CP membership transferred to the CPUSA, an indication that he intended his stay in the United States to be an extended one.2 He also met with the editorial board of the Új Előre, to sketch out an ambitious program of changes he was planning. But Pogány’s own inclinations and local circumstances led him, in the first few months of his sojourn in the United States, to focus much more on the resolution of problems in the CPUSA as a whole. Only in the autumn was he able to apply himself to what supposedly was the main thrust of his mission, work with the Hungarian American Communists . Pogány appears to have made a very good initial impression on the leaders and members of the WP in the New York area, who were dazzled by his credentials as a prominent international Communist with significant experience in revolutionary activity and apparently close ties to the Bolshevik leadership in Moscow. No one seemed to be aware of his reputation for divisiveness and the fact that he had been deeply involved in two of the greatest defeats the Communist movement had suffered (Hungary in 1919 and Germany in March 1921).”3 They were prepared to accept Irén’s suggestion that her husband was truly the “Hungarian Lenin.”4 Most American Communists had never encountered such an exotic political creature as Pogány: “[He] looked like a Hungarian version of the proverbial traveling salesman. Short and stocky, with a large head and a disproportionately larger nose that proudly bore a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles perched importantly on its bridge, he dressed like a dude, combed his hair sleek and neat, was always clean-shaven, smoked goldtipped cigarettes, listened attentively to everything that was being said in his presence, and said absolutely nothing. But this man was a genuine Bolshevik, albeit a Hungarian one.”5 Whether Pogány showed anyone his Comintern letter of introduction is unclear. Given the later questioning of his status by some CPUSA leaders, it is quite possible that at this time he merely offered an oral summary of his assignment, mentioning that he was to assist both the Hungarian...