Skip to main content

Primary sourceDiary entry1923

An Outlaw's Diary

Cécile Tormay · 1923

A 1923 memoir by Cécile Tormay describing the 1919 Hungarian revolution and the Communist regime led by Béla Kun, from a hostile witness's viewpoint.

A hostile eyewitness memoir describing the Hungarian Soviet Republic that Kun led in 1919.

Ask Béla Kun about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Full text (Internet Archive)

About this source

What it is

A two-part memoir written by Cécile Tormay and published in 1923, covering the Hungarian revolution and the subsequent Communist regime known as the Commune. It includes a foreword by the Duke of Northumberland and illustrations of figures from the period, including Lenin and others connected to the regime.

Why it matters

Tormay wrote as an opponent of the revolution, offering a counter-revolutionary perspective on the events of 1918–1919 in Hungary, including the government in which Béla Kun played the leading role. Sources like this help students see how contemporaries who disagreed with a regime described it, and how such accounts were later used to justify the government that replaced it.

Look closer

  • Why might Tormay's account of the Commune differ from one written by a supporter of Kun's government?
  • What does the choice of illustrations suggest about the book's point of view?
  • How can a diary like this be useful to historians even if it is one-sided?

This diary entry is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Béla Kun on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Béla Kun sources

Meet the AI Béla Kun →
Front page of the first issue of the Hungarian newspaper Vörös Ujság, dated Budapest, 1918 December 7, with the masthead 'VÖRÖS ÚJSÁG' and subtitle 'KOMMUNISTA LAP', and a lead editorial titled 'Osztályharcot!' in several columns of Hungarian text.Newspaper article

Primary source

Vörös Újság: First Editorial

Béla Kun · 7 December 1918

Spine and cover of a bound book with a dark green spine and grey-brown boards. Gold lettering on the spine reads 'TREATY OF PEACE... HUNGARY' and 'Cmd. 896'. A white library barcode label reads 'DOCS. COLL. CU-1' and 'D001182819'. A Google digitized watermark appears at the lower right.Document

Primary source

Treaty of Trianon

4 June 1920

Black and white photograph of a man in a dark suit and vest speaking to a dense crowd of men in hats in front of a building; other men sit on a rooftop and balcony at left and right.Photograph

Primary source

Béla Kun, Leader of the 1919 Hungarian Revolution

1919

Photograph of a yellowed Nazi propaganda pamphlet titled 'Die Totengräber Russlands' with a headline 'Nicht wegwerfen!' and 'Weitergeben!'. It has rows of ink caricatures of men's faces with text captions naming Soviet communist leaders, and the slogan 'Vor dem bolschewistischen Chaos bewahrt uns nur Adolf Hitler!' at the bottom. A handwritten note 'März 1937' is at the top left.Photograph

Primary source

Die Totengräber Russlands

March 1937

Sepia photograph of a dense crowd of men in hats and coats gathered in a city square in front of a stone building with arched windows. Lamp post and banners rise above them; a large statue on a pedestal stands at right, and a man on the far right holds a flag.Photograph

Primary source

Sándor Garbai and Béla Kun, Leaders of the Hungarian Soviet Republic

1919

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Béla Kun now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions