János Lékai

The native form of this personal name is Lékai János. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

János Lékai
Born	(1895-06-17)17 June 1895 Varasd, Kingdom of Croatia (now Varaždin, Croatia)
Died	17 July 1925(1925-07-17) (aged 30) New York, United States
Nationality	Hungarian
Occupation(s)	Journalist, political activist, assassin

János Lékai (born Leitner; June 17, 1895 – July 17, 1925) was a Hungarian writer, journalist, editor, communist politician, and private official. He was known under the literary pseudonyms of Köres, János Lassen, and John Lassen.

As a member of the Galilei Circle, he attempted an unsuccessful assassination against Prime Minister István Tisza.

Until the emigration (1895–1919)

He was born in Varaždin (Croatia) into a well-to-do Jewish bourgeois family. His father, Lipót Leitner, a construction entrepreneur, moved from Croatia to the Hungarian capital. In Budapest, he lived in the same house as Jenő Ländler. From a young age, he dealt with social issues and published newspaper articles. His sister also worked as a journalist.

From 1917, he participated in the labor movement and became a member of the Galileo Circle, working as a contributor for Ifjúmunkás (Young Worker) and Ma (Today) newspapers. From early 1918, he belonged to the antimilitarist group led by Ottó Korvin (known as revolutionary socialists), which planned an assassination against the former Hungarian prime minister István Tisza.

"The plan for the Tisza assassination is born in the apartment on Veronika Street. János Lékai requests to speak; he is suffering from a lung disease and has a short time to live, so he must carry out the assassination. The others yield to Lékai's arguments; this time even [Korvin] Ottó does not consider that it is advantageous for the assassin to know how to handle a weapon. Lékai has never held a revolver before and does not know how to use it properly. On October 16, Ottó shows Lékai how to handle the revolver in the back room of the Seemann café. He points to a wrinkled old woman: 'This is Tisza's wife.' Lékai waits at the IV gate of the Parliament. Tisza appears. Lékai starts off in the wrong direction because Ottó confused the countess with a much older matron. In the end, Lékai manages to get close to Tisza, but the weapon misfires, and the driver knocks it out of the assassin's hand. Ottó had given Lékai a cocked pistol, which he mistakenly thought he had cocked again when he closed it."

According to Pál Demény's recollections, the pistol was obtained by him and Antal Mosolygó from István Friedrich, an elevator manufacturer in Mátyásföld, who knew the purpose for which the weapon was intended. The next day (October 17) at 4 PM, Lékai was arrested, but during the October Revolution, on October 31, the day of the successful assassination attempt against István Tisza, he was released on the verbal instructions of the delegates of the Hungarian National Council.

In November, he participated in the founding of the Communist Party in Hungary (KMP) and the National Organization of Young Workers (Ifjúmunkások), becoming the latter's secretary. He was one of the initiators of the IOSZ's separation from the Socialist Party (MSZDP) and the establishment of the Communist Young Workers' Alliance (KIMSZ). From the end of that year, he served as the editor of the newspaper *Az Ifjú Proletár*. In February 1919, he was arrested along with the leaders of the KMP. During the Hungarian Soviet Republic, he led the apprentice training department at the People's Commissariat for Education. On April 6, he was one of the presidents of KIMSZ, and at its first congress on June 20, 1919, he delivered the report. Later, the congress elected him to the Central Leadership. At the end of July, he traveled to the founding congress of the Communist Youth International, and by August 1, when the Hungarian Soviet Republic fell, he was already in Vienna.

In exile (1919–1925)

On November 20, 1919, he participated in the Second Congress of the Communist Youth International, where he was elected as an alternate member of the Leading Committee. In 1920, he worked as the head of the Southeast European Office in Berlin, as well as a staff member of the Western European Subsecretariat. At the end of 1922, he traveled to the United States based on a resolution from the Comintern to lead the Hungarian communist movement there. He edited the newspaper *Új Előre* (English: "New Forward") and engaged in literary activities under the pseudonym John Lassen.

In the autumn of 1924, he was arrested and was released only upon posting bail. He eventually died of tuberculosis in 1925 in New York. He is buried in the workers' movement section of Kerepesi Cemetery.

Works

• A dollár országa (Moscow, 1926) (English: The land of the Dollar)
• Múlt és Jövő (Budapest, 1919) (English: Past and Future)
• A rab; Forradalom; Megváltás (drámák, Lunacsarszkij előszavával, Moscow, Goszizdat, 1921) (English: The Prisoner; Revolution; Redemption (plays, with a preface by Lunacharsky, Moscow, Gosizdat, 1921)
• Vörös és fehér (r., Új Előre, 1922 februárjától folytatásokban) Red and White (serialized, Új Előre, from February 1922)
• Der Mensch (dráma három felvonásban, Konstanz, Wöhrle Verlag, 1923) English: Der Mensch (drama in three acts, Constance, Wöhrle Verlag, 1923)
• Das andere Amerika (Leipzig, 1924) English: The Other America (Leipzig, 1924)
• Lékai János válogatott írásai (Budapest, Magvető kiadó, 1963) English: Selected Writings of János Lékai (Budapest, Magvető Publishing, 1963)
• W. Pawlow und B. Köres : Die Aufgaben der kommunistischen Jugendorganisationen nach der Übernahme der Macht durch deas Proletariat. Aus der Praxis der kommunistischen Jugendinternationale (Berlin, Verlag Junge Garde, 1919) (English: W. Pawlow and B. Köres: The Tasks of Communist Youth Organizations after the Proletariat Took Power. From the Practice of the Communist Youth International (Berlin, Verlag Junge Garde, 1919)