John Pepper

József Pogány was born József Schwartz in Budapest in Hungary. He was the first of three children. His family were ethnic Jews, but he himself adopted the Hungarian name Pogány to de-emphasize his Jewish origins. His father, Vilmos Schwarz, was a tradesman who became a minor civil servant; he also served Chevra Kadisa synagogue in Pest. His mother Hermina Weinberger was a hairdresser. He was not related to artist Willy Pogany, as was once claimed by Whittaker Chambers. Pogány studied at the University of Budapest (1904-1908); he spent his last six months of studies in Berlin and Paris. He wrote his dissertation on János Arany. ==Career==

Hungary Pogany worked as a high school teacher and journalist in Hungary prior to the revolution of 1918–1919. He wrote for the official organ of the Hungarian Social Democratic Party, Népszava (People's Voice), and was a war correspondent during the years of World War I. While Pogány dedicated himself to promotion of what one historian has called "the often impossible demands of the soldiers," Bartha attempted to dodge this decision with the establishment of new disciplinary "flying squads," but this move was regarded as counterrevolutionary and Bartha was forced to resign on 11 December. A Revolutionary Governing Council was established on 21 March 1919, with Pogány named People's Commissar of War. The first two decrees of the Revolutionary Governing Council instituted the death penalty for armed resistance to the new regime and a total prohibition of alcohol consumption in Hungary. On 2 April, Pogány was shifted to the less sensitive position of deputy People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs, while Szamuely was transferred to the People's Commissariat of Culture, where he assumed responsibility for the revolutionary government's military recruitment campaign. Pogány also joined Tibor Szamuely as an adherent of "Red Terror" — proposing that the Soviet government take as hostages 200 prominent citizens as a means of forcing an end to counter-revolutionary resistance. Although himself of mixed mind on the issue, Kun signed on to the plan. Upon arrival Pogány adopted a new Americanized name as his own, "John Pepper" — the name by which he was known for the rest of his life — and immediately set about learning the English language. Along with the Comintern's official representative to the CPA, Genrik Valetski, and its representative to the Communist Party's trade union movement, Boris Reinstein, Pepper attended the ill-fated August 1922 convention of the CPA, held in Bridgman, Michigan, narrowly escaping from the clutches of the police who raided the gathering. ==Death==

Pepper was arrested by the Soviet secret police (NKVD) on 27 July 1937. Following extensive interrogation, he was convicted of "participation in a counter-revolutionary organization" in a summary trial on 8 February 1938 and executed that same day. ==Legacy==

On 30 May 1956, Pepper was posthumously rehabilitated by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union. In 1962, the John Birch Society published a postcard as part of a postcard series available through its magazine American Opinion (which evolved into The New American magazine in 1985), a copy of which is available in the archive of supporter and US Representative J. Edgard Chenowth (R-CO). {{cite web {{cite book {{cite web ==Works==

• Arany János politikai nézetei. Budapest: 1909. • A Balkán-háború és az osztrák-magyar imperializmus. Budapest: 1912. • Lemberg. Tíz hónap a cárizmus uralma alatt. Budapest: 1915. • A meghódított Orosz-Lengyelországon keresztül. Budapest, 1915. • A földre szállt pokol. Az Isonzo eposza: 1916. • Dánia, a paraszt eldorádó. Budapest: 1918. • Napóleon. (play) Budapest: 1919. • a Labor Party: Recent Revolutionary Changes in American Politics: A Statement by the Workers Party.'' New York: Workers Party of America, n.d. — Three editions: 1. No author listed, 1922; 2. 2nd Revised Edition, New York, 1923; 3. 3rd Revised Edition, Chicago, 1923. • "The Farmers and the American Revolution," The Daily Worker, vol. 1, no. 317 (Jan. 19, 1924), section 2, pp. 5–6. • "Lenin," The Daily Worker, vol. 1, no. 320 (Jan. 23, 1924), pg. 1. • Radicalism": An Open Letter to Eugene V. Debs and to All Honest Workers Within the Socialist Party.'' New York: Workers Party of America, 1923. • The General Strike and the General Betrayal. Chicago: Workers (Communist) Party of America, 1926. • Why Every Miner Should be a Communist. New York: Workers Library Publishers, n.d. [1928]. • American Negro Problems. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1928. ==See also==