TYPE: A 15, 16, 17, 18, 19
ISSUED: June 24, 1919
PROCESS: Lithographed
PAPER: Watermarked double cross
PERF: 12½ x 12
DESIGNER: (A 15, 16, 19) Ferenc Bokras; (17, 18) A Gara, and S. Grof
DESIGN AND HISTORY:
Karl Marx. 1818-1883, writer of “Das Kapital” from which both Socialists and Communists obtain their political beliefs.
Alexander (Sandor) Petofi. 1823-1849, writer of lyrics, embraced the cause of the Hungarian revolutionists in 1848; was aide-de-camp to General Bern and distinguished himself in the battle of Deva anEzasz-Sebes; statue to his memory in Budapest.
Ignas Josef Martinovics, 1755-1795, an old Franciscan, became one of the most rabid propagators of democratic ideas in Hungary; on accession of Francis II he headed a revolutionary movement, was beheaded in 1795 for a plot against the government.
Gyorgy Dozsa, born in the 16th Century, raised an army from the peasants, attacked Istvan Bathory, was burned to death on an iron throne with a fiery crown on his head.
Friedrich Engles, 1820-1895, a German, Socialist and associate of Karl Marx; edited several of the volumes of Das Kapital; spent time in England; took active part in founding of the International in 1864.

Bela Kun’s government, the Magyar Tanacskoztarsasag or Hungarian Soviet Republic (shown on the stamps) lasted only 143 days, or until some time in July of 1919, when a Socialist government came into power.

NOTES: There are plenty of forgeries in the used copies of this set; the correct dates of usage were between June 24, 1919, and November 23, 1919. The entire set is known to exist imperforate.