SZENDE, PÁL

SZENDE, PÁL (1879–1935), Hungarian politician. Born in Nyirbátor, Szende joined the "Sociological Society" in 1907 and was secretary of the National Association of Commerce from 1908 to 1918. In 1914 he joined the Radical Party, which favored Hungary's withdrawal from World War I. Szende advocated land reform and the granting of universal suffrage. When the wartime regime ended in October 1918 he was made director general of the Ministry of Finance in the revolutionary coalition government of Michael Károlyi. A month later he was made minister of finance, and within a few weeks succeeded in stabilizing the economy by means of internal borrowing and a new taxation system. In March 1919, however, the communists led by Béla Kun\>\> seized power and Szende followed Károlyi into exile. In his later years Szende lived in Vienna and Paris, where he lectured on sociology and philosophy. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Z. Horváth, Irodalom és történelem (1968), 19–35. (Baruch Yaron)