Gyula Háy (May 5, 1900 – May 7, 1975) was a Hungarian communist intellectual and playwright.

Gyula Háy was born in 1900 in Abony

Abony

-Geography:Abony is a town in the south-east of , between the Danube and Tisza rivers. It is from Cegléd and from Budapest, at an elevation of . The area is on the River Tisza's wide floodplain which approximates...

, Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

. He was involved in the German communist movement in the 1920s, particularly in agitprop

Agitprop

Agitprop is derived from agitation and propaganda, and describes stage plays, pamphlets, motion pictures and other art forms with an explicitly political message....

 plays. During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, he lived for a time in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

's Hotel Lux

Hotel Lux

Hotel Lux was a hotel in Moscow that, during the early years of the Soviet Union, housed many leading exiled Communists. During the Nazi era, exiles from all over Europe went there, particularly from Germany. A number of them became leading figures in German politics in the postwar era...

, along with scores of other Communist exiles.

In the 1950s he was a dissident in the Hungarian Writers' Union, and advocated for workers' councils in the months leading up to the Hungarian revolution of 1956

1956 Hungarian Revolution

The Hungarian Revolution or Uprising of 1956 was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the government of the People's Republic of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956....

. During the revolution, he played a significant role in the Hungarian Writers' Union, as a revolutionary body. He was involved in the workers council movement, and wrote the radio appeal to the intellectuals of the world which was broadcast as the Parliament building fell to Soviet troops.

Háy was arrested and sentenced to 6 years in prison in November 1957. After three and a half years in prison, he was released and a few years later in 1965, left Hungary for Switzerland with his wife Eva where he continued to write plays in the west as an emigre.

He died 1975 in Ascona

Ascona

Ascona is a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.It is located on the shore of Lake Maggiore.The town is a popular tourist destination, and holds a yearly jazz festival, the Ascona Jazz Festival....

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

.

Works in English

• Born 1900: a memoir
• "The Horse" (Das Pferd) in Three East European Plays Penguin
  Penguin
  Penguins are a group of aquatic, flightless birds living almost exclusively in the southern hemisphere, especially in Antarctica. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershaded dark and white plumage, and their wings have become flippers...
  
  : 1970.
• "Have" a play, first UK performance at the Pit, London 1990. http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsH/HayJulius.htm#16001