Sandor Ek was born Alex Keil in a small village in the Austro Hungarian Empire. He worked as a graphic artist and poster designer in his native Hungary but also worked and lived in Austria, Germany and in the Soviet Union during periods of his life. Early-on, Ek became a member of the Hungarian Communist Party. He studied at arts schools run by the Hungarian painter and communist, Béla Uitz, and by József Nemes-Lampérth, a Hungarian artist and a proponent of the avant-garde.

Szikra Printing House was located at 10 Honvéd Street in Budapest, Hungary. It was the main printer for literature and propaganda produced by the Hungarian Communist Party.

The Hungarian Independent People's Front replaced the National Independence Front in order to establish a joint list for the 1949 Hungarian national elections. On May 15, 1949, the People's Front received ninety-six percent of the popular vote. Although the People's Front included members from other political parties, its core leadership were Hungarian Communists motivated on eliminating the remaining (non-communist) political factions within Hungary. In October 1954, the People's Front was reorganized as the Patriotic People's Front, and again it was reconstituted in 1990 into the Patriotic Electoral Coalition.