Boris Stefanov
Encyclopedia
Boris Stefanov was a Romania
n communist
politician, who served as general secretary
of the Romanian Communist Party
(PCR or PCdR) from 1936 to 1940.
landowning family in Dobrudja, the region straddling Romania and Bulgaria
, and spoke fluent Romanian
. He was nephew of the socialist
activist Christian Rakovsky
, and engaged in activities for regional self-determination
(see Internal Dobrujan Revolutionary Organisation
). He reportedly went into bankruptcy
, and had to renounce much of his inheritance.
Having also joined the Socialist Party of Romania
(PS), Stefanov became a successful candidate for Parliament
, but, together with Gheorghe Cristescu
and Alexandru Dobrogeanu-Gherea
, he was not validated into office. He later became critical of the PS' moderate wing, and supported a Bolshevik
program, becoming one of the PCR's founding members. At the time, he began campaigning for a land reform
, arguing that the one planned by the Alexandru Averescu
government and carried out by Ion I. C. Brătianu
was far from sufficient.
Indicted in the Dealul Spirii Trial and subject to an amnesty
, Stefanov was elected to the General Council of the Party at its second Congress of 1922, and, during the same year, he represented the minor faction in the Chamber of Deputies
, and was its envoy to the Comintern
.
outlook, he rose to the leadership of the PCR soon after the party was outlawed in 1924, and was known at the time under various pseudonym
s (including Popescu, Draganov, and Dragu). Again arrested in 1926, after a Siguranţa Statului crackdown, Stefanov was among those exposed after authorities pressured one of his comrades to hand out the names of all PCR leaders. Supported by the International Red Aid
with interventions from Marcel Pauker
, he was nonetheless sentenced for treason
during a trial he faced in Cluj
(the other person indicted, Vasile Luca
, was acquitted).
After many party activists, including the entire Politburo
, took refuge to the Soviet Union
, Stefanov, who was eventually set free, stood as leader of the local Secretariat (together with Pavel Tcacenko). He maintained his leadership position after Vitali Holostenco
was appointed general secretary, although he ensured close contacts with David Fabian, Holostenco's rival.
Stefanov led the Romanian delegation to the Fifth and Seventh Comintern World Congresses, after the formation of Popular Front
s was decided by Joseph Stalin
; despite his foreign origin, he was perceived as a local member of the PCR, and became general secretary with the deposition of Alexander Stefanski (part of a Soviet-endorsed move allowing more autonomy to the Romanian section). Subsequently, he engaged in a campaign against alleged Trotskyists
, mirroring Soviet measures that led to the Great Purge
; a committed Stalinist
, he accused both Elena Filipescu and Marcel Pauker of having sided with Leon Trotsky
.
Although himself under suspicion from Soviet overseers, he fled to Moscow in 1938, after PCR activities had been made virtually impossible by authorities of the National Renaissance Front
.
", of having introduced the theory of "neo-serfdom
" (see Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea
), as well as of having advocated a "liquidationist
" policy of a united front with bourgeois parties in 1927. The actual leadership of the PCR inside Romania was taken over by Bela Breiner.
Stefanov was a friend of Georgi Dimitrov
, who is credited with having rescued him from an almost certain doom after 1938. He spent the last decades of his life living in exile in Sofia
, Bulgaria
. In subsequent periods, Stefanov's image and status remained the subject of allegations inside Communist Romania
: in 1961, the high-ranking Communist activist Valter Roman
, who had been himself disgraced and rehabilitated
by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
, spoke out against former Communist politicians who had been purged at various stages, Stefanov included; he was interrupted by Petre Borilă
, who notably added a claim that Stefanov had admired Nazism
and had seen in it a path to a socialist economy
.
On his 80th birthday in 1963, the Bulgarian Communist government awarded Stefanov the country's top prize, the "Order of Georgi Dimitrov". The award was viewed as a deliberate attempt to irritate Romania's leadership, and a sign of cooling relations between the PCR and the Bulgarian Communist Party
.
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
politician, who served as general secretary
General secretary
-International intergovernmental organizations:-International nongovernmental organizations:-Sports governing bodies:...
of the Romanian Communist Party
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
(PCR or PCdR) from 1936 to 1940.
Early life and activism
Stefanov was born into a rich, ethnically BulgarianBulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...
landowning family in Dobrudja, the region straddling Romania and Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, and spoke fluent Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
. He was nephew of the socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
activist Christian Rakovsky
Christian Rakovsky
Christian Rakovsky was a Bulgarian socialist revolutionary, a Bolshevik politician and Soviet diplomat; he was also noted as a journalist, physician, and essayist...
, and engaged in activities for regional self-determination
Self-determination
Self-determination is the principle in international law that nations have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no external compulsion or external interference...
(see Internal Dobrujan Revolutionary Organisation
Internal Dobrujan Revolutionary Organisation
The Internal Dobrujan Revolutionary Organisation or IDRO was a Bulgarian nationalist and revolutionary organisation active in Romanian Dobruja from 1923 to 1940...
). He reportedly went into bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
, and had to renounce much of his inheritance.
Having also joined the Socialist Party of Romania
Socialist Party of Romania
The Socialist Party of Romania was a Romanian socialist political party, created on December 11, 1918 by members of the Romanian Social Democratic Party , after the latter emerged from clandestinity...
(PS), Stefanov became a successful candidate for Parliament
Parliament of Romania
The Parliament of Romania is made up of two chambers:*The Chamber of Deputies*The SenatePrior to the modifications of the Constitution in 2003, the two houses had identical attributes. A text of a law had to be approved by both houses...
, but, together with Gheorghe Cristescu
Gheorghe Cristescu
Gheorghe Cristescu was a Romanian socialist and, for a part of his life, communist militant. Nicknamed "Plăpumarul" , he is also occasionally referred to as "Omul cu lavaliera roşie" , after the most notable of his accessories.-Early activism:Born in Copaciu Gheorghe Cristescu (October 10, 1882...
and Alexandru Dobrogeanu-Gherea
Alexandru Dobrogeanu-Gherea
Alexandru Dobrogeanu-Gherea or Alexandru Gherea was a Romanian communist militant and son of socialist, sociologist and literary critic Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea...
, he was not validated into office. He later became critical of the PS' moderate wing, and supported a Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
program, becoming one of the PCR's founding members. At the time, he began campaigning for a land reform
Land reform
[Image:Jakarta farmers protest23.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Farmers protesting for Land Reform in Indonesia]Land reform involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution,...
, arguing that the one planned by the Alexandru Averescu
Alexandru Averescu
Alexandru Averescu was a Romanian marshal and populist politician. A Romanian Armed Forces Commander during World War I, he served as Prime Minister of three separate cabinets . He first rose to prominence during the peasant's revolt of 1907, which he helped repress in violence...
government and carried out by Ion I. C. Brătianu
Ion I. C. Bratianu
Ion I. C. Brătianu was a Romanian politician, leader of the National Liberal Party , the Prime Minister of Romania for five terms, and Foreign Minister on several occasions; he was the eldest son of statesman and PNL leader Ion Brătianu, the brother of Vintilă and Dinu Brătianu, and the father of...
was far from sufficient.
Indicted in the Dealul Spirii Trial and subject to an amnesty
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
, Stefanov was elected to the General Council of the Party at its second Congress of 1922, and, during the same year, he represented the minor faction in the Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of Romania
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house in Romania's bicameral parliament. It has 315 seats, to which deputies are elected by direct popular vote on a proportional representation basis to serve four-year terms...
, and was its envoy to the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
.
Stefanov and Romanian Communism
Although, like Cristescu, he was criticized by the Comintern for his allegedly minimalistMinimum programme
In Marxist theory, a minimum programme consists of a series of demands for immediate reforms and, in far fewer and less orthodox cases, also consists of a series of political demands which, taken as a whole, realise key democratic-republican measures enacted by the Paris Commune and thus culminate...
outlook, he rose to the leadership of the PCR soon after the party was outlawed in 1924, and was known at the time under various pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
s (including Popescu, Draganov, and Dragu). Again arrested in 1926, after a Siguranţa Statului crackdown, Stefanov was among those exposed after authorities pressured one of his comrades to hand out the names of all PCR leaders. Supported by the International Red Aid
International Red Aid
International Red Aid was an international social service organization established by the Communist International...
with interventions from Marcel Pauker
Marcel Pauker
Marcel Pauker was a Romanian communist militant and husband of the future Romanian Communist leader Ana Pauker....
, he was nonetheless sentenced for treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
during a trial he faced in Cluj
Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade...
(the other person indicted, Vasile Luca
Vasile Luca
Vasile Luca was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian and Soviet communist politician, a leading member of the Romanian Communist Party from 1945 and until his imprisonment in the 1950s...
, was acquitted).
After many party activists, including the entire Politburo
Politburo
Politburo , literally "Political Bureau [of the Central Committee]," is the executive committee for a number of communist political parties.-Marxist-Leninist states:...
, took refuge to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, Stefanov, who was eventually set free, stood as leader of the local Secretariat (together with Pavel Tcacenko). He maintained his leadership position after Vitali Holostenco
Vitali Holostenco
Vitali Holostenco or Holostenko was a Romanian and Soviet communist politician. He used several pseudonyms, among which Barbu and Petrulescu.-Early life:...
was appointed general secretary, although he ensured close contacts with David Fabian, Holostenco's rival.
Stefanov led the Romanian delegation to the Fifth and Seventh Comintern World Congresses, after the formation of Popular Front
Popular front
A popular front is a broad coalition of different political groupings, often made up of leftists and centrists. Being very broad, they can sometimes include centrist and liberal forces as well as socialist and communist groups...
s was decided by Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
; despite his foreign origin, he was perceived as a local member of the PCR, and became general secretary with the deposition of Alexander Stefanski (part of a Soviet-endorsed move allowing more autonomy to the Romanian section). Subsequently, he engaged in a campaign against alleged Trotskyists
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
, mirroring Soviet measures that led to the Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
; a committed Stalinist
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
, he accused both Elena Filipescu and Marcel Pauker of having sided with Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
.
Although himself under suspicion from Soviet overseers, he fled to Moscow in 1938, after PCR activities had been made virtually impossible by authorities of the National Renaissance Front
National Renaissance Front
The National Renaissance Front was a fascist Romanian political party created by King Carol II in 1938 as the single monopoly party of government following his decision to ban all other political parties and suspend the 1923 Constitution, and the passing of the 1938 Constitution of Romania...
.
Exile and later polemics
Removed from the party's leadership in 1940, he was denounced in 1951 by the Central Committee of the PCR, which accused him of having been "divorced from the working classWorking class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
", of having introduced the theory of "neo-serfdom
Serfdom
Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...
" (see Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea
Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea
Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea was a Romanian Marxist theorist, politician, sociologist, literary critic, and journalist....
), as well as of having advocated a "liquidationist
Liquidationism
Liquidationism is a term in Marxist theory which refers to the ideological liquidation of the revolutionary party program by party members. According to the Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, liquidationism "consists ideologically in negation of the revolutionary class struggle of the socialist...
" policy of a united front with bourgeois parties in 1927. The actual leadership of the PCR inside Romania was taken over by Bela Breiner.
Stefanov was a friend of Georgi Dimitrov
Georgi Dimitrov
Georgi Dimitrov Mikhaylov , also known as Georgi Mikhaylovich Dimitrov , was a Bulgarian Communist politician...
, who is credited with having rescued him from an almost certain doom after 1938. He spent the last decades of his life living in exile in Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
. In subsequent periods, Stefanov's image and status remained the subject of allegations inside Communist Romania
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
: in 1961, the high-ranking Communist activist Valter Roman
Valter Roman
Valter or Walter Roman , born Ernst or Ernő Neuländer, was a Romanian communist activist and soldier. During his lifetime, Roman was active inside the Romanian, Czechoslovakian, French, and Spanish Communist parties as well as being a Comintern cadre...
, who had been himself disgraced and rehabilitated
Rehabilitation (Soviet)
Rehabilitation in the context of the former Soviet Union, and the Post-Soviet states, was the restoration of a person who was criminally prosecuted without due basis, to the state of acquittal...
by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej was the Communist leader of Romania from 1948 until his death in 1965.-Early life:Gheorghe was the son of a poor worker, Tănase Gheorghiu, and his wife Ana. Gheorghiu-Dej joined the Communist Party of Romania in 1930...
, spoke out against former Communist politicians who had been purged at various stages, Stefanov included; he was interrupted by Petre Borilă
Petre Borila
Petre Borilă was a Romanian communist politician who briefly served as Vice-Premier under the Communist regime...
, who notably added a claim that Stefanov had admired Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
and had seen in it a path to a socialist economy
Socialist economics
Socialist economics are the economic theories and practices of hypothetical and existing socialist economic systems.A socialist economy is based on public ownership or independent cooperative ownership of the means of production, wherein production is carried out to directly produce use-value,...
.
On his 80th birthday in 1963, the Bulgarian Communist government awarded Stefanov the country's top prize, the "Order of Georgi Dimitrov". The award was viewed as a deliberate attempt to irritate Romania's leadership, and a sign of cooling relations between the PCR and the Bulgarian Communist Party
Bulgarian Communist Party
The Bulgarian Communist Party was the communist and Marxist-Leninist ruling party of the People's Republic of Bulgaria from 1946 until 1990 when the country ceased to be a communist state...
.