Constantin Mille
Encyclopedia
Constantin Mille was a Romania
n journalist, novelist, poet, lawyer, and socialist
militant, as well as a prominent human rights
activist. A Marxist
for much of his life, Mille was noted for his vocal support of peasant emancipation, for his early involvement with the Romanian Social Democratic Workers' Party (PSDMR), and his presence at the head of several magazines, culminating in his association with the moderate left-wing newspapers Adevărul
and Dimineaţa. After serving as an independent member of the Chamber of Deputies
for one mandate (1899-1903), he aligned his views with those of Take Ionescu
, and became a supporter of Romania's entry into World War I
alongside the Entente Powers
. In addition to his political career, Mille was the author of two autobiographical novels (Dinu Millian, 1884, and O viaţă, 1914).
, he later indicated, in his Dinu Millian (written on the model set by Jules Vallès
), that his childhood had been a tragic one, with his father suffering from a mental disorder and his mother falling severely ill. Also according to his testimony, Mille spent much of his childhood and early youth in a boarding school
.
He attended the local university's Faculty of Law in autumn 1878, and became associated with other socialists, including the Russian
-born Nicolae Russel, a physician and noted militant, as well as the locals Alexandru Bădărău, and the brothers Ioan and Gheorghe Nădejde. Mille also began his association with the Iaşi-based socialist magazine Contemporanul
, which carried a polemic with the established literary society Junimea
, and authored his first poems, collected in a "red notebook". Among his debut works was an 1882 poem honoring Vasile Conta
, the materialist
philosopher who had died in the same year.
Allegedly winning Eminescu's admiration, his literary attempts were nonetheless later dismissed as "pure prose" by the influential writer and critic George Călinescu
. A similar view was expressed by Traian Demetrescu
(also known as Tradem), an eclectic poet who shared views with the Symbolists
, and who contended that Mille lacked "a powerful talent, the original disposition of an artist", which had prevented him from "creating, out of [his] socialistic material, remarkable works". Tradem concluded that "[w]ithout profound meditation, without sensitivity, without imagination, an artist cannot become anything other than, at most, a fecund and passable worker, and not an illustrious figure that would endure". Most of Constantin Mille's prose works bear the imprint of Naturalism
.
With Russel and others, he organized the first General Congress of Romanian Students (1880), and ultimately attracted attention from the authorities, who, later in the same year, transported Russel out of the country as an agitator.
, where he attended the University of Paris
(spring of 1882). He became one of the main figures in the Romanian students' left-wing circle of Paris
— together with, among others, Alexandru Radovici, the future minister Mihai Săulescu, as well as Vintilă and Horia Rosetti (the sons of Radical
leader C. A. Rosetti
).
Mille and Săulescu hatched up an intricate practical joke, designed to ridicule the Conservative Party
and its press organ, Timpul
: from early in 1882 and until September, using the name Gh[eorghe] Copăcineanu, they sent letters to the editors, which presented imaginary, shock-value, accounts of student activities in the French capital, part of which specifically referred to Mille himself (among other things, they pretended that Mille had become a restaurateur, and that Copăcineanu had been assailed by socialists armed with knives while crossing the Seine
on the Austerlitz Bridge). The correspondence was published in its entirety by the Romanian newspaper, which led Mille to declare that "any inanity can fit in the journal's columns". Ultimately, Mille revealed that he was responsible for the whole affair (a notice published by Telegraful); although Timpul did not reply, Mihai Eminescu
, the influential poet who worked in the journal's mail room and reviewed all letters, later confessed to Zamfir Arbore
that he had "given approval for print without reading them".
Mille completed his studies in Brussels
, at the Université Libre
, being awarded a diploma in Law (1884). He returned to Romania during the same year, and settled in Bucharest
, joining the local Bar association
.
Although initially an advocate of common-law marriage
, Mille allegedly accepted a Romanian Orthodox
ceremony, and, according to Călinescu, "defended [his new position] through ridiculous sophistry". A founding member of the socialist circle in Bucharest (known as Cercul de Studii Sociale, the Social Studies Circle), he joined Ioan Nădejde in creating the magazine Drepturile Omului (published for several months in 1885 and reestablished in 1888, it ceased to exist in 1889).
The editors repeatedly issues calls for the creation of a working class
party, and argued in favor of public ownership, but also took inspiration from Narodnik
ideas (see Poporanism
). According to Henri H. Stahl
, during the late 1880s and early 1890s, Mille shared the vision of Vasile Morţun, Alexandru G. Radovici and Nădejde, which called on the socialist clubs to merge with progressive
and radical
forces such as George Panu's grouping. Nicknamed the generoşi ("generous ones"), and arguing that Romanian socialism could only be established when capitalism
had been fully developed, they thus disagreed with the mainstream Marxist theorist Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea
. Most of these younger socialists associated with the socialist sympathizer Constantin Stere
, and, a decade later, merged with the National Liberal Party
(PNL).
With Panait Muşoiu and Nădejde, Mille founded the magazine Munca, which was edited between 1890 and 1894. It followed in the wake of Contemporanuls 1891 disestablishment, and adhered to Dobrogeanu-Gherea's pamphlet Ce vor socialiştii români? ("What Do the Romanian Socialists Want?", 1886), which had set the tone for unifying the various socialist groups in the country. Carrying the subtitle "Organ social democrat" ("Social democratic organ"), Munca effectively relocated the center of socialist activity from Iaşi to Bucharest, and had among its collaborators Garabet Ibrăileanu
, Sofia Nădejde, and Mihai Pastia. Associated with the labor movement and frequently reporting on strikes
, the newspaper urged workers to organize into trade union
s and popularized Marxist tenets. In 1891, Nădejde, Mille and Morţun issued a manifesto
of the would-be socialist party (at the time, a loose rally of socialist clubs), entitled Manifest către ţărani, în numele Comitetului electoral al partidului ("Manifesto to the Peasants, in the Name of the Party's Election Committee").
In 1893, Mille joined the newly-created PSDMR and stood among its most radical members, calling for immediate social reform. He was to be expelled from the group two years later, due to his purchase of Adevărul
(known then as Adevĕrul), which was considered bourgeois in tone. During the same period, Adevărul became involved in a heated debate with the literary magazine Vieaţa, after publishing an article in irreverent tone which referred to the writer and editor Alexandru Vlahuţă
as "a scoundrel". From that moment on, Vieaţa repeatedly issued unflattering reviews of works by socialist authors, and chronicled Mille's poetry under the derisive title "Pliviri" ("Weedings").
Taking over as editor-in-chief following Alexandru Beldiman's death in 1898, he led the paper into opposition to the PNL cabinet of Dimitrie Sturdza
, whom he argued had betrayed the generoşi in his party by endorsing reactionary
policies. During the elections of 1899, the newspaper, through its correspondent Ioan Bacalbaşa, investigated alleged violence by government forces in Slatina
. At the time, Mille was proposed as an independent candidate for Teleorman County
, running for the Third Electoral College (that of peasants), and came to serve a mandate in the Chamber of Deputies
. He was again elected during the 1907 suffrage.
In December, following the arrival to power of Gheorghe Cantacuzino
and the Conservative Party
, Adevărul investigated and denounced the practices of a French firm who had failed to respect its obligations involving public works
in Constanţa
(see Hallier Affair). Their campaign culminated in the intervention of low-ranking police forces, who assaulted Mille and Bacalbaşa — while recovering, they were visited by the PNL's Ion I. C. Brătianu
, who expressed his sympathy.
Also in 1899, the PSDMR disbanded, when a scandal was caused by the presence of socialist clubs in the countryside — of them, the PNL's Minister of the Interior Mihail Pherekyde
claimed had been fermenting agitation, an accusation which met with protests from Mille and his Adevărul. In parallel, Muncas legacy was taken over in 1902 by Christian Rakovsky
's România Muncitoare
, which was more radical in tone and hosted contributions by Mille. As deputy, he unsuccessfully promoted universal suffrage
, and notably called for the reduction of tariffs on products of strict necessity to peasants.
and Émile Zola
during the Dreyfus Affair
which split France into two rival political camps, one in arguing in favor of nationalism
and militarism
and the other in favor of justice and human rights
. Writing at the time, he identified the Third Republic
's influential conservative
, revanchist
and antisemitic groups with a "militarist dictatorship".
In following years, Constantin Mille and Adevărul became opponents of the foreign policy endorsed by the new Sturdza cabinet, and denounced the convention signed with Austria-Hungary
regarding, among other things, the duty to extradite
Austrian citizens who took refuge to Romania — Mille argued that this was disadvantageous to ethnic Romanian
political activists in Transylvania
, Bukovina
, and the Banat
. He took the same stand on similar issues involving relations with the Russian
and Ottoman Empire
s, calling for Bessarabia
ns, Albanians
and Aromanians
who had evaded to Romania not to be persecuted. Additionally, in 1905, as the mutinous battleship Potemkin
took refuge in Constanţa, he and his newspapers asked the Cantacuzino government to offer sailors safe haven.
He issued his second daily in 1904: begun as a morning edition of Adevărul, Dimineaţa soon became a paper on its own, and, through it, Mille was responsible for bringing in several innovations in the local press. He introduced colored print and images, leading Dimineaţa to claim that it was the first daily to be published in color (1912), and was the first in his country to make use of Linotype machine
s (1907).
During the large-scale Peasants' Revolt of 1907
, he voiced criticism of the governing PNL for the violent manner in which it opted to repress protests, and questioned the attitudes of former socialists who had joined the latter group (including Constantin Stere
, who was serving as prefect). At the time, Mille wrote:
Additionally, Mille's paper called for reparations to be paid to victims' families, for an amnesty
to be declared, and for Vasile Kogălniceanu, an activist who supported the peasant cause and faced trial, to be set free; it also published the influential protest of Ion Luca Caragiale
(1907 din primăvară până'n toamnă, "1907 from Spring till Autumn"), which questioned the establishment and policies of Romania.
Immediately after the Revolt, Adevărul was among the sources to make the controversial claim that 11,000 peasants had perished in the events. According to historian Anton Caragea, a confidential report of that year, presented to his superiors by the Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Secret Service agent Günther, informed that Mille, as well as the editors of Universul
and Epoca, had been advanced sums of money in order to exaggerate the amplitude of repression, and to incite both local and international outrage. The importance and extent of Austro-Hungarian agitation remains a debated subject: it has also been argued that, in concrete terms, foreign influence proved to be insignificant.
-led politicians who split from the Conservative Party to form the Conservative-Democratic grouping. Like Ionescu, he supported measures for the union Transylvania, Banat, and Bukovina with the Kingdom of Romania
, and visited the region to attend meetings of the Romanian National Party
, but, in 1908, came into conflict with its prominent activist Iuliu Maniu
— while Mille insisted that Romanians in Transylvania and the Banat were to seek collaboration with left-wing forces in Romania, Maniu presented a purely nationalist
perspective, indicated that he expected support from the entire Romanian community. According to Sever Bocu, who witnessed the debate, Mille considered Maniu's position "reactionary
". Adevărul notably condemned the disadvantageous trade convention signed between Romania and Austria-Hungary, signaled that Romanians in the region were being subjected to violence, and alleged that the Austro-Hungarian state had included within its borders ridges of the Carpathians
that it had no right to own.
When an attempt on the life of PNL Premier Ion I. C. Brătianu
, carried out by a certain Stoenescu, occurred in December 1909, authorities took the measure of arresting România Muncitoare
editors, who were believed to be instigators of the attack. In reaction to this, Constantin Mille accused the generoşi of having left room for confusion inside the socialist camp by way of their departure to the PNL, and speculated that, through their tacit acceptance of PNL politics, they had provoked a rise in the popularity of "Anarchism
". A wider polemic ensued when the socialist-turned-Liberal Garabet Ibrăileanu
replied in Viitorul, defending those principles advocated by the generoşi in front of both Mille and Dobrogeanu-Gherea.
In 1911, Mille wrote several articles defending Alexandru Nicolau, an activist of the newly-created Social Democratic Party
who was facing trial for his vocal criticism of the Romanian Army (Nicolau was eventually acquitted).
and called for Romania to stay out of the World War, Mille became instead a vocal supporter of joining the Entente Powers
, insisting that Romania should assist France and take over Transylvania. In a 1915 letter to Leon Trotsky
, the influential socialist and Zimmerwald partisan Christian Rakovsky
accused Mille of having been corrupted by Take Ionescu, and of using his newspapers for propaganda "under the mask of independence". He also claimed: "[Ionescu] thus compensated for the weakness of his party, both in men and ideas, through corrupting the press".
As the Romanian Campaign
witnessed the occupation of Bucharest by the Central Powers
, Mille and several of his collaborators took refuge to Iaşi
, while other Adevărul journalists were arrested by German
forces and deported
to Bulgaria
. He returned after the Treaty of Bucharest
.
When the strike of compositors in Bucharest (December 13, 1918), organized by the Socialist Party of Romania
, was repressed in violence by the authorities — who saw in it signs of Bolshevik
agitation) —, Mille joined Constantin Titel Petrescu
, Radu R. Rosetti, N. D. Cocea
, and Toma Dragu on the defense team of arrested Socialists (of them, only communist
sympathizers such as Alecu Constantinescu
were found guilty, all sentenced to 5 years in prison).
historian and sociologist Oszkár Jászi
. In 1923, he helped create Liga Drepturilor Omului (the League for Human Rights
), reuniting a left-leaning activists such as Titel Petrescu, Rosetti, Constantin Rădulescu-Motru
, Virgil Madgearu
, Constantin Costa-Foru
, Nicolae L. Lupu
, Dem I. Dobrescu
, Victor Eftimiu
, and Grigore Iunian
; it was active until 1928.
He gradually ceased his work at Adevărul and, shortly before his death, handed the paper over to a consortium headed by Aristide Blank. In January 1926, during the final stage of a scandal involving Prince Carol
's wartime morganatic marriage
to Zizi Lambrino
, he came to the attention of the secret police, Siguranţa Statului, for supporting her claim that the marriage was illegally annulled by the Supreme Court
, and for offering her assistance at a time when she visited Bucharest (according to Siguranţa Statului, the two were related).
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 journalist, novelist, poet, lawyer, and 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,...
militant, as well as a prominent human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
activist. A Marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
for much of his life, Mille was noted for his vocal support of peasant emancipation, for his early involvement with the Romanian Social Democratic Workers' Party (PSDMR), and his presence at the head of several magazines, culminating in his association with the moderate left-wing newspapers Adevărul
Adevarul
Adevărul is a Romanian daily newspaper, based in Bucharest. Founded in 1871 and reestablished in 1888, it was the main left-wing press venue to be published during the Romanian Kingdom's existence, adopting an independent pro-democratic position, advocating land reform and universal suffrage...
and Dimineaţa. After serving as an independent member of 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...
for one mandate (1899-1903), he aligned his views with those of Take Ionescu
Take Ionescu
Take or Tache Ionescu was a Romanian centrist politician, journalist, lawyer and diplomat, who also enjoyed reputation as a short story author. Starting his political career as a radical member of the National Liberal Party , he joined the Conservative Party in 1891, and became noted as a social...
, and became a supporter of Romania's entry into World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
alongside the Entente Powers
Triple Entente
The Triple Entente was the name given to the alliance among Britain, France and Russia after the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907....
. In addition to his political career, Mille was the author of two autobiographical novels (Dinu Millian, 1884, and O viaţă, 1914).
Early life and literature
Born in IaşiIasi
Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...
, he later indicated, in his Dinu Millian (written on the model set by Jules Vallès
Jules Vallès
Jules Vallès was a French journalist and author.-Early life:Vallès was born in Le Puy-en-Velay, Haute-Loire. His father was a supervisor of studies , later a teacher, and unfaithful to Jules' mother. Jules was a brilliant student...
), that his childhood had been a tragic one, with his father suffering from a mental disorder and his mother falling severely ill. Also according to his testimony, Mille spent much of his childhood and early youth in a boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
.
He attended the local university's Faculty of Law in autumn 1878, and became associated with other socialists, including the Russian
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
-born Nicolae Russel, a physician and noted militant, as well as the locals Alexandru Bădărău, and the brothers Ioan and Gheorghe Nădejde. Mille also began his association with the Iaşi-based socialist magazine Contemporanul
Contemporanul
Contemporanul is a Romanian literary magazine published in Iaşi, Romania from 1881 to 1891 being sponsored by the socialist circle of the city....
, which carried a polemic with the established literary society Junimea
Junimea
Junimea was a Romanian literary society founded in Iaşi in 1863, through the initiative of several foreign-educated personalities led by Titu Maiorescu, Petre P. Carp, Vasile Pogor, Theodor Rosetti and Iacob Negruzzi...
, and authored his first poems, collected in a "red notebook". Among his debut works was an 1882 poem honoring Vasile Conta
Vasile Conta
Vasile Conta was a Romanian philosopher, poet, and politician.He was born in Ghindăoani, a village in Bălţăteşti commune, Neamţ County....
, the materialist
Materialism
In philosophy, the theory of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance...
philosopher who had died in the same year.
Allegedly winning Eminescu's admiration, his literary attempts were nonetheless later dismissed as "pure prose" by the influential writer and critic George Călinescu
George Calinescu
George Călinescu was a Romanian literary critic, historian, novelist, academician and journalist, and a writer of classicist and humanist tendencies...
. A similar view was expressed by Traian Demetrescu
Traian Demetrescu
Traian Rafael Radu Demetrescu was a Romanian poet, novelist and literary critic, considered one of the first symbolist authors in local literature...
(also known as Tradem), an eclectic poet who shared views with the Symbolists
Symbolism (arts)
Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
, and who contended that Mille lacked "a powerful talent, the original disposition of an artist", which had prevented him from "creating, out of [his] socialistic material, remarkable works". Tradem concluded that "[w]ithout profound meditation, without sensitivity, without imagination, an artist cannot become anything other than, at most, a fecund and passable worker, and not an illustrious figure that would endure". Most of Constantin Mille's prose works bear the imprint of Naturalism
Naturalism (literature)
Naturalism was a literary movement taking place from the 1880s to 1940s that used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, and environment had inescapable force in shaping human character...
.
With Russel and others, he organized the first General Congress of Romanian Students (1880), and ultimately attracted attention from the authorities, who, later in the same year, transported Russel out of the country as an agitator.
Studies abroad
Ultimately expelled from the faculty due to his politics, Mille left for FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, where he attended the University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
(spring of 1882). He became one of the main figures in the Romanian students' left-wing circle of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
— together with, among others, Alexandru Radovici, the future minister Mihai Săulescu, as well as Vintilă and Horia Rosetti (the sons of Radical
Liberalism and radicalism in Romania
This article gives an overview of Liberalism and Radicalism in Romania. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ denotes another party in this scheme...
leader C. A. Rosetti
C. A. Rosetti
Constantin Alexandru Rosetti was a Romanian literary and political leader, born in Bucharest into a Phanariot Greek family.In 1845, Rosetti went to Paris, where he met Alphonse de Lamartine, the patron of the Society of Romanian Students in Paris. In 1847, he married Mary Grant, the sister of the...
).
Mille and Săulescu hatched up an intricate practical joke, designed to ridicule the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (Romania, 1880-1918)
The Conservative Party was between 1880 and 1918 one of Romania's two most important parties, the other one being the Liberal Party...
and its press organ, Timpul
Timpul
Timpul is a newspaper published in Romania, originally published as the official platform of the defunct Conservative Party....
: from early in 1882 and until September, using the name Gh[eorghe] Copăcineanu, they sent letters to the editors, which presented imaginary, shock-value, accounts of student activities in the French capital, part of which specifically referred to Mille himself (among other things, they pretended that Mille had become a restaurateur, and that Copăcineanu had been assailed by socialists armed with knives while crossing the Seine
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
on the Austerlitz Bridge). The correspondence was published in its entirety by the Romanian newspaper, which led Mille to declare that "any inanity can fit in the journal's columns". Ultimately, Mille revealed that he was responsible for the whole affair (a notice published by Telegraful); although Timpul did not reply, Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu was a Romantic poet, novelist and journalist, often regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active member of the Junimea literary society and he worked as an editor for the newspaper Timpul , the official newspaper of the Conservative Party...
, the influential poet who worked in the journal's mail room and reviewed all letters, later confessed to Zamfir Arbore
Zamfir Arbore
Zamfir Constantin Arbore was a Bukovinan-born Romanian political activist originally active in the Russian Empire, also known for his work as an amateur historian, geographer and ethnographer. Arbore debuted in left-wing politics from early in life, gained an intimate knowledge of the Russian...
that he had "given approval for print without reading them".
Mille completed his studies in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, at the Université Libre
Université Libre de Bruxelles
The Université libre de Bruxelles is a French-speaking university in Brussels, Belgium. It has 21,000 students, 29% of whom come from abroad, and an equally cosmopolitan staff.-Name:...
, being awarded a diploma in Law (1884). He returned to Romania during the same year, and settled in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, joining the local Bar association
Bar association
A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...
.
Bucharest socialist circle
Common-law marriage
Common-law marriage, sometimes called sui juris marriage, informal marriage or marriage by habit and repute, is a form of interpersonal status that is legally recognized in limited jurisdictions as a marriage even though no legally recognized marriage ceremony is performed or civil marriage...
, Mille allegedly accepted a Romanian Orthodox
Romanian Orthodox Church
The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...
ceremony, and, according to Călinescu, "defended [his new position] through ridiculous sophistry". A founding member of the socialist circle in Bucharest (known as Cercul de Studii Sociale, the Social Studies Circle), he joined Ioan Nădejde in creating the magazine Drepturile Omului (published for several months in 1885 and reestablished in 1888, it ceased to exist in 1889).
The editors repeatedly issues calls for the creation of a working class
Working 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...
party, and argued in favor of public ownership, but also took inspiration from Narodnik
Narodnik
Narodniks was the name for Russian socially conscious members of the middle class in the 1860s and 1870s. Their ideas and actions were known as Narodnichestvo which can be translated as "Peopleism", though is more commonly rendered "populism"...
ideas (see Poporanism
Poporanism
The word “poporanism” is derived from “popor”, meaning “people” in the Romanian language. The ideology of Romanian Populism and poporanism are interchangeable. Founded by Constantin Stere in the early 1890s, populism is distinguished by its opposition to socialism, promotion of voting rights for...
). According to Henri H. Stahl
Henri H. Stahl
Henri H. Stahl was a Romanian Marxist cultural anthropologist, ethnographer, sociologist, and social historian.-Biography:...
, during the late 1880s and early 1890s, Mille shared the vision of Vasile Morţun, Alexandru G. Radovici and Nădejde, which called on the socialist clubs to merge with progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
and radical
Liberalism and radicalism in Romania
This article gives an overview of Liberalism and Radicalism in Romania. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ denotes another party in this scheme...
forces such as George Panu's grouping. Nicknamed the generoşi ("generous ones"), and arguing that Romanian socialism could only be established when capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
had been fully developed, they thus disagreed with the mainstream Marxist theorist Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea
Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea
Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea was a Romanian Marxist theorist, politician, sociologist, literary critic, and journalist....
. Most of these younger socialists associated with the socialist sympathizer Constantin Stere
Constantin Stere
Constantin G. Stere or Constantin Sterea was a Romanian writer, jurist, politician, ideologue of the Poporanist trend, and, in March 1906, co-founder Constantin G. Stere or Constantin Sterea (Romanian; , Konstantin Yegorovich Stere or Константин Георгиевич Стере, Konstantin Georgiyevich Stere;...
, and, a decade later, merged with the National Liberal Party
National Liberal Party (Romania)
The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...
(PNL).
With Panait Muşoiu and Nădejde, Mille founded the magazine Munca, which was edited between 1890 and 1894. It followed in the wake of Contemporanuls 1891 disestablishment, and adhered to Dobrogeanu-Gherea's pamphlet Ce vor socialiştii români? ("What Do the Romanian Socialists Want?", 1886), which had set the tone for unifying the various socialist groups in the country. Carrying the subtitle "Organ social democrat" ("Social democratic organ"), Munca effectively relocated the center of socialist activity from Iaşi to Bucharest, and had among its collaborators Garabet Ibrăileanu
Garabet Ibraileanu
Garabet Ibrăileanu was a Romanian-Armenian literary critic and theorist, writer, translator, sociologist, Iaşi University professor , and, together with Paul Bujor and Constantin Stere, for long main editor of the Viaţa Românească literary magazine between 1906 and 1930...
, Sofia Nădejde, and Mihai Pastia. Associated with the labor movement and frequently reporting on strikes
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
, the newspaper urged workers to organize into trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s and popularized Marxist tenets. In 1891, Nădejde, Mille and Morţun issued a manifesto
Manifesto
A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds. Manifestos may also be life stance-related.-Etymology:...
of the would-be socialist party (at the time, a loose rally of socialist clubs), entitled Manifest către ţărani, în numele Comitetului electoral al partidului ("Manifesto to the Peasants, in the Name of the Party's Election Committee").
PSDMR episode and deputy
Adevarul
Adevărul is a Romanian daily newspaper, based in Bucharest. Founded in 1871 and reestablished in 1888, it was the main left-wing press venue to be published during the Romanian Kingdom's existence, adopting an independent pro-democratic position, advocating land reform and universal suffrage...
(known then as Adevĕrul), which was considered bourgeois in tone. During the same period, Adevărul became involved in a heated debate with the literary magazine Vieaţa, after publishing an article in irreverent tone which referred to the writer and editor Alexandru Vlahuţă
Alexandru Vlahuta
Alexandru Vlahuţă was a Romanian writer. His best known work is România pitorească, an overview of Romania's landscape in the form of a travelogue. He was also the main editor of Sămănătorul magazine, alongside George Coşbuc....
as "a scoundrel". From that moment on, Vieaţa repeatedly issued unflattering reviews of works by socialist authors, and chronicled Mille's poetry under the derisive title "Pliviri" ("Weedings").
Taking over as editor-in-chief following Alexandru Beldiman's death in 1898, he led the paper into opposition to the PNL cabinet of Dimitrie Sturdza
Dimitrie Sturdza
Dimitrie Sturdza was a Romanian statesman of the late 19th century, and president of the Romanian Academy between 1882 and 1884.-Biography:Born in Iaşi, Moldavia, and educated there at the Academia Mihăileană, he continued his studies in Germany, took part in the political movements of the time,...
, whom he argued had betrayed the generoşi in his party by endorsing reactionary
Reactionary
The term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by...
policies. During the elections of 1899, the newspaper, through its correspondent Ioan Bacalbaşa, investigated alleged violence by government forces in Slatina
Slatina, Romania
Slatina is the capital city of Olt county, Romania, on the river Olt.The city administers one village, Cireaşov.-History:The town of Slatina was first mentioned on January 20, 1368 in an official document issued by Vladislav I Vlaicu, Prince of Wallachia. The document stated that merchants from...
. At the time, Mille was proposed as an independent candidate for Teleorman County
Teleorman County
Teleorman is a county of Romania, in the historical region Muntenia, with its capital city at Alexandria.The name Teleorman is of Cumanic origin. It literally means crazy forest and, by extension, "thick and shadowy forest" in the Cuman language...
, running for the Third Electoral College (that of peasants), and came to serve a mandate 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...
. He was again elected during the 1907 suffrage.
Gheorghe Cantacuzino
Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino was a Conservative Romanian politician who twice served as the Prime Minister of Romania: between 23 April 1899 and 19 July 1900 and between 4 January 1906 and 24 March 1907...
and the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (Romania, 1880-1918)
The Conservative Party was between 1880 and 1918 one of Romania's two most important parties, the other one being the Liberal Party...
, Adevărul investigated and denounced the practices of a French firm who had failed to respect its obligations involving public works
Public works
Public works are a broad category of projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community...
in Constanţa
Constanta
Constanța is the oldest extant city in Romania, founded around 600 BC. The city is located in the Dobruja region of Romania, on the Black Sea coast. It is the capital of Constanța County and the largest city in the region....
(see Hallier Affair). Their campaign culminated in the intervention of low-ranking police forces, who assaulted Mille and Bacalbaşa — while recovering, they were visited by the PNL's 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...
, who expressed his sympathy.
Also in 1899, the PSDMR disbanded, when a scandal was caused by the presence of socialist clubs in the countryside — of them, the PNL's Minister of the Interior Mihail Pherekyde
Mihail Pherekyde
Mihail Pherekyde was a Romanian politician and diplomat who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and two terms as the Minister of Internal Affairs of Kingdom of Romania-Life and political career:...
claimed had been fermenting agitation, an accusation which met with protests from Mille and his Adevărul. In parallel, Muncas legacy was taken over in 1902 by 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...
's România Muncitoare
România Muncitoare
România Muncitoare was a socialist newspaper, published in Bucharest, Romania....
, which was more radical in tone and hosted contributions by Mille. As deputy, he unsuccessfully promoted universal suffrage
Universal suffrage
Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...
, and notably called for the reduction of tariffs on products of strict necessity to peasants.
Early 1900s causes
Interested in international causes, Mille was, by 1903, a vocal supporter of Alfred DreyfusAlfred Dreyfus
Alfred Dreyfus was a French artillery officer of Jewish background whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason became one of the most tense political dramas in modern French and European history...
and Émile Zola
Émile Zola
Émile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism...
during the Dreyfus Affair
Dreyfus Affair
The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It involved the conviction for treason in November 1894 of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent...
which split France into two rival political camps, one in arguing in favor of nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
and militarism
Militarism
Militarism is defined as: the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests....
and the other in favor of justice and human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
. Writing at the time, he identified the Third Republic
French Third Republic
The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
's influential conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
, revanchist
Revanchism
Revanchism is a term used since the 1870s to describe a political manifestation of the will to reverse territorial losses incurred by a country, often following a war or social movement. Revanchism draws its strength from patriotic and retributionist thought and is often motivated by economic or...
and antisemitic groups with a "militarist dictatorship".
In following years, Constantin Mille and Adevărul became opponents of the foreign policy endorsed by the new Sturdza cabinet, and denounced the convention signed with Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
regarding, among other things, the duty to extradite
Extradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
Austrian citizens who took refuge to Romania — Mille argued that this was disadvantageous to ethnic Romanian
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
political activists in Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
, Bukovina
Bukovina
Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains.-Name:The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy, which became...
, and the Banat
Banat
The Banat is a geographical and historical region in Central Europe currently divided between three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania , the western part in northeastern Serbia , and a small...
. He took the same stand on similar issues involving relations with the Russian
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
and Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
s, calling for Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
ns, Albanians
Albanians of Romania
The Albanians are an ethnic minority in Romania. As an officially recognized ethnic minority, Albanians have one seat reserved in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies to the League of Albanians of Romania .-Demographics:In the 2002 census 520 Romanian citizens indicated their ethnicity was Albanian,...
and Aromanians
Aromanians
Aromanians are a Latin people native throughout the southern Balkans, especially in northern Greece, Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and as an emigrant community in Serbia and Romania . An older term is Macedo-Romanians...
who had evaded to Romania not to be persecuted. Additionally, in 1905, as the mutinous battleship Potemkin
Russian battleship Potemkin
The Potemkin was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the Imperial Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet. The ship was made famous by the Battleship Potemkin uprising, a rebellion of the crew against their oppressive officers in June 1905...
took refuge in Constanţa, he and his newspapers asked the Cantacuzino government to offer sailors safe haven.
He issued his second daily in 1904: begun as a morning edition of Adevărul, Dimineaţa soon became a paper on its own, and, through it, Mille was responsible for bringing in several innovations in the local press. He introduced colored print and images, leading Dimineaţa to claim that it was the first daily to be published in color (1912), and was the first in his country to make use of Linotype machine
Linotype machine
The Linotype typesetting machine is a "line casting" machine used in printing. The name of the machine comes from the fact that it produces an entire line of metal type at once, hence a line-o'-type, a significant improvement over manual typesetting....
s (1907).
During the large-scale Peasants' Revolt of 1907
1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt
The 1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt took place in March 1907 in Moldavia and it quickly spread, reaching Wallachia. The main cause was the discontent of the peasants about the inequity of land ownership, which was in the hands of just a few large landowners....
, he voiced criticism of the governing PNL for the violent manner in which it opted to repress protests, and questioned the attitudes of former socialists who had joined the latter group (including Constantin Stere
Constantin Stere
Constantin G. Stere or Constantin Sterea was a Romanian writer, jurist, politician, ideologue of the Poporanist trend, and, in March 1906, co-founder Constantin G. Stere or Constantin Sterea (Romanian; , Konstantin Yegorovich Stere or Константин Георгиевич Стере, Konstantin Georgiyevich Stere;...
, who was serving as prefect). At the time, Mille wrote:
"Pacification, not cruelty! We do not wish to start a campaign on this painful issue. We hope that we will be heard and not have to alert public opinion, because calm is required in these murky and unfortunate times. Yet we cannot allow that, after the savagery of peasant gangs, follow the savagery of people coming «with the law»."
Additionally, Mille's paper called for reparations to be paid to victims' families, for 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...
to be declared, and for Vasile Kogălniceanu, an activist who supported the peasant cause and faced trial, to be set free; it also published the influential protest of Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale was a Wallachian-born Romanian playwright, short story writer, poet, theater manager, political commentator and journalist...
(1907 din primăvară până'n toamnă, "1907 from Spring till Autumn"), which questioned the establishment and policies of Romania.
Immediately after the Revolt, Adevărul was among the sources to make the controversial claim that 11,000 peasants had perished in the events. According to historian Anton Caragea, a confidential report of that year, presented to his superiors by the Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Secret Service agent Günther, informed that Mille, as well as the editors of Universul
Universul
Universul was a mass-circulation newspaper in Romania. It existed from 1884 to 1953, and was run by Stelian Popescu from 1914 to 1943 ....
and Epoca, had been advanced sums of money in order to exaggerate the amplitude of repression, and to incite both local and international outrage. The importance and extent of Austro-Hungarian agitation remains a debated subject: it has also been argued that, in concrete terms, foreign influence proved to be insignificant.
1908-1914 politics
After 1908, Mille sided with the Take IonescuTake Ionescu
Take or Tache Ionescu was a Romanian centrist politician, journalist, lawyer and diplomat, who also enjoyed reputation as a short story author. Starting his political career as a radical member of the National Liberal Party , he joined the Conservative Party in 1891, and became noted as a social...
-led politicians who split from the Conservative Party to form the Conservative-Democratic grouping. Like Ionescu, he supported measures for the union Transylvania, Banat, and Bukovina with the Kingdom of Romania
Kingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...
, and visited the region to attend meetings of the Romanian National Party
Romanian National Party
The Romanian National Party , initially known as the Romanian National Party in Transylvania and Banat , was a political party which was initially designed to offer ethnic representation to Romanians in the Kingdom of Hungary, the Transleithanian half of Austria-Hungary, and especially to those in...
, but, in 1908, came into conflict with its prominent activist Iuliu Maniu
Iuliu Maniu
Iuliu Maniu was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian politician. A leader of the National Party of Transylvania and Banat before and after World War I, he served as Prime Minister of Romania for three terms during 1928–1933, and, with Ion Mihalache, co-founded the National Peasants'...
— while Mille insisted that Romanians in Transylvania and the Banat were to seek collaboration with left-wing forces in Romania, Maniu presented a purely nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
perspective, indicated that he expected support from the entire Romanian community. According to Sever Bocu, who witnessed the debate, Mille considered Maniu's position "reactionary
Reactionary
The term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by...
". Adevărul notably condemned the disadvantageous trade convention signed between Romania and Austria-Hungary, signaled that Romanians in the region were being subjected to violence, and alleged that the Austro-Hungarian state had included within its borders ridges of the Carpathians
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe...
that it had no right to own.
When an attempt on the life of PNL Premier 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...
, carried out by a certain Stoenescu, occurred in December 1909, authorities took the measure of arresting România Muncitoare
România Muncitoare
România Muncitoare was a socialist newspaper, published in Bucharest, Romania....
editors, who were believed to be instigators of the attack. In reaction to this, Constantin Mille accused the generoşi of having left room for confusion inside the socialist camp by way of their departure to the PNL, and speculated that, through their tacit acceptance of PNL politics, they had provoked a rise in the popularity of "Anarchism
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
". A wider polemic ensued when the socialist-turned-Liberal Garabet Ibrăileanu
Garabet Ibraileanu
Garabet Ibrăileanu was a Romanian-Armenian literary critic and theorist, writer, translator, sociologist, Iaşi University professor , and, together with Paul Bujor and Constantin Stere, for long main editor of the Viaţa Românească literary magazine between 1906 and 1930...
replied in Viitorul, defending those principles advocated by the generoşi in front of both Mille and Dobrogeanu-Gherea.
In 1911, Mille wrote several articles defending Alexandru Nicolau, an activist of the newly-created Social Democratic Party
Romanian Social Democratic Party (defunct)
The Romanian Social Democratic Party was a social-democratic political party in Romania. It published the magazine România Muncitoare, and later Socialismul, Lumea Nouă, and Libertatea.-Early party:...
who was facing trial for his vocal criticism of the Romanian Army (Nicolau was eventually acquitted).
World War I
At a time when the socialist movement grouped itself around the Zimmerwald MovementZimmerwald Conference
The Zimmerwald Conference was held in Zimmerwald, Switzerland, from September 5 through September 8, 1915. It was an international socialist conference, which saw the beginning of the end of the coalition between revolutionary socialists and reformist socialists in the Second International.-...
and called for Romania to stay out of the World War, Mille became instead a vocal supporter of joining the Entente Powers
Triple Entente
The Triple Entente was the name given to the alliance among Britain, France and Russia after the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907....
, insisting that Romania should assist France and take over Transylvania. In a 1915 letter to 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....
, the influential socialist and Zimmerwald partisan 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...
accused Mille of having been corrupted by Take Ionescu, and of using his newspapers for propaganda "under the mask of independence". He also claimed: "[Ionescu] thus compensated for the weakness of his party, both in men and ideas, through corrupting the press".
As the Romanian Campaign
Romanian Campaign (World War I)
The Romanian Campaign was part of the Balkan theatre of World War I, with Romania and Russia allied against the armies of the Central Powers. Fighting took place from August 1916 to December 1917, across most of present-day Romania, including Transylvania, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian...
witnessed the occupation of Bucharest by the Central Powers
Central Powers
The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...
, Mille and several of his collaborators took refuge to Iaşi
Iasi
Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...
, while other Adevărul journalists were arrested by German
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
forces and deported
Penal transportation
Transportation or penal transportation is the deporting of convicted criminals to a penal colony. Examples include transportation by France to Devil's Island and by the UK to its colonies in the Americas, from the 1610s through the American Revolution in the 1770s, and then to Australia between...
to 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...
. He returned after the Treaty of Bucharest
Treaty of Bucharest, 1918
The Treaty of Bucharest was a peace treaty which the German Empire forced Romania to sign on 7 May 1918 following the Romanian campaign of 1916-1917.-Main terms of the treaty:...
.
When the strike of compositors in Bucharest (December 13, 1918), organized by 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...
, was repressed in violence by the authorities — who saw in it signs of 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....
agitation) —, Mille joined Constantin Titel Petrescu
Constantin Titel Petrescu
Constantin Titel Petrescu was a Romanian politician and lawyer. He was the leader of the Romanian Social Democratic Party.He was born in Craiova, the son of an employee of the National Bank in Bucharest...
, Radu R. Rosetti, N. D. Cocea
N. D. Cocea
N. D. Cocea was a Romanian journalist, novelist, critic and left-wing political activist, known as a major but controversial figure in the field of political satire...
, and Toma Dragu on the defense team of arrested Socialists (of them, only 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...
sympathizers such as Alecu Constantinescu
Alecu Constantinescu
Alexandru "Alecu" Constantinescu was Romanian trade unionist, journalist and socialist and pacifist militant, one of the major advocates of the transformation of the Romanian socialist movement into a communist one....
were found guilty, all sentenced to 5 years in prison).
Final years
After the war, Mille began editing the magazine Lupta. Again present in Transylvania in 1921, he notably met and conversed with HungarianHungary
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...
historian and sociologist Oszkár Jászi
Oszkár Jászi
Oszkár Jászi , known in English as Oscar Jászi, was a Hungarian social scientist, historian, and politician and founder of the Grand Orient rhyte Freemason Lodge of Budapest: the Martinovics Lodge- Early years :...
. In 1923, he helped create Liga Drepturilor Omului (the League for Human Rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
), reuniting a left-leaning activists such as Titel Petrescu, Rosetti, Constantin Rădulescu-Motru
Constantin Radulescu-Motru
Constantin Rădulescu-Motru was a Romanian philosopher, psychologist, sociologist, logician, academic, dramatist, as well as centre-left nationalist politician with a noted anti-fascist discourse...
, Virgil Madgearu
Virgil Madgearu
Virgil Traian N. Madgearu was a Romanian economist, sociologist, and left-wing politician, prominent member and main theorist of the Peasants' Party and of its successor, the National Peasants' Party...
, Constantin Costa-Foru
Constantin Costa-Foru
Constantin Gheorghe Costa-Foru was a Romanian journalist, lawyer and human rights activist.He was born in Bucharest, on 26 October, in a wealthy family of Jewish origin...
, Nicolae L. Lupu
Nicolae L. Lupu
Dr. Nicolae Lupu was a Romanian politician and medical doctor, active in the National Peasants' Party....
, Dem I. Dobrescu
Dem I. Dobrescu
Dem I. Dobrescu was a Romanian left-wing politician who served as Mayor of Bucharest between February 1929 and January 1934....
, Victor Eftimiu
Victor Eftimiu
Victor Eftimiu was an Albanian-Romanian poet, playwright, and a contributor to Sburătorul, a Romanian literary magazine. His works have been performed in the State Jewish Theater of Romania....
, and Grigore Iunian
Grigore Iunian
Grigore Iunian was a Romanian left-wing politician and lawyer. A member of the National Liberal Party during the 1910s, he rallied with the Peasants' Party after World War I, and followed it into the National Peasants' Party , before leaving in 1933 to create the Radical Peasants' Party-Grigore...
; it was active until 1928.
He gradually ceased his work at Adevărul and, shortly before his death, handed the paper over to a consortium headed by Aristide Blank. In January 1926, during the final stage of a scandal involving Prince Carol
Carol II of Romania
Carol II reigned as King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until 6 September 1940. Eldest son of Ferdinand, King of Romania, and his wife, Queen Marie, a daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria...
's wartime morganatic marriage
Morganatic marriage
In the context of European royalty, a morganatic marriage is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which prevents the passage of the husband's titles and privileges to the wife and any children born of the marriage...
to Zizi Lambrino
Zizi Lambrino
Joanna Marie Valentina "Zizi" Lambrino was the first wife of King Carol II of Romania...
, he came to the attention of the secret police, Siguranţa Statului, for supporting her claim that the marriage was illegally annulled by the Supreme Court
High Court of Cassation and Justice
The High Court of Cassation and Justice is Romania's supreme court, and the court of last resort. It is the equivalent of France's Cour de cassation and serves a similar function to other courts of cassation around the world...
, and for offering her assistance at a time when she visited Bucharest (according to Siguranţa Statului, the two were related).