The word “poporanism” is derived from “popor”, meaning “people” in the Romanian language

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...

. The ideology of Romania

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 Populism and poporanism are interchangeable. Founded by 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;...

 in the early 1890s, populism is distinguished by its opposition to socialism

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,...

, promotion of voting rights for all, and intent to reform the parliament

Parliament

A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...

 and farming system. Regarding Romania’s agrarian situation, poporanists wished to form cooperative

Cooperative

A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...

 farms for the peasants, intending to liberate them from aristocratic

Aristocracy (class)

The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...

 control. Unlike Junimism, another popular political philosophy, poporanism focused mainly on expanding the power of the peasants. In a very nationalist manner, Poporanism was also a champion of the Romanian language and maintaining the Romanian spirit.

Narodism and Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea

Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea

Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea

Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea was a Romanian Marxist theorist, politician, sociologist, literary critic, and journalist....

, a Romanian political activist, first introduced the Russian ideas of Narodism to Romania and supported the ideas of Poporanism. The fundamental philosophy of Narodism had a lasting impact on Poporanism, spurring its rejection of capitalism and of 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...

 ideas. However, unlike Narodists, Stere did not believe that a revolution was necessary in Romania. Later, Dobrogeanu-Gherea and Stere had a split of political philosophy in regards to anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism

Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...

 and liberalism

Liberalism

Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...

, and Dobrogeanu-Gherea formed the Social-Democratic Worker’s Party, and Poporanists joined the National Liberal Party.