Socialist Party of Romania
Encyclopedia
The Socialist Party of Romania was a Romania
n socialist
political party, created on December 11, 1918 by members of the Romanian Social Democratic Party
(PSDR), after the latter emerged from clandestinity. Through its PSDR legacy, the PS maintained a close connection with the local labor movement and was symbolically linked to the first local socialist group, the Romanian Social-Democratic Workers' Party. Its creation coincided with the establishment of Greater Romania
in the wake of World War I
; after May 1919, it began a process of fusion with the social democratic
groups of ethnic Romanians
in Austria-Hungary
— the Social Democratic Party of Transylvania and Banat and the Romanian Social Democratic Party of Bukovina. The three groups adopted a common platform in October 1920. Progressively influenced by Leninism
, the PS became divided between a maximalist
majority supporting Bolshevik
guidelines and a reformist
-minded minority: the former affiliated with the Comintern
as the Socialist-Communist Party in May 1921 (officially known as Communist Party of Romania
from 1922), while the minority eventually reestablished the PSDR.
The PS had its headquarters in Bucharest
, at the Socialist Club on Sfântul Ionică Street No.12, near the old National Theater
(located just north of University Square
, the street is currently a section of Ion Câmpineanu Street, after the latter was rerouted). The building eventually also housed all Romanian trade union
s of the period, as well as the General Trade Unions' Commission. The Socialists edited the newspaper Socialismul, headquartered on Academiei Street.
Christian Rakovsky
, played a prominent part inside the anti-war Zimmerwald Movement
. Throughout the following year, it organized rallies in support of non-intervention into what it deemed "an imperialist
conflict". When Romania joined the Entente Powers in August 1916, the group came under suspicion of supporting the Central Powers
, and was outlawed soon after. While its secretary Dumitru Marinescu was drafted and killed in action during the Romanian Campaign
, several of its prominent activists, including Rakovsky, were arrested. Gheorghe Cristescu
and others remained active in Bucharest under occupation by the Central Powers
, and maintained links with the Social Democratic Party of Germany
; the group, also including Ecaterina Arbore
, Constantin Popovici, Ilie Moscovici (known under the pseudonym of Ilie Bădulescu, brother of communist
politico Gelber Moscovici), and Constantin Titel Petrescu
, protested the peace with the Central powers
and was arrested by the Alexandru Marghiloman
government, but released through an amnesty
soon after.
The PSDR's history was decisively marked by the Russian Revolution of 1917
. Following the February Revolution
, Rakovsky was set free by Russian troops present in Iaşi
, and took refuge in Odessa
— he became active in revolutionary politics against the Romanian state, and joined the Bolsheviks. As a member of the Rumcherod
authority in Odessa
, he joined with Mihai Gheorghiu Bujor, Alecu Constantinescu
and Ion Dic Dicescu
's short-lived Romanian Social Democratic Action Committee in planning an insurgency, before being driven out by a German military intervention.
a republican
program and support for land reform
. Its program also called for an end to all forms of exploitation, but argued that this was to be fulfilled inside the existing legislative framework. King
Ferdinand I
's promise to legislate the land reform, together with electoral reform
, was embraced by PSDR's moderate wing.
After the party adopted its new name, it proclaimed its commitment to dictatorship of the proletariat
, and became involved in supporting the radicalized labor movement, culminating in the general strike
of 1920.
On , just days after the party was founded, typesetters
at various presses in Bucharest, who had been protesting since November, rallied in front of the Sfântul Ionică building and marched on the Ministry of Industry headquarters on Calea Victoriei
, asking for the eight-hour day
, salary increases, the guarantee of civil liberties
, and more say for the trade union
s. The group quickly swelled in numbers, to about as many as 15,000 workers in a contemporary account. On orders of the Constantin Coandă
cabinet, who feared Bolshevik agitation, troops were ultimately ordered to fire on the crowd and assail it with bayonet
s in as many as three successive waves. They also stormed into the Sfântul Ionică building and arrested several Socialist leaders, including the general secretary
Moscovici and I. C. Frimu
(Frimu later died in custody). Four PS members, including Alecu Constantinescu
, were each sentenced to five years in prison, while all others arrested were acquitted. Eventually, in February 1919, most demands of the Socialist group were fulfilled after the Transylvania
n Socialists Iosif Jumanca and Ioan Flueraş
, urged by Constantin Titel Petrescu
, came to Bucharest and discussed the matter with both King Ferdinand and the new Premier, Ion I. C. Brătianu
.
In May 1919, delegates of the Transylvanian and Bukovina
n groups began negotiations with the PS to form a single political movement, and elected representatives to the newly-created General Council of the Socialist Party. A single statute was adopted in October 1920.
In late 1919, the main Socialist Party and the Transylvanian wing were approached by the emerging People's Party for a fusion; the matter was discussed between, on the Socialist side, Moscovici, Flueraş, and Jumanca, and, from among the People's Party, by Alexandru Averescu
and Constantin Argetoianu
. Talks yielded no results, especially after Averescu attempted to impose his party's platform on the Socialists. During negotiations, Argetoianu observed that unease was growing between Moscovici's group and the party's far left
, rallied around Cristescu.
After the election of 1919, when it reused the PSDR's logo of two crossed hammers, the PS sent 7 representatives to the Chamber of Deputies
; it was awarded 19 seats in the latter and 3 in the Senate
following the 1920 elections. The three senatorial candidates of that year — Cristescu, Alexandru Dobrogeanu-Gherea
and Boris Stefanov
— were not validated into Parliament
, despite having carried the popular vote. The PS' involvement in the 1920 strike caused authorities to organize a swift crackdown (50 party members were still held in prisons by early 1921).
In early 1921, the PS had 27 branches nation-wide, totaling 40,000 to 45,000 registered members and rallying support from most workers affiliated with trade unions (more than 200,000 people). Estimates place the industrial working class
of the 1920s and 1930s at between 400,000 and 820,000 people.
Notable PS activists at the time were David Fabian, Elena Filipescu, and Panait Muşoiu. Among the PS' sympathizers were the artist and former prisoner of war
Nicolae Tonitza
, who regularly contributed graphics to Socialismul, and the writer Gala Galaction
.
, seen by many PS members as a successor to the Second International
. In 1920 the party sent representatives to the 2nd World Congress of the Comintern
in Moscow
, were they engaged in prolonged talks over the issue of affiliation with Christian Rakovsky
, Grigory Zinoviev
, and Nikolai Bukharin
. These were Cristescu, Dobrogeanu-Gherea, David Fabian, and Constantin Popovici; the two delegates representing the Social Democratic Party of Transylvania and Banat were Eugen Rozvan
and Flueraş — as a former member of the National Romanian Council in Transylvania
, Flueraş was deemed a "class enemy
" by the Comintern.
Specifically, Bukharin called on the PS to accept the policy changes theorized by Vladimir Lenin
(the so-called 21 points), to exclude Flueraş and others, to submit itself to supervision from the Comintern's Balkan Communist Federation
, to vote in a new Central Committee
, and to guarantee that Socialismul would be turned into a communist newspaper. An additional and hotly contested demand involved submitting trade unions to party control.
Dobrogeanu-Gherea, Popovici, and Cristescu met with Lenin, who urged them to adopt the resolution in this form, while allegedly making some promises to preserve a certain degree of autonomy for the Romanian group. Returned to Bucharest, Flueraş called on the party to return to a reformist stance and support for Greater Romania
; together with the similarly-minded Iosif Jumanca, he severed all links with the PS in after its Conference of January-February 1921 (they were later followed by Popovici, Ilie Moscovici, George Grigorovici, and Leon Ghelerter).
According to sources, during the vote on May 11, advocates of the Comintern had received 428 mandates from a total of 540, and, given the departure of the reformists, represented 51 out of 77 delegates. Commenting on the success of Leninist delegates, researchers Adrian Cioroianu
and Victor Frunză both attributed it to manipulation of inner-party electoral procedures rather than actual appeal. A third PS wing, comprising the centrists
who supported conditional affiliation and provided 111 mandates, was marginalized inside the Communist group over the following period.
The procedures were cause for much deliberation: according to his own testimony, the reformist Şerban Voinea, who translated Lenin's 21 points, was accused of having fabricated them as a means to give the Bolsheviks bad press (a fellow delegate shouted that "It was absolutely impossible for the Third International to have voted such a text, with such conditions"), while Boris Stefanov
allegedly heckled
him, suggesting Voinea leave the PS and join the National Liberal Party
("[he] kept shouting at me [...]: «To the Liberals! To the Liberals!»"). Voinea also left detail on the impact the Congress had on the outside:
and Văcăreşti. An additional 200 known Socialist-Communist militants were also incarcerated. Among those taken into custody, aside from Cristescu and Stefanov, were Vitali Holostenco
, Marcel Pauker
, Elena Filipescu, Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu
, and Elek Köblös
, all of whom were later prominent Communists. The intervention occurred at a time when the floor was taken by Köblös, the PS delegate from Târgu Mureş, who was much later accused of conspiring
with the authorities, based on speculation that his speech was in fact a signal.
Authorities prosecuted those arrested (as many as 300 in one account) in the Dealul Spirii Trial, and attempted to connect them with Max Goldstein
, a terrorist
of uncertain affiliation who had detonated a bomb inside the Romanian Senate on December 8, 1920. Charges were based on the group's rejection of Greater Romania and their advocacy of "World revolution
", which had raised suspicion that they were trying to overthrow the existing order through actions such as Goldstein's. In technical terms, this was formulated by the prosecutors as:
The instigator for the move was Constantin Argetoianu
, Minister of the Interior in the Alexandru Averescu
People's Party cabinet, who latter admitted that the arrest lacked legal grounds. He also stated that he had given Cristescu approval for the Congress as a means for the arguably illegal motion to be discussed, and evidenced that he had planned to arrest the leaders based on his belief that, once this was accomplished, "all agitation will crumble like an edifice raised on sand". The move provoked mixed reactions inside the executive: according to Argetoianu, Premier Averescu was hesitant, while the Minister of Justice, Grigore Trancu-Iaşi, advised against it (reason why Argetoianu decided to order the arrest without prior knowledge from his fellow People's Party members, as a fait accompli
). Confident, Argetoianu subsequently stated that "Communism is over in Romania".
As the trial was under way, Argetoianu allowed for several Socialist-Communist defendants (including Leonte Filipescu
) to be shot while in custody — alleging that they had attempted to flee. Several of the detainees declared they had been beaten, and some were occasionally moved to solitary confinement
.
At the 3rd Comintern Congress in July, Karl Radek
reported that the Russian Bolshevik
government and the international group at large continued to recognize the Socialist-Communist leaders in prison as the official executive body of the Romanian party. Several refugees, mostly natives of Bessarabia
, were elected as the party's representatives in Moscow
: they included Saul Ozias and Gelber Moscovici. Joining them was Alecu Constantinescu
, as the only prominent socialist present. Victor Frunză credited this moment with severing ties between the PS' tradition and the new Bolshevik course; his view was disputed by Vladimir Tismăneanu
, who concluded instead that subordination to the Comintern was equally demanded from all pro-Bolshevik PS members.
on orders King
Ferdinand
. At their 1922 Congress in Ploieşti
, the Socialist-Communists officially established the Communist Party of Romania
(PCdR), of which Cristescu was the first general secretary
. It was outlawed by the Ion I. C. Brătianu
cabinet in April 1924, through the Mârzescu Law (named after its proponent, Minister of Justice Gheorghe Gh. Mârzescu). In 1925, Cristescu himself left the Communist group after clashing with the Balkan Communist Federation
over the issue of Greater Romania
and being progressively marginalized. The PCdR survived as a marginal grouping in the underground, with much of its leadership taking refuge in the Soviet Union
; upon the close of World War II
, it was resurrected with the help of Soviet occupation
, to become the ruling party of Communist Romania
.
Reestablished in January 1922 and led by Ilie Moscovici and Constantin Popovici, the PS continued to have nominal existence after it merged into the newly-created Federation of Romanian Socialist Parties or FPSR (May 1922). Using PS symbolism and reuniting the country's reformist groups, this established its own faction in the Chamber of Deputies
, and was represented to the 2½ International
. On May 7, 1927, the various groups in the Federation merged to reestablish the Romanian Social Democratic Party
(PSD), led by Constantin Titel Petrescu
. The Socialist Party, unlike other groups, refused to join the Second International
, and affiliated instead with the Paris Bureau (it was joined in this by a group on the PSD's left wing).
Claiming direct lineage and legitimacy, the Communists encouraged several myths about the Socialist Party: in 1921, Rakovsky made the claim that the PCdR had inherited the vast majority of the PS' 40,000 members (such a view was virulently rejected by the FPSR, who credited the PCdR with no more than 500 members, while the Comintern itself eventually reduced the official claim to 2,000 members); in 1951, several years after the Communist Party came to power, its leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
encouraged the notion that voting on affiliation to the Comintern had occurred on May 13 instead of May 12 (and at a time when most people who voted in favor had already been taken into custody) — this version was interpreted as an attempt to depict the PCdR as a natural successor to the PS.
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 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,...
political party, created on December 11, 1918 by members of the Romanian 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:...
(PSDR), after the latter emerged from clandestinity. Through its PSDR legacy, the PS maintained a close connection with the local labor movement and was symbolically linked to the first local socialist group, the Romanian Social-Democratic Workers' Party. Its creation coincided with the establishment of Greater Romania
Greater Romania
The Greater Romania generally refers to the territory of Romania in the years between the First World War and the Second World War, the largest geographical extent of Romania up to that time and its largest peacetime extent ever ; more precisely, it refers to the territory of the Kingdom of...
in the wake of 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...
; after May 1919, it began a process of fusion with the social democratic
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
groups of ethnic Romanians
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
in 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...
— the Social Democratic Party of Transylvania and Banat and the Romanian Social Democratic Party of Bukovina. The three groups adopted a common platform in October 1920. Progressively influenced by Leninism
Leninism
In Marxist philosophy, Leninism is the body of political theory for the democratic organisation of a revolutionary vanguard party, and the achievement of a direct-democracy dictatorship of the proletariat, as political prelude to the establishment of socialism...
, the PS became divided between a maximalist
Maximum programme
In Marxist theory, a maximum programme consists of a series of demands which will achieve socialism.The concept of a maximum programme comes from the Erfurt Programme of the SPD, later mirrored by much of the Socialist International. The maximum is contrasted with a minimum programme of immediate...
majority supporting 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....
guidelines and a reformist
Reformism
Reformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures...
-minded minority: the former affiliated with 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...
as the Socialist-Communist Party in May 1921 (officially known as Communist Party of Romania
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...
from 1922), while the minority eventually reestablished the PSDR.
The PS had its headquarters 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....
, at the Socialist Club on Sfântul Ionică Street No.12, near the old National Theater
National Theatre Bucharest
The National Theatre Bucharest is one of the national theatres of Romania, located in the capital city of Bucharest.-Founding:It was founded as the Teatrul cel Mare din Bucureşti in 1852, its first director being Costache Caragiale...
(located just north of University Square
University Square, Bucharest
University Square is located in downtown Bucharest, near the University of Bucharest.Four statues are located in the University Square, in front of the University; they depict Ion Heliade Rădulescu , Michael the Brave , Gheorghe Lazăr and Spiru Haret .The square was the site of the 1990 Golaniad,...
, the street is currently a section of Ion Câmpineanu Street, after the latter was rerouted). The building eventually also housed all Romanian 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 of the period, as well as the General Trade Unions' Commission. The Socialists edited the newspaper Socialismul, headquartered on Academiei Street.
Context
In 1915, at a time when Romania hept its neutrality, the PSDR, led by the revolutionary-minded MarxistMarxism
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...
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...
, played a prominent part inside the anti-war Zimmerwald Movement
Zimmerwald 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.-...
. Throughout the following year, it organized rallies in support of non-intervention into what it deemed "an imperialist
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
conflict". When Romania joined the Entente Powers in August 1916, the group came under suspicion of supporting 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...
, and was outlawed soon after. While its secretary Dumitru Marinescu was drafted and killed in action during 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...
, several of its prominent activists, including Rakovsky, were arrested. 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 others remained active in Bucharest under occupation 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...
, and maintained links with the Social Democratic Party of Germany
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
; the group, also including Ecaterina Arbore
Ecaterina Arbore
Ecaterina Arbore, Arbore-Ralli or Ralli-Arbore , daughter of Zamfir Arbore , was a Romanian, Soviet and Moldovan communist activist and official.-Early life:She trained towards a medical...
, Constantin Popovici, Ilie Moscovici (known under the pseudonym of Ilie Bădulescu, brother of 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...
politico Gelber Moscovici), and 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...
, protested the peace with the Central powers
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:...
and was arrested by the Alexandru Marghiloman
Alexandru Marghiloman
Alexandru Marghiloman was a Romanian conservative statesman who served for a short time in 1918 as Prime Minister of Romania, and had a decisive role during World War I.-Early career:...
government, but released through 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...
soon after.
The PSDR's history was decisively marked by the Russian Revolution of 1917
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
. Following the February Revolution
February Revolution
The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...
, Rakovsky was set free by Russian troops present in 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...
, and took refuge in Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
— he became active in revolutionary politics against the Romanian state, and joined the Bolsheviks. As a member of the Rumcherod
Rumcherod
Rumcherod was a self-proclaimed, unrecognized, and short-lived organ of Soviet power in the South-Western part of Russian Empire that functioned during May 1917–May 1918...
authority in Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
, he joined with Mihai Gheorghiu Bujor, 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....
and Ion Dic Dicescu
Ion Dic Dicescu
Ion Dic Dicescu was a Romanian communist and journalist.Although born in Bucharest, he spend most of his life in Russia/Soviet Union . He became a member of the Bolshevik Party and from 1922 a teacher at various Moscow universities...
's short-lived Romanian Social Democratic Action Committee in planning an insurgency, before being driven out by a German military intervention.
Creation
The PSDR itself radicalized its message, adding to its previous calls for universal suffrageUniversal 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...
a republican
Republicanism
Republicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context...
program and support for 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,...
. Its program also called for an end to all forms of exploitation, but argued that this was to be fulfilled inside the existing legislative framework. King
King of Romania
King of the Romanians , rather than King of Romania , was the official title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when Romania was proclaimed a republic....
Ferdinand I
Ferdinand I of Romania
Ferdinand was the King of Romania from 10 October 1914 until his death.-Early life:Born in Sigmaringen in southwestern Germany, the Roman Catholic Prince Ferdinand Viktor Albert Meinrad of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, later simply of Hohenzollern, was a son of Leopold, Prince of...
's promise to legislate the land reform, together with electoral reform
Electoral reform
Electoral reform is change in electoral systems to improve how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of:...
, was embraced by PSDR's moderate wing.
After the party adopted its new name, it proclaimed its commitment to dictatorship of the proletariat
Dictatorship of the proletariat
In Marxist socio-political thought, the dictatorship of the proletariat refers to a socialist state in which the proletariat, or the working class, have control of political power. The term, coined by Joseph Weydemeyer, was adopted by the founders of Marxism, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, in the...
, and became involved in supporting the radicalized labor movement, culminating in the general strike
General strike
A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
of 1920.
Typesetting
Typesetting is the composition of text by means of types.Typesetting requires the prior process of designing a font and storing it in some manner...
at various presses in Bucharest, who had been protesting since November, rallied in front of the Sfântul Ionică building and marched on the Ministry of Industry headquarters on Calea Victoriei
Calea Victoriei
Calea Victoriei is a major avenue in central Bucharest. It leads from Splaiul Independenţei to the north and then northwest up to Piaţa Victoriei, where Şoseaua Kiseleff continues north....
, asking for the eight-hour day
Eight-hour day
The eight-hour day movement or 40-hour week movement, also known as the short-time movement, had its origins in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, where industrial production in large factories transformed working life and imposed long hours and poor working conditions. With working conditions...
, salary increases, the guarantee of civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
, and more say for the 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. The group quickly swelled in numbers, to about as many as 15,000 workers in a contemporary account. On orders of the Constantin Coandă
Constantin Coanda
Constantin Coandă was a Romanian soldier and politician. He reached the rank of general in the Romanian Army, and later became mathematics professor at the National School of Bridges and Roads in Bucharest...
cabinet, who feared Bolshevik agitation, troops were ultimately ordered to fire on the crowd and assail it with bayonet
Bayonet
A bayonet is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit in, on, over or underneath the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar weapon, effectively turning the gun into a spear...
s in as many as three successive waves. They also stormed into the Sfântul Ionică building and arrested several Socialist leaders, including the general secretary
General secretary
-International intergovernmental organizations:-International nongovernmental organizations:-Sports governing bodies:...
Moscovici and I. C. Frimu
I. C. Frimu
Ion Costache Frimu was a Romanian socialist militant and politician, a leading member of the Romanian Social Democratic Party and labor activist...
(Frimu later died in custody). Four PS members, including 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 each sentenced to five years in prison, while all others arrested were acquitted. Eventually, in February 1919, most demands of the Socialist group were fulfilled after the 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...
n Socialists Iosif Jumanca and Ioan Flueraş
Ioan Flueras
Ioan Flueraş was a Romanian social democratic politician and a victim of the communist regime.-Early activities:...
, urged by 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...
, came to Bucharest and discussed the matter with both King Ferdinand and the new 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...
.
In May 1919, delegates of the Transylvanian and 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...
n groups began negotiations with the PS to form a single political movement, and elected representatives to the newly-created General Council of the Socialist Party. A single statute was adopted in October 1920.
In late 1919, the main Socialist Party and the Transylvanian wing were approached by the emerging People's Party for a fusion; the matter was discussed between, on the Socialist side, Moscovici, Flueraş, and Jumanca, and, from among the People's Party, by 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...
and Constantin Argetoianu
Constantin Argetoianu
Constantin Argetoianu was a Romanian politician, one of the best-known personalities of interwar Greater Romania, who served as the Prime Minister between September 28 and November 23, 1939. His memoirs, Memorii. Pentru cei de mâine. Amintiri din vremea celor de ieri Constantin Argetoianu...
. Talks yielded no results, especially after Averescu attempted to impose his party's platform on the Socialists. During negotiations, Argetoianu observed that unease was growing between Moscovici's group and the party's far left
Far left
Far left, also known as the revolutionary left, radical left and extreme left are terms which refer to the highest degree of leftist positions among left-wing politics...
, rallied around Cristescu.
After the election of 1919, when it reused the PSDR's logo of two crossed hammers, the PS sent 7 representatives to 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...
; it was awarded 19 seats in the latter and 3 in the Senate
Senate of Romania
The Senate of Romania is the upper house in the bicameral Parliament of Romania. It has 137 seats , to which members are elected by direct popular vote, using Mixed member proportional representation in 42 electoral districts , to serve four-year terms.-Former location:After the Romanian...
following the 1920 elections. The three senatorial candidates of that year — Cristescu, 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...
and Boris Stefanov
Boris Stefanov
Boris Stefanov was a Romanian communist politician, who served as general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1936 to 1940.-Early life and activism:...
— were not validated into 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...
, despite having carried the popular vote. The PS' involvement in the 1920 strike caused authorities to organize a swift crackdown (50 party members were still held in prisons by early 1921).
In early 1921, the PS had 27 branches nation-wide, totaling 40,000 to 45,000 registered members and rallying support from most workers affiliated with trade unions (more than 200,000 people). Estimates place the industrial 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...
of the 1920s and 1930s at between 400,000 and 820,000 people.
Notable PS activists at the time were David Fabian, Elena Filipescu, and Panait Muşoiu. Among the PS' sympathizers were the artist and former prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
Nicolae Tonitza
Nicolae Tonitza
Nicolae Tonitza was a Romanian painter, engraver, lithographer, journalist and art critic. Drawing inspiration from Post-impressionism and Expressionism, he had a major role in introducing modernist guidelines to local art.-Biography:...
, who regularly contributed graphics to Socialismul, and the writer Gala Galaction
Gala Galaction
Gala Galaction was a Romanian Orthodox clergyman and theologian, writer, journalist, left-wing activist, as well as a political figure of the People's Republic of Romania...
.
Comintern and reformist split
The major issue splitting the party involved affiliation to the CominternComintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
, seen by many PS members as a successor to the Second International
Second International
The Second International , the original Socialist International, was an organization of socialist and labour parties formed in Paris on July 14, 1889. At the Paris meeting delegations from 20 countries participated...
. In 1920 the party sent representatives to the 2nd World Congress of the Comintern
2nd World Congress of the Comintern
The 2nd World Congress of the Comintern was a gathering of approximately 220 voting and non-voting representatives of Communist and revolutionary socialist political parties from around the world, held in Petrograd and Moscow from July 19 to August 7, 1920...
in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, were they engaged in prolonged talks over the issue of affiliation with 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...
, Grigory Zinoviev
Grigory Zinoviev
Grigory Yevseevich Zinoviev , born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky Apfelbaum , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet Communist politician...
, and Nikolai Bukharin
Nikolai Bukharin
Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin , was a Russian Marxist, Bolshevik revolutionary, and Soviet politician. He was a member of the Politburo and Central Committee , chairman of the Communist International , and the editor in chief of Pravda , the journal Bolshevik , Izvestia , and the Great Soviet...
. These were Cristescu, Dobrogeanu-Gherea, David Fabian, and Constantin Popovici; the two delegates representing the Social Democratic Party of Transylvania and Banat were Eugen Rozvan
Eugen Rozvan
Eugen Rozvan was a Hungarian-born Romanian communist activist, lawyer, and Marxist historian, who settled in the Soviet Union late in his life.-Biography:...
and Flueraş — as a former member of the National Romanian Council in Transylvania
Union of Transylvania with Romania
Union of Transylvania with Romania was declared on by the assembly of the delegates of ethnic Romanians held in Alba Iulia.The national holiday of Romania, the Great Union Day occurring on December 1, commemorates this event...
, Flueraş was deemed a "class enemy
Enemy of the people
The term enemy of the people is a fluid designation of political or class opponents of the group using the term. The term implies that the "enemies" in question are acting against society as a whole. It is similar to the notion of "enemy of the state". The term originated in Roman times as ,...
" by the Comintern.
Specifically, Bukharin called on the PS to accept the policy changes theorized by Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
(the so-called 21 points), to exclude Flueraş and others, to submit itself to supervision from the Comintern's Balkan Communist Federation
Balkan Communist Federation
The Balkan Federation was a project about the creation of a Balkan federation or confederation, based mainly on left political ideas.The concept of a Balkan federation emerged at the late 19th century from among left political forces in the region...
, to vote in a new Central Committee
Central Committee
Central Committee was the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, whether ruling or non-ruling in the twentieth century and of the surviving, mostly Trotskyist, states in the early twenty first. In such party organizations the...
, and to guarantee that Socialismul would be turned into a communist newspaper. An additional and hotly contested demand involved submitting trade unions to party control.
Dobrogeanu-Gherea, Popovici, and Cristescu met with Lenin, who urged them to adopt the resolution in this form, while allegedly making some promises to preserve a certain degree of autonomy for the Romanian group. Returned to Bucharest, Flueraş called on the party to return to a reformist stance and support for Greater Romania
Greater Romania
The Greater Romania generally refers to the territory of Romania in the years between the First World War and the Second World War, the largest geographical extent of Romania up to that time and its largest peacetime extent ever ; more precisely, it refers to the territory of the Kingdom of...
; together with the similarly-minded Iosif Jumanca, he severed all links with the PS in after its Conference of January-February 1921 (they were later followed by Popovici, Ilie Moscovici, George Grigorovici, and Leon Ghelerter).
May Congress
At the same time, the maximalist wing, led by Cristescu (who renounced his reserves after first engaging in a heated polemic with Rozvan), passed the resolution to join the Comintern and accept Lenin's 21 points. The Cominternist motion was drafted with support from 18 out of 38 members of the General Council, and submitted to the Congress which took place after May 8, with the maximalist faction adopting the name of Socialist-Communist Party (PCdR).According to sources, during the vote on May 11, advocates of the Comintern had received 428 mandates from a total of 540, and, given the departure of the reformists, represented 51 out of 77 delegates. Commenting on the success of Leninist delegates, researchers Adrian Cioroianu
Adrian Cioroianu
Adrian Mihai Cioroianu is a Romanian historian, politician, journalist, and essayist. A lecturer for the History Department at the University of Bucharest, he is the author of several books dealing with Romanian history...
and Victor Frunză both attributed it to manipulation of inner-party electoral procedures rather than actual appeal. A third PS wing, comprising the centrists
Centrism
In politics, centrism is the ideal or the practice of promoting policies that lie different from the standard political left and political right. Most commonly, this is visualized as part of the one-dimensional political spectrum of left-right politics, with centrism landing in the middle between...
who supported conditional affiliation and provided 111 mandates, was marginalized inside the Communist group over the following period.
The procedures were cause for much deliberation: according to his own testimony, the reformist Şerban Voinea, who translated Lenin's 21 points, was accused of having fabricated them as a means to give the Bolsheviks bad press (a fellow delegate shouted that "It was absolutely impossible for the Third International to have voted such a text, with such conditions"), while Boris Stefanov
Boris Stefanov
Boris Stefanov was a Romanian communist politician, who served as general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1936 to 1940.-Early life and activism:...
allegedly heckled
Heckler
A heckler is a person who harass and try to disconcert others with questions, challenges, or gibes.Hecklers are often known to shout disparaging comments at a performance or event, or interrupts set-piece speeches, for example at a political meeting, with intent to disturb its performers or...
him, suggesting Voinea leave the PS and join 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...
("[he] kept shouting at me [...]: «To the Liberals! To the Liberals!»"). Voinea also left detail on the impact the Congress had on the outside:
"The matter had become a slogan with which people would greet each other throughout the city: «Long live the third [International]! Long live the third!». Children would say to one another: «Long live the third!». At the time, it took real civic courage to declare oneself against the IIIrd International."
Repression
Romanian Army regulars headed by a Royal Commissioner stormed into the Sfântul Ionică building at 15:00 on May 12, 1921; all 51 Socialist-Communist delegates were separated from the group, arrested, and transported to the penal facilities of JilavaJilava
Jilava is a commune in Ilfov county, Romania, near Bucharest. It is composed of a single village, Jilava.The name derives from a Romanian word of Slavic origin meaning "humid place". Jilava was the location of a fort built by King Carol I of Romania, as part of the capital's defense system...
and Văcăreşti. An additional 200 known Socialist-Communist militants were also incarcerated. Among those taken into custody, aside from Cristescu and Stefanov, were 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:...
, Marcel Pauker
Marcel Pauker
Marcel Pauker was a Romanian communist militant and husband of the future Romanian Communist leader Ana Pauker....
, Elena Filipescu, Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu
Lucretiu Patrascanu
Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu was a Romanian communist politician and leading member of the Communist Party of Romania , also noted for his activities as a lawyer, sociologist and economist. For a while, he was a professor at Bucharest University...
, and Elek Köblös
Elek Köblös
Elek Köblös was an Austro-Hungarian-born Hungarian and Romania communist activist and political leader. He was also known by the pseudonyms Balthazar, Bădulescu, and Dănilă.-Early years:...
, all of whom were later prominent Communists. The intervention occurred at a time when the floor was taken by Köblös, the PS delegate from Târgu Mureş, who was much later accused of conspiring
Conspiracy (political)
In a political sense, conspiracy refers to a group of persons united in the goal of usurping or overthrowing an established political power. Typically, the final goal is to gain power through a revolutionary coup d'état or through assassination....
with the authorities, based on speculation that his speech was in fact a signal.
Authorities prosecuted those arrested (as many as 300 in one account) in the Dealul Spirii Trial, and attempted to connect them with Max Goldstein
Max Goldstein
Max Goldstein , also known as Coca, was a Romanian revolutionary, variously described as a communist and an anarchist.Born in Bârlad to a Jewish family, he worked as a clerk and moved to Bucharest, where he became a Communist sympathizer...
, a terrorist
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
of uncertain affiliation who had detonated a bomb inside the Romanian Senate on December 8, 1920. Charges were based on the group's rejection of Greater Romania and their advocacy of "World revolution
World revolution
World revolution is the Marxist concept of overthrowing capitalism in all countries through the conscious revolutionary action of the organized working class...
", which had raised suspicion that they were trying to overthrow the existing order through actions such as Goldstein's. In technical terms, this was formulated by the prosecutors as:
"Congress overstepped [its] order of the day and submitted to debate affiliation to the Third International, deciding to vote on it."
The instigator for the move was Constantin Argetoianu
Constantin Argetoianu
Constantin Argetoianu was a Romanian politician, one of the best-known personalities of interwar Greater Romania, who served as the Prime Minister between September 28 and November 23, 1939. His memoirs, Memorii. Pentru cei de mâine. Amintiri din vremea celor de ieri Constantin Argetoianu...
, Minister of the Interior in 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...
People's Party cabinet, who latter admitted that the arrest lacked legal grounds. He also stated that he had given Cristescu approval for the Congress as a means for the arguably illegal motion to be discussed, and evidenced that he had planned to arrest the leaders based on his belief that, once this was accomplished, "all agitation will crumble like an edifice raised on sand". The move provoked mixed reactions inside the executive: according to Argetoianu, Premier Averescu was hesitant, while the Minister of Justice, Grigore Trancu-Iaşi, advised against it (reason why Argetoianu decided to order the arrest without prior knowledge from his fellow People's Party members, as a fait accompli
Fait Accompli
Fait accompli is a French phrase which means literally "an accomplished deed". It is commonly used to describe an action which is completed before those affected by it are in a position to query or reverse it...
). Confident, Argetoianu subsequently stated that "Communism is over in Romania".
As the trial was under way, Argetoianu allowed for several Socialist-Communist defendants (including Leonte Filipescu
Leonte Filipescu
Leonte Filipescu was one of the leaders of the early Romanian communist movement, shot in custody by the Romanian authorities....
) to be shot while in custody — alleging that they had attempted to flee. Several of the detainees declared they had been beaten, and some were occasionally moved to solitary confinement
Solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, though often with the exception of members of prison staff. It is sometimes employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, and has been cited as an additional...
.
At the 3rd Comintern Congress in July, Karl Radek
Karl Radek
Karl Bernhardovic Radek was a socialist active in the Polish and German movements before World War I and an international Communist leader after the Russian Revolution....
reported that the Russian Bolshevik
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
government and the international group at large continued to recognize the Socialist-Communist leaders in prison as the official executive body of the Romanian party. Several refugees, mostly natives of 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....
, were elected as the party's representatives in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
: they included Saul Ozias and Gelber Moscovici. Joining them was 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....
, as the only prominent socialist present. Victor Frunză credited this moment with severing ties between the PS' tradition and the new Bolshevik course; his view was disputed by Vladimir Tismăneanu
Vladimir Tismaneanu
Vladimir Tismăneanu is a Romanian and American political scientist, political analyst, sociologist, and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park...
, who concluded instead that subordination to the Comintern was equally demanded from all pro-Bolshevik PS members.
Aftermath and legacy
Most of the accused were eventually amnestiedAmnesty
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...
on orders King
King of Romania
King of the Romanians , rather than King of Romania , was the official title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when Romania was proclaimed a republic....
Ferdinand
Ferdinand I of Romania
Ferdinand was the King of Romania from 10 October 1914 until his death.-Early life:Born in Sigmaringen in southwestern Germany, the Roman Catholic Prince Ferdinand Viktor Albert Meinrad of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, later simply of Hohenzollern, was a son of Leopold, Prince of...
. At their 1922 Congress in Ploieşti
Ploiesti
Ploiești is the county seat of Prahova County and lies in the historical region of Wallachia in Romania. The city is located north of Bucharest....
, the Socialist-Communists officially established the Communist Party of Romania
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...
(PCdR), of which Cristescu was the first general secretary
General secretary
-International intergovernmental organizations:-International nongovernmental organizations:-Sports governing bodies:...
. It was outlawed by the 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...
cabinet in April 1924, through the Mârzescu Law (named after its proponent, Minister of Justice Gheorghe Gh. Mârzescu). In 1925, Cristescu himself left the Communist group after clashing with the Balkan Communist Federation
Balkan Communist Federation
The Balkan Federation was a project about the creation of a Balkan federation or confederation, based mainly on left political ideas.The concept of a Balkan federation emerged at the late 19th century from among left political forces in the region...
over the issue of Greater Romania
Greater Romania
The Greater Romania generally refers to the territory of Romania in the years between the First World War and the Second World War, the largest geographical extent of Romania up to that time and its largest peacetime extent ever ; more precisely, it refers to the territory of the Kingdom of...
and being progressively marginalized. The PCdR survived as a marginal grouping in the underground, with much of its leadership taking refuge in 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....
; upon the close of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, it was resurrected with the help of Soviet occupation
Soviet occupation of Romania
The Soviet occupation of Romania refers to the period from 1944 to August 1958, during which the Soviet Union maintained a significant military presence in Romania...
, to become the ruling party of 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...
.
Reestablished in January 1922 and led by Ilie Moscovici and Constantin Popovici, the PS continued to have nominal existence after it merged into the newly-created Federation of Romanian Socialist Parties or FPSR (May 1922). Using PS symbolism and reuniting the country's reformist groups, this established its own 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 represented to the 2½ International
International Working Union of Socialist Parties
The International Working Union of Socialist Parties was a political international for the co-operation of socialist parties.-History:...
. On May 7, 1927, the various groups in the Federation merged to reestablish the Romanian 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:...
(PSD), led by 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...
. The Socialist Party, unlike other groups, refused to join the Second International
Second International
The Second International , the original Socialist International, was an organization of socialist and labour parties formed in Paris on July 14, 1889. At the Paris meeting delegations from 20 countries participated...
, and affiliated instead with the Paris Bureau (it was joined in this by a group on the PSD's left wing).
Claiming direct lineage and legitimacy, the Communists encouraged several myths about the Socialist Party: in 1921, Rakovsky made the claim that the PCdR had inherited the vast majority of the PS' 40,000 members (such a view was virulently rejected by the FPSR, who credited the PCdR with no more than 500 members, while the Comintern itself eventually reduced the official claim to 2,000 members); in 1951, several years after the Communist Party came to power, its leader 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...
encouraged the notion that voting on affiliation to the Comintern had occurred on May 13 instead of May 12 (and at a time when most people who voted in favor had already been taken into custody) — this version was interpreted as an attempt to depict the PCdR as a natural successor to the PS.