The Transylvanian promise: political mobilisation, unfulfilled hope and the rise of authoritarianism in interwar Romania

Abstract

This article addresses the relationship between political mobilisation by raising hope for change and the increasing loss of confidence in democratic order in the Romanian transformation process after the First World War from a regional perspective. The survey focuses on the political discourse of the Transylvania-based National Party (from 1926 the National Peasants’ Party), which gained governmental power in 1928 through regionalist activism, benefiting from a multi-stranded discourse of permanent crisis caused by living conditions that could not meet the expectations of social advancement raised by the general enthusiasm about the emergence of ‘Greater Romania’. Unable to fulfil its promises of fundamental political change and economic recovery after a century of failed transformation, the Transylvanian-led government’s failure marks the moment of another profound disappointment, which saw the public discourse on political order turn more and more towards strengthening the concept of ‘authority’.

Keywords:

• Romania
• authoritarianism
• crisis
• political mobilisation
• Transylvania
• regionalism

Notes

1. Averescu, “Pete urâte,” 265.

2. Boia, History and Myth, 129–37.

3. “Situaţia economică a Ardealului,” Gazeta Ardealului, 30 July 1921; Osvadă, “Două concepţii,” 502. See also Rommenhöller, Groß-Rumänien, 1–15 and Rothschild, East Central Europe, 281–3.

4. “Un nou interview cu d-l I. Maniu,” Gazeta Transilvaniei, 3 April 1920.

5. Constantinescu, Unification, 277–80.

6. Livezeanu, Cultural Politics, 132. (The provisional regional administration was intended to be dissolved in due time and by its own decision, since the Transylvanian leaders were convinced that “Greater Romania’s” future political system would respect the specific needs and mentalities of the annexed regions, rendering regional autonomy redundant. See Kührer-Wielach, Siebenbürgen ohne Siebenbürger?, 202–3.)

7. “The Resolution of the National Assembly,” http://www.cimec.ro/Istorie/Unire/rezo_eng.htm.

8. Scurtu, România întregită, 221–3.

9. Ivan, Evoluţia partidelor, 10.

10. Brown, “The Movement for Reform,” 456–72.

11. Applegate, “A Europe of Regions,” 1177.

12. Brown, “The Movement for Reform,” 468.

13. Boia, History and Myth, 210–1; Beer, Entwicklung des Parteiensystems, 81.

14. Scurtu, România întregită, 250.

15. Kolar, “Die andere Krise,” 214–6.

16. Kührer-Wielach, Siebenbürgen ohne Siebenbürger?, 241–9.

17. Scurtu, România întregită, 253–5.

18. Hausleitner, Rumänisierung, passim.

19. “Un nou interview cu d-l I. Maniu,” Gazeta Transilvaniei, 3 April 1920.

20. “Suntem regionalişti?,” Chemarea Tinerimei Române, 12 February 1928.

21. Großkokler Bote (dateless), cited in “Siebenbürgen,” Kronstädter Zeitung, 9 April 1920.

22. “Formule nefericite,” Gazeta Ardealului, 15 September 1921.

23. “Unde duce regionalismul?,” Societatea de Mâine 43 (1925): 761.

24. Ionescu’s Conservatory-Democratic Party (Partidul Conservator-Democrat) in 1922, and Nicolae Iorga’s NDP in 1925.

25. Müller, Agrarpopulismus, 150–3; Maner, Parlamentarismus, 58.

26. Müller, “Agrarianism as Third Way,” 7–22.

27. Scurtu, România întregită, 259.

28. Maner, Parlamentarismus, 69–70.

29. Scurtu, Din viaţa politică, 83–90.

30. “Proclamarea adunării naţionale,” Românul, 13 May 1928.

31. Beer, Entwicklung des Parteiensystems, 231–2 and 580; Scurtu, Die viața politică, 102–3.

32. “Un nou regionalism,” Românul, 5 June 1927.

33. “După criză,” Românul, 16 October 1930.

34. “Inscripţii pe nisip. Criza română,” Gazeta Ardealului, 23 July 1921.

35. Trandafir, “Valul de brutalitate,” 386. Trandafir is one of the pennames of the famous PNŢ politician, sociologist and editor of Societatea de Mâine, Ion Clopoţel. See Bădescu and Cucu-Oancea, Dicţionar de Sociologie Rurală, 113.

36. Vornic, “Criza intelectuală şi morală,” 216. Tiberiu Vornic is the pseudonym of Tiberiu Oprea (1900–75). In 1926 he published his first book, Scrisorile unui fripturist, a collection of political articles dealing with the failure of the PN and its politics.

37. Maner, Parlamentarismus, 50–2 and 434.

38. Goga, “Criza Parlamentarismului,” 129–30.

39. Hodoş, “Criza Parlamentarismului,” 842–3.

40. Scurtu, România întregită, 269–71.

41. Ivan, Evoluţia partidelor, tab. XIII.

42. Beer, Entwicklung des Parteiensystems, 110 and 261.

43. Trandafir, “Schimbare de regime,” 391; see also: Scurtu, România întregită, 272.

44. “Intre regăteni şi ardeleni,” Chemarea Tinerimei Române, 23 June 1929.

45. Maner, Parlametnarismus, 72–3.

46. Kührer-Wielach, Siebenbürgen ohne Siebenbürger?, 374.

47. “Das volkswirtschaftliche Erbe Manius,” Kronstädter Zeitung, 9 October 1930.

48. Alexandru C. Cuza, “Dictatura partidelor şi ‘Guvernul constitutional’. Memoriul L.A.N.C. înaintat M.S. Regelui la 20 Septembrie 1930,” Înfrăţirea Românească, 1 November 1930.

49. Ibid., 2.

50. Ibid., 7–8.

51. Tolciu, “Democraţia şi ideia de autoritate,” 79–82.

52. Scurtu, Din viaţa politică, 298–301.

53. Lupta (dateless), cited in “Nouă guvernare în adevărata ei lumină,” Gazeta Transilvaniei, 15 May 1931.

54. Beer, Entwicklung des Parteiensystems, 487.

55. See for example, Nagy-Talavera, The Green Shirts; Heinen, Die Legion “Erzengel Michael”; Ornea, The Romanian Extreme Right.

56. Benz et al., Handbuch des Antisemitismus, 254–5.

57. Cornea, “Statul democratic normator,” 86.