“Nationalism as a national danger?” Early Romanian socialists and the paradoxes of the national question (1880–1914)

Abstract

This article traces the gradual accommodation of early socialists in Romania with the predicament of nationalism in the period between 1880 and 1914. The attitudes of Romanian socialists evolved from initial ambivalence toward nationalism to staunch commitment to internationalism in the 1890s, and an inadvertent but unmistakable growing engagement with nationalism after the turn of the century. Locating socialism in the broader political and cultural debates of the time, this article argues that belonging to the Romanian public arena forced socialists to become increasingly more sensitive to the challenges of nationalism. Especially after 1900, the rise of very influential competing nationalist ideologies, as well as the necessity to address the Jewish question and the problem of ethnic Romanians living abroad, turned Romanian socialists into opponents but also implicit partners of dialogue in debates on nationalism. In the long run, however, socialists failed to find a persuasive alternative to nationalism and eventually resorted to the same language, concepts, and imagery they were so vocally dismissing. Engaging the popular nationalist trends of the time required socialists to reevaluate their own theoretical tenets and to put forward different, but essentially no less nationalistic, projects for the future.

Keywords:

• Romania
• Pre-WWI
• Socialism
• Nationalism
• Internationalism

Acknowledgements

This work was made possible by support from the Social Science Research Council's International Dissertation Research Fellowship, with funds provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Notes

1 This is the line followed by the main works of the period. See, for example Copoiu (1973), Popescu-Puţuri (1964). More useful, but without addressing this question in depth are prewar works on socialism, mainly Petrescu (1940), Atanasiu (1932).

2 For a comprehensive account of the “national turn” in Romanian historiography see Verdery (1991). For an example of the reinterpretation of socialist attitudes toward nationalism see Popescu-Puţuri (1980).

3 For a representative example see Tismaneanu (2003).

4 According to Keith Hitchins, in 1900 there were 2,785,000 Romanians living in Hungary, 230,000 in Bukovina, and 1,092,000 in Bessarabia. See Hitchins, 202.

5 This group consisted of Dimitrie Anghel, C.D. Anghel, Zamfir Arbore, Ecaterina Arbore, Nina Arbore, I.C. Atanasiu, Anton Bacalbaşa, Constantin Bacalbaşa, Octav Băncilă, Jean Bart, Al. Bădărau, Neculai Beldiceanu, Alexandru Beldiman, Beno Brănişteanu, M.Gh. Bujor, Paul Bujor, C.Z. Buzdugan, O. Carp, Ottoi Călin, Adolf Clarnet, Nicolae Zubcu Codreanu, N.D. Cocea, Alecu Constantinescu, Gheorghe C. Costaforu, Victor Crăsescu, Ioan Dafin, Traian Demetrescu, George Diamandy, Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea, Alexandru Dobrogeanu-Gherea, Emil D. Fagure, Elena Farago, Th.V. Ficşinescu, Zamfir Filotti, I. Frimu, Emil(ian) Frunzescu, Gala Galaction, Alexandru Georgescu, Litman Ghelerter, Ştefan Gheorghiu, I. Glicsman, Artur Gorovei, Constantin Graur, Eduard Gruber, George Grigorovici, Tatiana Grigorovici, Eugen Herovanu, Dragomir Hurmuzescu, I. Hussar, G. Ibrăileanu, Alexandru Ionescu, Andrei Ionescu, Nicolae Ionescu-Johnson, Raicu Ionescu-Rion, Teodor Iordăchescu, S. Irimescu, Constantin I. Istrati, Panait Istrati, George Kernbach, Constantin Kiriţescu, Barbu Lăzăreanu, N. Leon, Benzion Liber, Eugen Lupu, G.V. Manicea, Grigore Maniu, Dionisie Many, Dimitrie Marinescu, Constantin Mille, V.G. Morţun, Panait Muşoiu, Gh. Nădejde, Ioan Nădejde, Sofia Nădejde, Iosif Nădejde-Armaşu, Iuliu Neagu-Negulescu, D.Th. Neculuţă, I. Negreanu, Gh. Niculescu-Mizil, Constatin I.A. Nottara, Gheorghe Panu, Constantin Parhon, Mihai Pastia, Ioan Păun-Pincio, G.D. Pencioiu, Ştefan Petică, Spiridon Popescu, Ştefan Popescu, Ion Procopiu, Nicolae Quinezu, Emil Racoviţă, Christian Racovski, Alexandru G. Radovici, Ioan G. Radovici, Ioan N. Roman, Mircea C.A. Rosetti, Vintilă C.A. Rosetti, Nicolae Sudzilovski Russel, Izabela Sadoveanu, Henric Sanielevici, Simion Sanielevici, Solomon Sanielevici, Paul Scorţeanu, Ioan Sion, Al. Slătineanu, Th. Speranţia, Artur Stavri, A. Steuerman-Rodion, Henric St. Streitman, Stefan Stânca, Ion Teodorescu, Dimitrie A. Teodoru, A. Toma, Eugen Vaian, Max Vexler, Adrian Verea, Iancu C. Vissarion, Alexandru Vlahuţă, Dimitrie Voinov, and Panait Zosân.

6 Documente din istoria mişcării muncitoreşti din România (Bucharest: Editura Politică, 1975), vol. 2, 55. Hereafter DDIMMDR.

7 For an account of his life see M.I. Iosko, Nikolai Sudzilovskii-Russel’: zhizn’, revoliutsionnaia deiatel'nost’ i mirovozzrenie (Minsk: BGU, 1976).

8 See, for example, Drepturile omului, Issue 10, 1885 and “Informare asupra congresului socialist internaţional de la Paris din 1889”, in DDIMMDR, vol. 2, 622. Plus vol. 3, 99.

9 Ibid., vol. 3, 452.

10 Dare de seama despre desbaterile Congresului al III-lea al social-democraţiei române ţinut in Bucureşti in zilele de 4 si 5 aprilile 1895 (Bucharest, 1896).

11 DDIMMDR, vol. 3, 244.

12 See the first issues of Lumina, 1895.

13 DDIMMDR, vol. 3, 585.