Lo innegociable de la vida cristiana

The early politics of the independent Romanian state were dominated by conservative liberal camps initially cleaved around issues dating back to the revolutions of 1848. Divisions over attitudes to republicanism, approaches to social policy and land reform, the status of Transylvania and economic protectionism also developed. Dynasticism also became a significant factor in party divisions, with the leadership of the main parties oft being supplied from within dominant family

widely perceived as corrupt and flawed.

Following the creation of Greater Romania in 1918, the party political landscape changed with the decline of the Conservatives and the rise of the National Peasant Party. Fe election results in this period are seen as legitimate and institutional changes were

introduced that were intended to give substantial parliamentary majorities to the party that secured a plurality of the popular vote. The 1923 constitution

powers and democracy was far from securely established.

Like other countries in Eastern Europe in the inter-war period, Romania suffered from triple strains of severe economic and political dislocation (arising from the fusion of Hapsburg influenced Transylvania with the former Ottoman territories), proximity to t

  248

A survey of parliamentarians after the 2000 election found that almost a third (31.7%) of Greater Romania

. The most

ions urban professional classes at the expense of the rural peasantry through the use of

ury Romania, Columbia r-war politics taken from Tom Gallagher, Theft, pp. 29 -42

Party MPs had held leadership positions in the Communist Party – higher even than the percentage for the Communist Successor Social Democrats (23.5%). Laurentiu Stefan, page 123

249

See Robert Seton-Watson, A History of the Roumanians, Cambridge University Press 1934

prominent political dynasty was the Bratianu family which monopolized the leadership of the Liberals over long periods even re-appearing after the fall of Communism to lead one small liberal faction

250

The electoral law passed by the Liberal government in 1884 for example skewed parliamentary elect strongly in favour of the

electoral colleges and indirect voting. Stephen Fischer-Galati, Twentieth Cent University Press, 1991

251

Soviet Union and the expansion of the Third Reich.252 The growth of fascism on the domestic and the international stage dominated politics in 1930s Romania with home- grown fascism taking the form of the Iron Guard movement. The Iron Guard programm was a mix of national chauvinism, anti Semitism, anti-capitalism and despotism. Repea attempts to limit the growth of the Iron Guard movement failed and, in 1938, the king (Carol II) installed a ‘directed democracy’ in which only his own party – the Front for National Renewal – was legally allowed to operate. The Royal dictatorship was short- lived, however, thanks to Carol’s capitulation in 1940 to German and Soviet demands that Romanian territory be handed to the Soviet Union (northern Bukovin

e ted

a) and to Hungary

he

nists should support the

e f ced (about one third of Transylvania). Carol was forced to abdicate and a military/fascist dictatorship installed under Marshall Antonescu which survived until it was overthrown in an August 1944 coup with the Red Army approaching Bucharest.253

The left in the inter-war period was weak and divided – in the seven elections from 1926 to 1937, Social Democrat and Communist organisations only once polled more than 5% of t vote between them. The Communist Party was hampered both by the agrarian nature of society (and the corresponding lack of a large urban proletariat which Shafir calculates as just 400,000 from a population of 20 million in 1938) and by its anti-national policies in respect of Bukovina (Moscow dictated that the Romanian Commu

return of the eastern provinces to the Soviet Union.) The Communist Party was banned, hindering its organisational capacity, but its opponents also exploited the perception that the party was an alien entity led and influenced by foreigners.254

Soviet military occupation and Communist control followed rapidly on the heels of the August 1944 coup. Given the weakness of the pre-war left, it was inevitable that the Communist take-over relied heavily on the Red Army. Coalition governments wer initially installed but any pretence of co-operation effectively ended with the elections o November 1946. Other parties were either co-opted as partners of the new regime or fa substantial (often violent) interference with their activities – significantly, Liberal

       252

See Aldcroft, D. & Morewood, S., Economic Change in Eastern Europe Since 1918, Edward Elgar, Aldershot, 1995

253

Dennis Deletant, Communist Rule, pp. 30 - 51

254

Michael Shafir quotes figures showing less than 25% of RCP membership in the 1930s was ethnically Romanian. Michael Shafir, Politics, page 25

politicians proved more willing to co-operate with the Communists than their National Peasant counterparts. Communist Party records made public after the 1989 revolution reveal the extent of ballot rigging in the 1946 election undertaken to ensure a Commun victory – an event which reinforced the National Peasant Party’s self-image as the deposed

ist

255

ame then

t-

to popular ambivalence towards foreign powers; within the

the

ting reforms who opposition lacked political capital as a result but, as shall be seen, the decisions made by the opposition in the immediate aftermath of

ft by

legitimate rulers power in the state. Following the election, opposition politicians were arrested and King Michael was forced to abdicate and sent into exile a year later. Michael survived the long years in exile and his status – and his right to return to the country – briefly threatened to be a significant factor in post-Communist politics (see below). It is too simplistic to point to the weak roots of democracy in Romania as an explanation for the difficulties that post-Communist parties found in adjusting to democracy. The s or similar process of collapsing democratic experiments, dictatorships, occupation and Communist take-over are found in every country of the region. There are specific aspects of the country’s development that have shaped attitudes and behaviours among the pos Communist political elites: the far right drew on the legacy of the Iron Guard; the left attempted initially to tap in

opposition, the National Liberals were distrusted because of their record of collaboration with the Communists after 1944; and the National Peasants retained a strong sense of betrayal at their being denied power in 1946. But each of these is specific and limited in its scope.

Potentially the most significant element in Romania’s Communist-era development was absence of a home-grown dissident movement. Ceausescu refused to tolerate reform Communism and no significant internal opposition movement was allowed to develop. There was no Walesa or Havel to lead the revolution when it came in 1989 and there was no body of administrators who had practical experience of implemen

subsequently cleaved to the opposition. The

the revolution had a major impact too on their ability to counter the strength of the le making full use of the opportunities and resources they did possess.

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Tom Gallagher, Romania after Ceausescu, Edinburgh University Press, 1995. The records indicate that the National Peasants, led by Iuliu Maniu, topped the poll among genuine ballots cast in the 1946 election.