Anarchism in Romania developed in the 1880s within the larger Romanian socialist movement and it had a small following throughout all the existence of theKingdom of Romania. Social anarchism was initially propagated by theRevista Ideei during the time of the Old Kingdom, but following the rise of Bolshevism, socialist tendencies were sidelined in favor of individualism and vegetarianism, which were the predominant anarchist tendencies in Romania during the 1920s and 1930s.[1]
After theRomanian Communist Party takeover in 1947, no other alternative political movement was allowed, so the anarchist movement faded away. Since theRomanian Revolution, a number of small anarchist organizations were created, but anarchism is still less visible than in Western Europe.
After being released from prison for his participation in the activities of thenarodniks in theRussian Empire during the 1860s,[2] theBucovinian socialistZamfir Arbore fled into exile inSwitzerland, where he metMikhail Bakunin, the leader of theanarchist faction in theInternational Workingmen's Association (IWA).[3] Arbore sided with Bakunin during the split of the IWA and rejectedMarxism, declaring himself in favor of "Bakuninism" andfederalism. In 1871, he moved toRomania to continue his narodnik activities, later collaborating withPeter Kropotkin andÉlisée Reclus. Arbore was the only isolated case of anarchism in the country until the establishment of theRomanian Old Kingdom, when a broader movement first started to emerge.[4] Another Romanian Narodnik that came to sympathize with anarchism wasConstantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea, although he later abandoned his libertarian convictions and became a critic of anarchist theory.[5] During this period, the Bulgarian revolutionaryHristo Botev established an anarchist group in theMoldavian city ofGalați and the country was briefly visited by the Italian anarchistErrico Malatesta, following which translations of anarchist works into theRomanian language began.[6]
Another forerunner of Romanian anarchism wasParaskev Stoyanov, of Bulgarian origin, born in 1871 (or 1874) inGiurgiu, where his father, an active campaigner for national liberation, had fled Turkish persecution. Stoyanov had a solid education and became a surgeon. After primary school inBucharest, he adhered to socialist ideas through high school, then to anarchism after reading Peter Kropotkin's pamphlet "An Appeal To The Young". Thus, in high school, he founded book clubs for students studying socialism and anarchism and began to spread anarchism among the workers in Romania, coming to be considered the "father" of anarchism in the country. He translated Errico Malatesta's numerous pamphlets into Romanian, including "For The Voters", "Between Peasants" and "Anarchy".[7]
According to the German historianMax Nettlau, the Romanian socialist movement, which emerged following the establishment of theRomanian Old Kingdom in 1881, itself had anarchist origins.[8] Anarchism developed as a specific tendency in theWallachian capital ofBucharest, where the socialist movement was more radical than its counterpart in theMoldavian capital ofIași.[9] By 1884, most of the books in the Bucharest socialist library were anarchist works, from the likes ofMikhail Bakunin,Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis,Jean Grave,Peter Kropotkin,Élisée Reclus.[10] Between 1884 and 1890, the Human Rights Social Studies Circle organized reading groups in Bucharest, influenced by the ideas of Bakunin, Reclus and Kropotkin, which had been brought to Romania by people who studied inWestern Europe. But by the 1890s, thereformist tendency led byIoan Nădejde [ro] had reorganized the Circle into theSocial Democratic Workers' Party of Romania (PSDMR), defeating the anarchist tendencies within the organization and eventually distancing itself entirely from the anarchist movement due to the rise of "propaganda of the deed".[9] This move towardssocial democracy was decisively influenced byConstantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea, who published a series of articles critiquing thelibertarian andrevolutionary tendencies withinsocialism.[11] Dobrogeanu-Gherea's works directly contributed to the association of anarchism with violence and chaos, which became popularized in many sections of Romanian society.[12] He considered anarchism to be a "social disease" which would inevitably attracted criminal elements of society, concurring with the work of his contemporary, the Italian criminologistCesare Lombroso.[13]
Among the anarchists that Nădejde purged from the organization wasPanait Muşoiu, who subsequently left Bucharest forGalați, but he would be expelled from the local socialist club in that city as well. Upon his return to Bucharest, Muşoiu became the leading figure in the Romanian anarchist movement, overseeing it until the outbreak of theBalkan Wars.[14] After a split in the PSDMR in 1899, the now-scattered social-democratic tendencies gave way for anarchism to return to prominence.[15] The following year, Panait Muşoiu andPanait Zosin [ro] founded theRevista Ideei (Idea's Magazine),[16] which publishedRomanian language translations of works bysocial anarchists such as Mikhail Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin, as well asindividualist anarchists such asMax Stirner,Han Ryner andHenry David Thoreau. The Romanian authorities reported a particular rise in anarchist activity in the wake of the1905 Russian Revolution. Apart from the circle which met at Mușoiu's house in the capital, anarchists circles were also established inPiața Amzei andPloiești.[15] Preeminent figures ofRomanian literature, such asAlexandru Bogdan-Pitești andPanait Istrati, were also attracted towards anarchism during this period.[6]
While in the middle of a sustained wave of immigration byItalian anarchists to Romania, rumors began to circulate about an alleged anarchist plot to carry out a terrorist attack in Romania. Anarchism began to concern theSiguranța, the country's secret police, which began monitoring the anarchist movement. The Romanian government itself was signatory to ananti-anarchist treaty, which set up a system for sharing information on the anarchist movement with other European states. By 1907, the Securitatea had compiled two lists of anarchists: first was a list of 20 anarchist activists and second, a list of 50 public servants who were subscribed toRevista Ideei. A report of the secret police argued that anarchist propaganda contributed to the1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt. As example is given a certain village teacher, Nicolăescu-Cranta, a friend of Mușoiu, who contributed to the start of the revolts through the speeches he gave to the peasants.[17] Asantisemitism andpolitical repression began to spread throughout Romania, a number of Romanian Jewish anarchists fled into exile, withJoseph Ishill andMarcus Graham both becoming prominent figures in theAmerican anarchist movement.[6]
Even after an anarchist railroad worker attempted to assassinate Prime MinisterIon I. C. Brătianu in 1909, the anarchist movement continued to grow rapidly, with numerous libertarian circles being established in cities throughout Romania.[18] But the outbreak ofWorld War I had the effect of demobilizing the socialist movement, including the anarchists. Within years, anarchism was supplanted as the dominant socialist tendency byBolshevism, following the success of theRussian Revolution.[18] By the early 1920s, thenational liberal politicianNicolae Petrescu declared that a "proper movement of militant anarchism or anarchist theorists" no longer existed in Romania.[19]
In 1923, the Romanian pacifistEugen Relgis founded theMișcarea Umanitaristă (English:Humanitarian Movement), a non-doctrinal anti-militarist organization which brought together several anarchists, including Panait Muşoiu. In 1928, the movement established a newspaperUmanitaristul (English:Humanitarianism), which had obvious libertarian influences, publishing the works ofHan Ryner andFerdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis. It received a donation from the French individualistÉmile Armand, and Relgis translated one of Armand's works. During the late 1920s, the movement established 24 branches throughout Romania.[20] In 1932, Relgis shelvedUmanitaristul and began contributing toIon Ionescu-Căpățână's magazineVegetarismul (English:Vegetarianism), which advocated forvegetarianism, citingsocial,economic,medical and evenreligious motivations. Over time, it began to draw heavily fromindividualist anarchism, inspired by the works ofMax Stirner and Émile Armand.[21]
Throughout the 1930s, numerousindividualist tendencies began to develop in Romania, includingprimitivism,naturism andnomadism, which developed critiques ofindustrialization,civilization andurbanization.[22] During this period, Romanian individualist anarchists abandoned their goal of asocial revolution and began to neglectsocialism, in favor of living a lifestyle characterized by theliberty andautonomy of the individual.[23] In one article, Ionescu-Căpățână claimed thatsocial reform often begins with individual lifestyle changes, through the practice ofprefigurative politics, and that individual freedom was "the most precious thing in the world." Theindividualism espoused by the Romanian anarchists even extended to theirfashion, which enabledself-expression, sometimes in the form ofnudism.[24]
While the Romanian individualists idealized thestate of nature, they did not nostalgize the past, instead conceiving the rejection of contemporarymores as an affirmation offreedom.[25] They considered the greatest barrier to freedom to be thework day andwage labor, which interfered with their desired individualist lifestyles. It was theircritique of work that particularly developed their political orientation towardssocial anarchism, drawing from the works ofPeter Kropotkin,Élisée Reclus andHenry David Thoreau. OneValeriu Buja, who was particularly inspired by Thoreau, wrote a passionate defense ofanti-statism from an individualist perspective:[26]
“By what right am I bound betweenborders, betweenlaws, when I want to be a brother to all men? [...] In itself,state organization is selfish and immoral. By what right does someone declare me to be a Romanian citizen, when I do not want to be a Romanian citizen, nor a French citizen, nor of any other nationality, but a man, a brother of everyone?”
The development of individualist anarchism in Romania culminated in proposals to establish anintentional community, which was to be organized according to Kropotkin's model ofanarcho-communism and theory ofmutual aid, but this project was stillborn due to a lack of volunteers.Vegetarismul also found itself unable to meet the at least 500 subscribers necessary to continue publication, leading to the newspaper ceasing publication in 1934. The following year, Ion Ionescu-Căpățână emigrated toFrance, where he organized support for theRepublicans during theSpanish Civil War.[27] In his French exile, Ionescu-Căpățână collaborated withGérard de Lacaze-Duthiers on the magazineAristocratie and announced that he was working on a history of the Romanian anarchist movement, although this would never be published, as Ionescu-Căpățână died in 1942.[28] By this time, anarchism had ceased to be a major force in Romania, instead existing mostly in the upper classes' fears ofterrorism. While visitingMax Nettlau inVienna, Eugen Relgis commented that:[29]
"In our country, the anarchist is a scarecrow. For bourgeois and children, he must have a fierce face, tousled hair, sometimes lavalier knotted like a noose, but always a bomb or at least a dagger in his pocket."
Following the rise offascism in Romania, anarchist works were among thebooks that were burned by theNational Legionary State.[30] Panait Mușoiu died a few months after theoverthrow of the fascist regime and,[27] following the proclamation of theRomanian People's Republic in 1947, Eugen Relgis fled into exile inUruguay, bringing an end to the second period of anarchism in Romania.[31] Unlike in neighboring countries, there had been no active anarchist resistance to the rise ofauthoritarianism in Romania, which ultimately gave way to the institution ofMarxism–Leninism. While the new socialist government undertook the suppression of the remaining anarchist movement, it also rehabilitated a number of Romanian social anarchists, including Panait Mușoiu, whose anti-authoritarian views were downplayed.[32]
In 1952, Relgis published the first comprehensive history of the Romanian anarchist movement in the French magazineÀ contre-courant, in which he publicly declared his own affinity foranti-authoritarianism for the first time.[33] Now openly identifying with anarchism, Relgis also published a work on his own philosophy of "Libertarian Humanism", which synthesized libertarian and humanitarian ideals.[34] Relgis considered it important to develop an indigenous expression of Romanian anarchism, one that was equally capable of survivingrepression by the new socialist regime, opposing the rise ofreactionary elements and resistingrecuperation in the case of a potentialdemocratic restoration.[32] During the 1970s, the Spanish anarchist Vladimiro Muñoz began collecting together texts about the Romanian anarchist movement, creating an anthology that included biographies of Panait Mușoiu, Joseph Ishill, Zamfir Arbure, as well as various other materials provided to him by Relgis.[35]
Following the rise to power ofNicolae Ceaușescu, a number of histories about the old socialist movement were published by historians such asZigu Ornea. During this period, a number of monographs were published about anarchists such asPanait Mușoiu andEugen Relgis, although these downplayed their libertarian tendencies, often failing to even mention "anarchism" by name.[36]
In 1989, theSocialist Republic of Romania was overthrown by theRomanian Revolution, which culminated in thetrial and execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu. Anarchism experienced a revival following theconstitution of Romania as a democratic republic. Contemporary Romanian anarchism first grew out of thepunk subculture, developing a notably prominent following in theBanatian city ofTimisoara and theWallachian city ofCraiova. The extension ofinternet access brought with it a number of online anarchist publications, includingURA: Ura și Razboiul și Anarhia (English:Hate & War & Anarchy) andDragostea Uchide (English:Love Kills), published by the Timisoara Aactiv-ist Collective and the Craiova Anarcho-Front. Romanian anarchist groups subsequently developed links with anarchist movements in neighboring countries, such asHungary andSerbia, while some have adopted the tactics of theAmerican anarchist movement, including theCritical Mass andFood Not Bombs.[37]
During the 2000s, a number of anarchists began organizing in Romania for the first time after the revolution. The anarchists occupied severalsquats, they organized a "Food Not Bombs" campaign (distributing free vegetarian food in poor neighbourhoods), they spread fliers against fast-food and rippedNeo-Nazi posters from public places. In a few instances (in Bucharest and Timișoara), there have been fights with theNoua Dreaptă Neo-Nazis, who had gone into their underground clubs during concerts.[38]
In November 2006, a number of 100 anarchists participated in the first anti-fascist march in Bucharest, holding red and black banners. In June 2007, a group of 20 anarchists showed up at a march against homosexuality organized the Neo-Nazi organization Noua Dreaptă, but they were arrested by the gendarmes for holding an unauthorized protest.[38]
Anarchists are one of the groups that are monitored by theRomanian Intelligence Service (SRI), including on online forums.[39] One report by the SRI declared that anarchism had been imported into Romania by "foreigners involved in drug trafficking and the dissemination of hard pornography."[37]
During the2008 Bucharest NATO summit, the government prepared a repression of anarchists who might have protested against NATO and militarism. Six German anarchists were disallowed to enter Romania.[40] Anti-globalization activists rented an industrial hall where they intended to spray paint banners which they wanted to use in the protests against NATO. The police arrested 56 anti-globalization activists who were later released without charges. Some of the arrested people complained that they were beaten up by the police.[41]
While anarchist activism had been revived, academic interest in the Romanian anarchist movement was largely non-existent, in part due to the rise ofanti-communism, which viewed evenlibertarian socialism with suspicion.[42] It was only in the 2010s that a comprehensive historiography of the Romanian anarchist movement emerged, with the publication of Vlad Brătuleanu'sAnarhismul în România, the first historical study of anarchism in Romania since the 1940s.[43] Brătuleanu identified a number of key periods in the classical Romanian anarchist movement: theforerunners (1866-1881), thesocialist period (1881-1918) and theindividualist period (1918-1947), although the historiographer Adrian Tătăran considered this strict chronology to be a weakness of the study.[44] The German historian Martin Veith also contributed to this history with biographies on Panait Muşoiu andȘtefan Gheorghiu, which took a restorative approach to highlighting their libertarian tendencies, after this had been neglected by the studies of the 1970s.[45]
Currently, in Romania there are several anarchist organizations, including:
