National Romanian Fascio Fascia Națională Română | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | FNR |
| Founder | D. C. Pădeanu |
| Founded | 22 December 1922; 102 years ago (1922-12-22) |
| Merged into | National-Christian Defense League |
| Membership | 10,000+ (reported, 1924) |
| Ideology | National Socialism Fascism |
| Colors | Black |
TheNational Romanian Fascio (Romanian:Fascia Națională Română, FNR) was afascistparamilitary organization active in theKingdom of Romania for a short time period, between 1922 and 1929. Its members wore black shirts, and the organization was ideologically influenced both byMussolini'sNational Fascist Party and byHitler'sNSDAP; it sought to adapt and implement these foreign fascist ideologies to Romania's specific circumstances.[1][2]
Initially known as theLiga Națională (English:National League), and later as theSalvatorii Patriei (English:Saviors of the Motherland), the organization was founded by D. C. Pădeanu and Titus Panaitescu Vifor together with dissidents from the less successfulNational Italo-Romanian Fascist Movement (MNFIR), which had been established in 1921 by journalistElena Bacaloglu. These MNFIR dissidents joined while the group still operated under the nameSalvatorii Patriei, and by 22 December 1922 it had adopted the nameFascia Națională Română (English:National Romanian Fascio).[3][4]
The organization was founded nearly two months after theMarch on Rome carried out by the Italian fascists; the event was closely monitored by Romanian fascists, and Mussolini's rise to power strongly inspired them.[5] Despite the clear inspiration it drew from Western European fascist regimes, the FNR was especially sensitive to accusations that it represented a foreign political import from Italy.[2]
The FNR had branches throughout the entire country, but main areas of influence wereWestern Moldavia,Bukovina, andBanat, having its stronghold in the county ofCaraș-Severin.[6] According to police reports, by December 1924 the organization supposedly had tens of thousands of members.[7] In the county ofCluj alone, its membership counted 2,000 members during the protests of the antisemitic students' movement of December 1922, according to Romanian police reports.[8]
It maintained cordial relations with another nationalist organization inspired by theAction Française (English:French Action), known as theAcțiunea Românească (English:Romanian Action),[9] with which they held joint congresses,[10] and by 1923 it had attracted the support of the periodicalOpinia Publică(English:Public Opinion), published in Iași.[11]
| Part ofa series on |
| Fascism in Romania |
|---|
 |
Organizations
|
The FNR had an overall quasi-military structure, modeled on that of theRoman army (similarly to the Italian fascists, it sought to emphasize Roman descent andLatinity) and organized hierarchically into squadrons, centuries, cohorts, legions, and groups of legions.[12] It prized strict hierarchy and discipline, viewing the world as divided into "traitors" and adherents, and demanding total submission from the latter.[13] The ideal fascist is described in article 22 of itsstatute as follows:
"The fascist must serve Romania and theFasces with devotion, and with the firm conviction that he is serving a noble cause. His faith must be unwavering and full of strength of will. Indifferent to temptations, contemptuous of weaknesses and cowardice, ready for sacrifice, and fully aware of the weight of anapostolate, which he fulfills for the salvation of his country—this is how a fascist should be."[5]
The FNR proposed acorporatist economic model in which workers would be organized into corporations rather thansyndicates, similar to the system adopted by the Italian fascists.To demonstrate their commitment to ordinary Romanians, the fascists organized themselves into corporations of 25 members each, which were intended to "protect the interests of Romanian workers in their conflicts with employers and the authorities".[14]
It was not primarily a workers' organization, and its social composition varied from city to city, with membership drawn predominantly from soldiers, functionaries, students, and railway workers. Its leadership, however, largely consisted of army officers, university professors, and journalists.[15][16]
The FNR appears to have been particularly successful in attracting both soldiers and officers, whose distrust of democracy had been fueled years earlier.[15] A significant number of the organization's branches were led by former army officers.[12] For instance, the Bukovina branch was headed by retired major Urşianu and a student,Tudose Popescu, who recruitedformer volunteers from theItalian Army during theGreat War; the Banat branch was led by retired lieutenant colonel of theAustro-Hungarian Army, Valeriu Spătaru, who likewise recruited veterans; theLugoj city section, part of the Banat branch, was led by retired captain Grigore Popescu; and theGalați county section was under the leadership of admiralEustațiu Sebastian.[14][12]
In the county ofIași, the FNR was led by university students, and most of its members were high-school students, totaling approximately 4,500.[5] In the city ofTârgu Ocna, a teacher named Henrietta Gabrilescu promoted the FNR's ideology in nearby villages; In the city ofOrăştie both the LANC and the FNR were led byIoan Moța (father of the futureIron Guard ideologue,Ion Moța), who promoted every and any nationalist organization in his newspaperLibertatea (English:The Liberty); and in the eastern counties ofCovurlui,Tecuci, andTutova, the most active cells were also located in villages rather than in the cities.[14]
In August 1923, the FNR leadership split into two factions, each claiming to be the organization's sole representative. Unsure which side to support, many provincial branches hesitated, but most eventually abandoned the FNR and joined the increasingly popularNational-Christian Defense League (LANC). In Cluj County, for example, membership had fallen to roughly 400 by 1924, suggesting that the majority had already defected to LANC.[8] The FNR further fragmented into several smaller groups,[17] which either disintegrated over time or attempted to revive the organization, as in the case of a FNRrump party that appears to have re-emerged in 1927 and continued to exist until 1929.[18]
Ultimately, a significant part of the FNR, along with the Romanian Action, merged into the LANC in 1925 under an official agreement between the three organizations.[19]
The FNR never achieved significant political influence. According to historian Armin Heinen, its forces were weakened by a lack of charismatic leadership and ongoing internal power struggles.[15] Researcher Roland Clark adds that a scandal involving theNational Liberal Party and theIon I. C. Brătianu cabinet also contributed to its collapse; in August 1923, three ministers fromBrătianu's cabinet were found to have supported fascism, thus prompting attacks on the FNR by leaders from most of the major parties, ultimately collapsing under the pressure of discord and unpopularity.[7]
Hungarian newspapers from April 1927 reported that Valeriu Spătaru, a former Lieutenant Colonel of the Austro-Hungarian Army who had led the FNR's Banat branch in its early years and was by then serving as the organization'sGeneral Secretary, sought to establish relations with Hungarian officials and advocated closer Romanian-Hungarian collaboration during his stay inBudapest.[20]
Spătaru continued to explain that the most important program of Romanian fascism was the consolidation ofRomanian-Hungarian relations, because, in his view, the two countries were interdependent in the face of the dangers that theCzech Corridor and the"Slavic sea" (an allusion to the fact that Romania andHungary were primarily surrounded by Slavic nations) supposedly represented for them.[20]
Spătaru had also introduced the Romanian fascist movement to Hungarian officials, stating that theBrătianus (National Liberal Party) and theAvarescians (People's Party) both opposed fascism. Despite this, he continued, many people supposedly began supporting fascism because they realized it was the only way out of"commercialized politics". Afterwards, he attempted to distance the FNR and fascism fromA. C. Cuza and the LANC, claiming that the latter had nothing to do with fascism, and that fascism itself had nothing to do withracism orantisemitism.[20]
In April 1929, Colonel August Stoica, who at the time was in charge of the FNR, tried to use FNR in his coup against government, variously described as an "operatic plot"[21] or a "shambolic conspiracy".[22] The conspirators were rounded up and made subject to a public trial, during which prosecution invoked theMârzescu Law against fascist as well as communist sedition.[23]
