Constantin Stere | |
|---|---|
 Stere in 1895 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1865-06-01)June 1, 1865 |
| Died | June 26, 1936(1936-06-26) (aged 71) Bucharest, Romania |
| Political party | Narodnaya Volya Social Democratic Workers' Party of Romania National Liberal Party Peasants' Party National Peasants' Party Democratic Peasants' Party–Stere |
| Residence(s) | Chișinău,Iași,Bucharest |
| Occupation | jurist |
Constantin G. Stere orConstantin Sterea (Romanian;Russian:Константин Егорович Стере,Konstantin Yegorovich Stere or Константин Георгиевич Стере,Konstantin Georgiyevich Stere; also known under hispen nameȘărcăleanu; June 1, 1865 – June 26, 1936) was a Romanian writer,jurist, politician, ideologue of thePoporanist trend, and, in March 1906, co-founder (together withGarabet Ibrăileanu andPaul Bujor — the latter was afterwards replaced by the physicianIoan Cantacuzino) of theliterary magazineViața Românească.[1] One of the central figures of the Bessarabianintelligentsia at the time, Stere was a key actor during theUnion of Bessarabia with Romania in 1918, and is associated with its legacy.[2]
Constantin Stere was professor ofAdministrative andConstitutional law at theUniversity of Iaşi, serving as itsrector between 1913 and 1916. He is also remembered for his partlyautobiographical novelÎn preajma revoluției (literal translation: "On the Eve of the Revolution" — in reference to theRussian Revolution of 1917).
He was born inHorodiște,Soroca County,[3] to a family ofboyar origins[4] fromCiripcău,Bessarabia — which was part of theRussian Empire at the time. Stere was one of the three sons of a couple of Russian citizens: Gheorghe or Iorgu Stere (known asYegor Stepanovich Stere, Егор Степанович Стере in Russian), anethnic Greek landowner[5] whose family was originally fromBotoșani County in the Romanian part ofMoldavia,[6] and Pulcheria (Пулкерия), a member of the impoverished gentry in Bessarabia.[7] He spent most of his early years, until the age of eight, in Ciripcău, where the familymanor was located.[8]
Around 1874, he graduated from aChișinău private school where classes were taught German, and entered the school fordvoryane in the city, where he became close friends with Alexandru Grosu and Lev Matveyevich Kogan-Bernstein (who were the basis for the charactersSașa Lungu andMoise Roitman in Stere's novel).[9] It was also around this time that he became acquainted withprogressive,utopian socialist, andDarwinist ideas (notably reading the works ofNikolai Chernyshevsky,Alexander Herzen,Charles Darwin,Karl Marx,Mikhail Bakunin,Ferdinand Lassalle, andPeter Lavrovich Lavrov).[10] Stere later indicated that, before the late 1870s, he could not spell theRomanian alphabet, which had just been adopted over the border (seeRomanian Cyrillic alphabet), and had to rely on a few bookssmuggled into Bessarabia for getting a sense ofliteraryRomanian.[11]
While still students, Stere and Kogan-Bernstein engaged in revolutionary politics associalists andNarodniks, initiating aconspirative "self-instruction" cell of six inside their school.[12] The group was affiliated withNarodnaya Volya,[13] and Stere was responsible for multiplying and distributing locally themanifesto issued by the latter after it had assassinatedEmperorAlexander II.[14] This was also the first moment when Stere declared his opposition to aSocial democratic program, a Narodnik-inspired objection which would later form one of the tenets of his doctrine.[15]
He was first arrested in late 1883, afterOkhrana units decapitated the Bessarabian wing of the Narodnaya Volya.[16] Detained inOdessa (during which time he read intensely),[17] Stere was frequently visited by Maria Grosu, the sister of Alexandru, who had fallen in love with him — a Narodnik and afeminist, she asked Stere for amarriage of convenience that was meant to help her become free from parental tutelage (according to the laws of the Russian Empire, unmarried women were under their father's protection).[18] Stere agreed, and they were married in the prisonchapel (1885).[19]
In 1885, he wasdeported toSiberia, serving a three-year term.[20] Briefly kept inTyumen prison awaiting transport further east, he was sent toKurgan in the custody of twogendarmes (October).[21] He was joined there by Maria, who gave birth to their son Roman in 1886.[22] Moving toTurinsk, the Steres joined a group of revolutionaries in internal exile; Constantin Stere agreed to print copies of a Narodnik magazine, using ahectograph, and was exposed during a raid by authorities.[23] He was swiftly taken toTobolsk, then shipped down theIrtysh to the place where it met theOb; he traveled to the village ofSharkala (the northernmost part of Siberia he ever reached) in aKhanty canoe,[24] and was then settled inBeryozovsky District, only to be arrested again and sent back to Tobolsk in the autumn of 1888.[25]
He was tried for his activities in Turinsk, based on evidence collected by the Okhrana.[26] While in prison, Stere, who was beginning to distance himself from socialism andproletarian internationalism, argued in front of authorities that mention of his change in attitude was supposed to be kept by the court when passing the verdict. At the time, a physician who examined him noted that he had suffered anervous breakdown, and had him moved to a prison hospital.[27] According to most accounts, he had attempted suicide (a gesture caused by either the death of one of his brothers, who had himself committed suicide,[28] or by news that the Narodnik leaderLev Tikhomirov had become a supporter of the political establishment).[29] In hospital, Stere stated that:
"Quite a while ago have I begun to remove myself from the influence of political exiles and their tradition. Recent times, filled with major hardships for me, I have decided firmly and sincerely to break with these traditions, as well as with all things «illegal» in my past."[30]
Instead, he became familiar withneo-Kantian philosophy, expanding on his interest inImmanuel Kant'sCritique of Pure Reason (which he was reading in Beryozovsky District).[31] It was at this time that Stere began writing.[32]
In March 1889, the court decided to extend his term of exile by three more years, and relocated him to the village of Serginsk, nearMinusinsk. He much later claimed that, while passing through the prison ofKrasnoyarsk, he metVladimir Lenin, the futureBolshevik leader — this is unlikely, as Lenin passed through the city several years after Stere.[33] His other claim to have met and befriendedJózef Piłsudski, future head of state ofPoland (and, at the time, a prominent member of thePolish Socialist Party), was confirmed by Piłsudski himself in 1927 (Stere's novel,În preajma revoluției, included Piłsudski as a character, under the nameStadnicki).[34]
In late 1891 or early 1892, having been set free, Stere returned to Bessarabia, and eventually sought political refuge inside Romania, crossing the border clandestinely.[35] He studied law at theUniversity of Iași (underPetre Missir, while carrying on as aleftist activist and quickly becoming an influential figure among the youth ofIași, the inspiration behind a left-leaning student society that engaged in a virulent polemic with the nationalist youth,[36] and an acquaintance of socialist leaders such asConstantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea,Garabet Ibrăileanu,Ioan Nădejde,Sofia Nădejde,Constantin Mille,Theodor Speranția,Vasile Morțun, andNicolae L. Lupu.[37] Later, a controversy erupted over Stere's academic credentials, as it was never consistently proven that he had passed hisbaccalaureate between being arrested and applying for law school.[38]
Stere's break withMarxism led him to attempt persuading the newly createdRomanian Social Democratic Workers' Party (PSDMR) to amend itsproletariat-focused policies,[39] and, in 1893, to found the student societyDatoria ("The Duty"), which preserved the Narodnik focus on educating peasants.[40] He and his followers nevertheless continued to rely much of their thesis on Marxist concepts,[41] coupled with an interest taken in thereformist socialist way advocated byEduard Bernstein.[42]
After debuting as a journalist for the liberal-inspiredEvenimentul in 1893 (and engaging in public debates with the socialist press),[43] Stere also sent substantial contribution toAdevărul, a tribune of various left-wing trends that was being published inBucharest under the direction ofAnton Bacalbașa.[44] Later in 1893, he took part in foundingEvenimentul Literar, the literary supplement ofEvenimentul.[45]
He joined in the socialists Bacalbașa and Ibrăileanu in a cultural polemic with the poetAlexandru Vlahuță and his magazineVieața.[46] Vlahuță, who had sided with Dobrogeanu-Gherea during the latter's conflict withBogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu,[47] nonetheless clashed with theleftists over the issue of "art for art's sake", arguing that the interest his adversaries took indidacticism was harming literature.[48] This exchange of replies soon involved the former socialistEduard Dioghenide, who attackedEvenimentul Literar withAntisemitic language, contending that Stere was "an employee of the little kikes" and had "lost his soul to theJews".[49] At the time, Stere's activity withDatoria also came under attack from various student societies — most of them associates of theConservative Party.[50]
During the late 1890s, he had begun making use of theȘărcăleanu alias in his polemic articles,[51] which became a particular topic of dispute after his confrontation with Dioghenide (who first speculated that Stere was the author ofȘărcăleanu's articles).[52] Dioghenide's supporters, editors of the newspaperNaționalul, consequently pressured Stere to indicate whoȘărcăleanu was ("We wish to know him, does he wearsidelocks or is he aJudaisized Romanian?").[53] Similar calls were voiced byVieața, who alleged that Stere himself was aRussian Jew.[54]
Winning the support of several Conservative politicians, Stere successfully applied for Romanian citizenship in February 1895, obtainingnaturalization through a special law, as "a Romanian from Bessarabia".[55]
In 1897, Stere obtained alicensure with a thesis onlegal entity andindividualism, one which drew criticism from the influential Conservative-inspired groupJunimea, on the assumption that it had been partly inspired by Marx.[56] At the time, he also published an incomplete series of philosophical essays centered on the works ofWilhelm Wundt.[57] After graduation, Stere, who was by then the father of four, lived for a while inPloiești, and afterwards joined theBar association in Iași as a practicing lawyer.[58] During the period, he met and befriended the influential writerIon Luca Caragiale.[59]
By 1898, Stere, who had continued to acquire influence with Iași-based socialists, became involved in disputes over the future of theRomanian Social Democratic Workers' Party (PSDMR) andVasile Morțun's call for a merger with theNational Liberal Party (PNL) — Morțun's camp, which also includedAlexandru G. Radovici, became known in time as "the generous ones" (generoșii). According toConstantin Titel Petrescu, Stere, despite his own polemics with Dobrogeanu-Gherea, sided with the latter and against Morțun ("Even Stere [...] declared himself against moving to the Liberals").[60] Nevertheless, during merger talks between the "generous ones" and the left-wing of the National Liberals, Stere was approached by the latter'sIon I. C. Brătianu; Brătianu andGheorghe Gh. Mârzescu, who were gathering supporters at a time when the PNL cabinet ofDimitrie Sturdza looked set to lose thegeneral elections of 1899 to a strong coalition of Conservatives and former Liberals such asPetre S. Aurelian, proposed to Stere that he become a city councilor in Iași, and he accepted.[61] During the period, he split withEvenimentul, as the paper became close to Liberal splinter groups and virulently criticized the contacts between the PNL and former PSDMR affiliates.[62]
Eventually, Stere entered the PNL as a left-wingradical andpopulist, supporting an original tactic that blended a Narodnik focus on the peasantry with a weariness towardscapitalism andindustrialisation.[63] This was the origin ofPoporanism, a theory expanded upon in his influential 1908 essayPoporanism sau social-democrație?, "Poporanism orSocial democracy?" (Stere coined the original term in 1894, viewing it the best translation of the wordNarodnik).[64]
In essence,Poporanism ceased to view socialism as a goal in countries such as Romania. Stere noted that the group to be defined as industrialproletariat accounted for ca. 1% of the total number of taxpayers (around 1907),[65] and argued instead for a "peasant state", which was to encourage and preserve smallagricultural plots as the basis for economic development. Citing the example of Denmark (seeDanish cooperative movement), he also proposed thatcooperative industries were to be created in the rural sphere, and that initiative agriculture could also rely incooperative farms:[66]
"The essential role of peasant cooperatives resides in that they, while keeping the small-scale peasant holdings intact, award them the possibility to make use of all the advantages of large-scale production."[67]
Despite its name, Stere understood the "peasant state" not as an actualhegemony of the peasantry, but as an immediate move from the censussuffrage in theKingdom of Romania to auniversal one, intended to accurately reflect the country's social realities (see1866 Constitution of Romania).[68] In an 1898 speech, he also stressed a loyalty for theKing of Romania (Carol I at the time).[69]
Stere notably rejectedKarl Kautsky's support for capitalization in agriculture, arguing that it was neither necessary nor practical.[70] He was not, however, opposed tomodernization, and invested trust in the role ofintellectuals as militants and activists,[71] as well as building onWerner Sombart's theory that agrarian economies were facing new and special conditions (as opposed to those that bore the mark of theIndustrial Revolution).[72] Stere observed changes occurring in the developed world at the turn of the 19th century, and concluded that industrialization of backward countries was also being blocked bycolonialism and the prosperity it had brought to theBritish Empire and the United States.[73] He argued that a new form ofcapital was being created at a larger, non-national, scale; he deemed it "vagabond capital", and viewed in it the source for the lack of accuracy in Marxistpredictions over proletarian alienation (as it appeared that, in developed countries, the proletariat was growing wealthier).[74]
This was also the start of a polemic between him and the MarxistConstantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea. Although the two shared skepticism over the possibility of early socialist success in Romania (agreeing withTitu Maiorescu's verdict that it was one of the "forms without substance", and thus an ill-suited effect ofWesternization),[75] Dobrogeanu-Gherea argued that Stere's program of basing Romania's economy on cooperatives and small-scale agricultural holdings could only lead to endemicunderdevelopment.[76]
As a city councilor in 1899, Stere soon found himself in an unusual position afterMinister of the InteriorMihail Pherekyde ordered a clampdown on the surviving PSDMR.[77] This came after theConservative opposition voiced allegations that socialist clubs in the countryside were inciting laborers to revolt (an accusation which threatened to decrease the popularity of theDimitrie Sturdza cabinet).[78] As all former PSDMR members in the PNL came under scrutiny, he was himself the target of attacks inParliament, and notably criticized by theConstitutional Party's Titu Maiorescu for allegedly using his position to "disturb the elementary order; [...] leading to the only place it could lead: peasant rebellion".[79]
He lost his position in March 1899, following Sturdza's fall from power over a scandal involving relations between Romanian andAustria-Hungary.[80] Consequently, he welcomed the remaining "generous ones" inside the PNL as the PSDMR was dissolved (April 1899); those socialists who remained independent continued to consider Stere the main instigator of the move.[81] At the time, he relied on what he interpreted asIon I. C. Brătianu's promise that a PNL cabinet was going to enforce bothuniversal suffrage andland reform, and hoped to exercise an influence on the party's Left.[82] With Pherekyde,Petre Poni,Toma Stelian andSpiru Haret, Stere was soon involved in public protests against the successive Conservative cabinets ofGheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino andPetre P. Carp — provoked by theHallier Affair — involving a French firm which used its government connections to regain apublic works contract in the port ofConstanța, although it had failed to respect its obligations[83] —, and the "Law onspirits" (or "law onțuica") — which establishedhomebrewing tax, engendering violence in the countryside.[84]
Following a conflict between Cantacuzino and Carp, which caused the latter's cabinet to be invalidated with assistance from Conservative parliamentarians (February 1901) Sturdza returned to power triumphantly.[85] In the1901 suffrage, he was first elected toChamber for the 3rd Electoral College in Iaşi.[86] Stere largely owed his 1901 appointment as Deputy Professor at theUniversity of Iași to his political connections: falling short of legal requirements, he asked Brătianu and Spiru Haret to make an exception in his case[87] (in order to avoid breaking the law which prevented state employees from being elected deputies, he asked not to receive a salary for his first course).[88] After he became a full Professor, his assistant at the department wasNicolae Daşcovici.[89]
Stere sided with Brătianu andVasile Lascăr in 1904, at a time when the two confronted Sturdza and resigned from their government offices, provoking the cabinet's fall (and Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino's reinstatement as Premier).[90]
In his later years, Stere argued that he had foreseen Japan's victory in theRusso-Japanese War and the string of social problems Russia experienced, and that he had sent the General Staff of theRomanian Army a memorandum on the matter.[91]
Soon after theRussian Revolution of 1905, Stere and a group of his followers returned to Bessarabia in order to encourage local Romanian sentiment during elections for theState Duma andzemstvos — according to Stere, the group had the tacit approval of the Conservative government.[92] In parallel, Stere represented theChișinăuzemstvo as a lawyer in a civil lawsuit.[93] They arrived at a time of conflict, whenBlack Hundreds activity was gaining momentum and peasant pressures in the countryside were meeting with resistance fromreactionary politicians such asVladimir Purishkevich andPavel Krushevan.[94] Initially, Stere doubled as a correspondent for PNLFrench language newspapers, signing them asC. Șercăleano.[95]
He issued a magazine (Basarabia) of which he was editor (together withIon Inculeț,Teodor Inculeț,Ion Pelivan,Alexei Mateevici, andPan Halippa), attempting to profit from the political gains in Russia by calling for both in-depth social reforms anddecentralization; their influence waned afterreactionary politicians made electoral gains and, as the new administration, confiscated most of the magazine's issues (leading to itsbankruptcy in 1907).[96] Stere himself first returned to Romania in early 1906, and immediately left on a trip toAustro-Hungarian-ruledTransylvania, where he met with the poet and activistOctavian Goga inSibiu, as well as with other prominent ethnic Romanians, becoming in time an unofficial envoy of the PNL in the region.[97] His involvement in thezemstvo trial became the topic of a scandal, after the institution accused Stere of having failed to fulfill his obligations as a lawyer, and called on him to return the fees he had received.[98]
In its first editorial (1906),Viața Românească (a magazine which Stere had planned during his return to Bessarabia)[99] summarized the cultural guidelines of thePoporanist trend, ones which Stere had first theorized in 1899 articles forEvenimentul Literar:[100]
"A 'national' culture with specific characteristics will only be born when the large, trulyRomanian, popular masses will partake increating andassessing cultural values —literary language,literature, ways of living — and this will only be possible when, throughculture,enlarged political participation andeconomical uplifting, the peasantry will be awarded asocial value in proportion with its numerical, economical, moral and national values, when we shall beone people, when all thesocial classes shall be ofthe same people [...]."[101]
Stere distanced himself from the competing and equally peasant-focused trend ofSămănătorul, which aimed to preserve the peasant way of life in front of modernization rather than enforce the peasant economy advocated byPoporanism.[102] He was notably involved in polemics withSămănătorul'sOctavian Goga andNicolae Iorga.
As he later admitted, he attempted to divert attention from theȘărcăleanu alias by making use of another one,P. Nicanor & Co. (used before and after him by various Viața Românească contributors to the magazine's closing column), and by writing an article in which he claimed Stere and Șărcăleanu were not one and the same, thus maintaining the relative ambiguity until the early 1930s.[103]
Alongside other followers of Brătianu (includingGarabet Ibrăileanu), Stere began campaigning in favor of dismissing the Conservative cabinet ofPremierGheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino, at a time when the latter also facedTake Ionescu's dissidence.[104] This coincided with the outbreak of the1907 Peasants' Revolt, which managed to bring down the cabinet after Ionescu agreed to support theDimitrie Sturdza's return to power, as a means to ensure a response to the troubles.[105] Like many other "generous ones", Stere was integrated in the new administration, and became aprefect ofIași County; instead of calling in theRomanian Army to pacify the area, he interfered in landowner-peasant relations to ensure better conditions for the latter, thus causing alarm in the Conservative camp.[106] Although no violent reprisal against the rebels was recorded in his prefecture,[107] his association with the repressive cabinet was the topic of criticism from many of his former allies, most notablyConstantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea,Paul Bujor, andConstantin Mille.[108] Together with his deputy prefectGheorghe Gh. Mârzescu, Stere resigned his position in April and was replaced withGheorghe Kernbach, preparing to run in thelegislative election of that year — for the 2nd Electoral College in Iași; he won the seat in late May.[109]
In early June, Premier Sturdza appointed Stere, alongside Take Ionescu,Petre P. Carp,Ion G. Duca,Alexandru Djuvara,Constantin Alimănișteanu,Ion andAlexandru G. Radovici,Dinu andVintilă Brătianu, and 24 other parliamentarians, to a Committee charged with settling the agricultural issue; ultimately dissolved later in the same month, the Committee did not achieve any clear result, and Stere's radical proposals were repeatedly ignored by his own party.[110] During the same period, a conflict erupted between Stere and the independentAntisemitic politicianA. C. Cuza, who had been one of his opponents in the election; after making use of the word "trivial" in reference to Stere's attitudes, Cuza was sued by the latter, and refused a challenge to face him in aduel (an additional aspect of the scandal was the accusation that Stere had purposely failed students who supported Cuza's policies).[111] Following the creation of Take Ionescu'sConservative-Democratic Party (PCD), the PNL launched accusations that the new group was financed by the leaseholderMochi Fischer (whose property inFlămânzi had seen the outbreak of the 1907 revolt); in reaction, the PCD newspaperOpinia, representing the views ofAlexandru Bădărău, accused Stere of having failed to protect the interests of his clients in theBessarabianzemstvo — Stere challenged the article's authorGheorghe Lascăr, former mayor of Iași, to a duel onCopou Hill, during which Lascăr was defeated and injured (March 11, 1908).[112]
Calling for anamnesty in respect to peasant rebels, Stere was initially silent on the new legislation (which, without questioning traditional landed property, allowed room forcommunal ownership), and was mostly absent from Chamber sessions.[113] He nevertheless authored several studies in which he condemned the state of affairs in Romanian agriculture, concluding one of them with aLatin verdict, paraphrasingPliny the Elder,Latifundia perdidere Romaniam ("The great estates have ruined Romania").[114] He expressed full support for the newly established agricultural bank,Casa Rurală, at a time when the project for its creation was voted in Parliament (February 1908).[115]
After again siding with Brătianu during the inner-party conflict with Sturdza — culminating in Brătianu's arrival to power after the premier fell victim to a nervous disease —, Stere replacedPetre Poni at the head of the Liberal club in Iași (June 1908), and soon came to be opposed by Mârzescu over his promotion of former socialists to party offices.[116] Following the PCD's rise to the detriment of the PNL, Stere was able to enlist his party's support for his vision ofelectoral reform (with a single electoral college, and idea also promoted by Take Ionescu), and reported on it in Parliament, being criticized by the Conservative opposition on the basis of suspicions that he was still promoting socialist ideals.[117] By mid-1909, he was the target of a campaign inEvenimentul, which had by then turned Conservative, being again accused of having profited from thezemstvo in Bessarabia without providing the required services.[118]
At the time, Stere and Ibrăileanu began mentioning thePoporanist or "democratic peasantist" trend as a small but representative faction of the PNL.[119] Such attitudes caused further tensions inside his party:Henri Sanielevici, himself a former socialist National Liberal, commented that "[Stere] seeks to strengthen himselfthrough and inside the Liberal Party and break with it only when he will become strong enough";[120] at a time when Brătianu was thought to be considering Stere for a cabinet position, theright-wing section of the PNL expressed its opposition and took steps to marginalize him (a catalysis for this attitude was the clash between the PNL andRomânia Muncitoare affiliates, caused by the expulsion of the socialist activistChristian Rakovsky, together with promises made by Brătianu that his party would not push forland reform anduniversal suffrage).[121] Largely absent from the political scene during 1909-1910, Constantin Stere nevertheless aided the PNL, fallen from power in December 1910, to reach an agreement with theConservative-Democrats over opposition to thePetre P. Carp cabinet, by improving his relations withAlexandru Bădărău.[122]
In his 1910Neo-Serfdom (A Social and Economic Study of Our Land Issue), Dobrogeanu-Gherea viewed the relation between left-leaning cultural circles in Romania and Stere's Narodnik focus as conjectural, and made mention of competing trends insidePoporanism:
"[There is] thePoporanism established in this country around 15 years after [the Narodnik original] and from the very same source. Lacking the rigorous method of Marxism, [...]Poporanism appears to have being against Social Democracy as its sole attribute [...].
[There is also] our national, Romanian,Poporanism, as it has originated from the different and real circumstances of our country. [It] is more practical than theoretical, and does not in fact have its own theory. Mr. Stere's effort to award it one was not at all successful. But thisPoporanism has its own views and attitudes and — what's more important — its ownpraxis. And to this real praxis, influencing the real course of things in this country, all kinds ofPoporanists have associated themselves in one way or another, including those who are under the influence of Russian [Narodnik ideas]. But even this nationalPoporanism is far, very far from being uniform. This can even be seen in those multiple groupings composing it, [...] which many times quarrel with one another."[123]
The apparent heterogeneous character ofPoporanism was also criticized by others, who noted that its discourse also featurednationalist rhetoric.[75] Nevertheless, PSDMR members other than Dobrogeanu-Gherea tended to refer toViața Românească as "engaged in Sterist politics".[124] Constantin Stere had a moderate reaction to the publishing ofNeo-Serfdom, briefly criticizing the arguments it brought againstPoporanist politics (with Dobrogeanu-Gherea's renewed message that socialism was possible in backward countries); additional replies to the thesis came from Stere's disciple, the engineerNicolae Profiri (among others who engaged in the debate was Dobrogeanu-Gherea's son, the futureLeninistAlexandru Dobrogeanu-Gherea).[125]
Around 1912, while visitingFlorence, Italy, Stere began a long extra-marital relationship with Ana Radovici, the widow ofIon Radovici (the latter had committed suicide in 1909).[126] No longer elected to the Chamber in the1912 suffrage, he returned to his chair at the Iași University.[127] During the electoral campaign, reelected leader of the Liberal club, he was again attacked byEvenimentul, and, having taken part in denouncingA. C. Cuza forplagiarism, clashed with his supporters (who briefly occupied the PNL headquarters in Iași in May).[128]
In 1916, Stere strongly supported Romania's alliance with theCentral Powers, arguing in favor of a policy focused on Bessarabia's recovery and against what he saw as Russianexpansionism[129] - ultimately, this led him to split with the pro-Entente PNL upon the outbreak ofWorld War I.[129] The socialistIoan Nădejde commented on the fact that Stere had become rivals with members of theRomanian Social Democratic Workers' Party who had joined the PNL in 1899, and especially with their leaderVasile Morțun.[124] He joined his voice to a diverseintellectual opposition which also included theConservative Party'sPetre P. Carp andAlexandru Marghiloman, the left-leaning writersTudor Arghezi,Dimitrie D. Pătrășcanu, andGala Galaction, as well as the revolutionary socialistChristian Rakovsky.[130]
Following theoccupation of Bucharest by theCentral Powers, Stere remained in the city, in contrast with the mass the Bucharesters who followed the Romanian authorities' refuge to Iași. With financial support fromAlexandru Vaida-Voevod, he began publishing hisLumina, a newspaper that was nevertheless, according to its editor, "supportive of the Romanian point of view"[131] and thus subject tocensorship ("a German [censorship], for [views on] external politics [...] and for internal politics [the one] exercised by Petre P. Carp's men, who cut out my articles onexpropriation [that is,land reform] anduniversal suffrage").[131]
In late March 1918, he represented theAlexandru Marghiloman government inChișinău, during the time after theFebruary andOctober Revolutions when Bessarabia had proclaimed itself aMoldavian Democratic Republic — he was charged with assisting Ion Inculeț in proposing a union of Bessarabia and Romania inSfatul Țării, the republic's legislative assembly.[132] After prolonged debates, the vote was carried in favor of union on March 27 (seeGreater Romania).
With the change in fortunes brought by theArmistice with Germany, Stere was charged withtreason and imprisoned; never facing trial, he was eventually set free.[133]
In the late 1910s, he became discreetly involved in the movement that led to the creation of theBessarabian Peasants' Party (founded and led byPan Halippa andIon Inculeț). In late 1918, most of it merged intoIon Mihalache'sPeasants' Party (PȚ), of which he and Halippa became high-ranking members[134] (Inculeț disagreed with the political union, and led a smaller party that eventually merged into the PNL).[135]
Stere caused a scandal after running and winning elections for theChamber of Deputies of Romania inSoroca (1921, under theAlexandru Averescu government), when all parties joinedNicolae Iorga in opposition to his appointment in office (Iorga considered Stere's anti-Entente past to be equivalent withtreason).[136] Fears ofBolshevik appeal in Bessarabia led to widespread allegations that the former socialist Stere was "Bolshevizing" the region.[137] Speaking from the non-communist Left,Ioan Nădejde expressed concerns that Stere was radicalizing his message:
"[...] Stere aims to scrape together a socialist party, allied with the Peasants' Party, against all other social classes, and thus follows a policy out of which, in the end, we could only get Bolshevism."[124]
In 1919, Stere had shown his awareness of that he and his party were being criticised by various political groups claiming Marxist orthodoxy,far left included. Stating again his belief in the fragile and minority position of industrial proletarians in the landscape of Romanian economy of the period, he indicated that the latter class was destined to adapt its demands to the interests of the peasantry:
"[...] for a country such as Romania, it is obvious that the urbanworking class' fate is literally in the hands of the rural working class. [...]
In these conditions, would it not be an act of suicide from the industrial working class of Romania if it were to adopt a hostile attitude toward the peasantry?
And: it is obvious that, no matter what the political and social doctrine preached by the urban proletariat, it would become hostile toward the peasantry if it wanted to impose upon it a form of economic structuring rejected by the peasantry, such as, for one, the immediate and violentsocialization of peasant agriculture.
A socialist worker expresses, in the pages of [a socialist journal], the fear that the Peasants' Party of Romania will follow the example of the peasant parties inBulgaria andSerbia [that is, theBulgarian Agrarian National Union and theSerbian Peasant Party], who, once in power, are said to have oppressed the workers.
But can this serve as an argument against the solidarity in interests of the workers in villages and cities?
In these murky times, we have also assisted to the spectacle of bloody repression, by a socialist government [formed by theSocial Democratic Party of Germany], of theworkers' movements in Germany.
Does this mean that there is a real conflict of interests between those elements of the German proletariat that are being led by the orthodox Social Democracy, and the elements that follow the banner of theIndependent Party?"[138]
Stere's position in his party's leadership prevented it from entering a close union with theTransylvania-basedRomanian National Party (PNR) in 1924, as the PNR's leaders resented his anti-Entente past.[139]
Two years later, however, he was admitted as one of the leaders of the newly createdNational Peasants' Party, a fusion of the two groups that was partly aided by the attack of National Liberal agents onPan Halippa and the government's refusal to punish the guilty.[140] Stere was the author of a legislation which aimed at providing for a degree of administrative decentralization and local initiative in government, passed in 1929 by theIuliu Maniu executive.[141]
He soon clashed with the moreconservative politicians who had been members of the PNR. In March 1930, the mention of his name during a public celebration provoked a number ofRomanian Army generals to leave in protest; immediately after, the National Liberal group aroundVintilă Brătianu began attacking Stere's party for harbouring him, and for causing a split between Army and political establishment.[142] GeneralHenry Cihoschi, theMinister of Defense, was publicly criticized inparliament for not siding with his subordinates, and had to resign on April 4; Maniu appeared to support Stere's ousting.[143]
In reply, Stere again expressed his view that Romania's government had been wrong in 1916,[144] and left to create the minorDemocratic Peasants' Party–Stere (not to be confused with the one created later byNicolae L. Lupu), which he led into a union withGrigore Iunian'sRadical Peasants' Party.
Despite his dissidence, Stere's ideas remained highly influential inside the National Peasants' Party, and constituted a major influence on the doctrines ofVirgil Madgearu.[145]Poporanism, alongside Marxism itself, was a contributing factor inDimitrie Gusti's original theories onsociology.[146]
Stere's original ideas on economic development and Marxist topics were subject tocensorship inCommunist Romania; although works on him were published after the establishment ofNicolae Ceaușescu's rule, they generally avoided presenting and quoting his writings.[147] Described as a "reactionary" until the 1960s,[147] he was considered by revised officialhistoriography to have taken a "radical-bourgeoisie position".[148] In 2010, theRomanian Academy granted posthumous membership to Constantin Stere.[149]
În preajma revoluției first appeared in eight volumes between 1932 and 1936, when it met with popular and critical success, although this was largely due to the fact that its author was cloaked in legend. The Communist regime banned the work for its duration, considering it unpublishable, even after Ceaușescu steered a course away from Soviet tutelage. The book was published between 1990 and 1991 at Chișinău, while Stere's biographerZigu Ornea put out another edition in 1991-1993. Both editions of the somewhat problematic 2331-page text were flawed, and in 2010, the Iași-based literary historian Victor Durnea began publishing a critical, annotated edition of Stere's works, starting with the novel. The manuscripts no longer exist, Stere's archive in his country house atBucov having mysteriously disappeared afterWorld War II, so that Durnea's interventions were limited to introducing uniformity into the available text, eliminating arbitrary decisions both by Stere and his editors, and replacing obsolete terms and punctuation that resulted from the author's culturally Russian outlook.[150]
In 2020, a bust was unveiled in the city ofRezina (Moldova). The author is Moldovan sculptor Veaceslav Jiglitski.[151]
