People's Party Partidul Poporului | |
|---|---|
 | |
| President | Alexandru Averescu (1918–1938) P. P. Negulescu (1938) |
| Founder | Constantin Argetoianu,Matei B. Cantacuzino |
| Founded | April 3, 1918 |
| Dissolved | 1938 |
| Split from | Conservative Party |
| Merged into | National Renaissance Front |
| Succeeded by | People's Party – Dan Diaconescu (claimed, not legal successor)[1] |
| Headquarters | Calea Victoriei 39,Bucharest[2] |
| Newspaper | Îndreptarea |
| Veterans' wing | Cultul Patriei |
| Ideology | Populism |
| Colours | Yellow |
ThePeople's Party (Romanian:Partidul Poporului, PP), originallyPeople's League (Liga Poporului), was an eclectic, essentiallypopulist, mass movement inRomania. Created byWorld War I heroAlexandru Averescu, it identified itself with the new politics of "Greater Romania" period, and existed for almost as long as Greater Romania did. The PP broke with the antiquatedtwo-party system, creating a wide coalition of lobbies, and advertised itself as the new challenge to theNational Liberal Party (PNL). The group was held together by Averescu's charisma, and was popularly known aspartidul averescan, "the Averescan party".
In its early years, the League brought together members of the moribundConservative Party and social reformers of diverse backgrounds, and secured for itself the votes of poor peasants and demobilized soldiers. Its platform appealed toantisemites andJews,social liberals andfascists, loyalists andrepublicans. Averescu's doubts about staging a revolution, and to some degree the Averescans' rejection of political radicalism, meant that the League was pushed into a partnership with the PNL. Averescu's rise to power was confirmed in the1920 election and then by his heavy-handed approach tolabor unrest. The government initiated sweeping reforms, but was brought down when it rebelled against the PNL'spaternalism.
Victorious in the1926 election, the PP became a direct opponent of theNational Peasants' Party, and lost the PNL's tactical support. It failed to regroup itself and, in 1932, was divided in half—its radical wing having become theNational Agrarian Party. The PP continued as a marginal presence in political life, steadily losing votes to the fascist and antisemitic parties. It was officially dissolved along with all other democratic parties in early 1938, by which time it had been forced to register Averescu's own resignation.
Averscan populism had its roots firmly planted in the troubled years of World War I, and was a direct answer to themilitary disaster of 1917. In summer 1916, keeping up with the orthodoxirredentist ("Greater Romanian") agenda, a PNL-governed Romania had joined theEntente Powers. The general mood was one of romantic optimism, which cast away Romania's endemic social problems, including the stringent issues ofelectoral andland reform: the majority of Romanian conscripts were landless peasants, rendered politically marginal by thecensus suffrage.[3]
Although "Greater Romanian" plans were already in circulation, the "Old Kingdom" found itself tackled by social conflicts. Tensions exploded with the1907 Peasants' Revolt, when General Averescu was called on by the PNL to organize the violent repression. This incident was later invoked against his claim to represent the interests of Romanian peasants.[4][5][6] It was also the start of a bitter rivalry between Averescu and the PNLPrime Minister,Ion I. C. Brătianu. From 1918 to 1927, their problematic relationship was to be a national affair, affecting the course of Romanian politics. As historian Gheorghe I. Florescu writes, in the course of it Brătianu went from a "manic" mistrust of Averescu to a more benevolent arrogance.[4]
Between 1907 and the entry into the world war, the PNL governments had been under pressure to generate a feasible land reform project.[7] Even more reluctant, the opposition Conservatives became split into factions: the traditional wing, led byAlexandru Marghiloman, was "Germanophile", and reserved about the "Greater Romania" project; theConservative-Democratic Party, underTake Ionescu, had a history of cooperation with the PNL, and gave full endorsement to the Entente.[8] Before the war, Averescu tended to support the Conservative side, gravitating between Marghiloman and Ionescu.[4]
The 1916 attempt to swiftly conquerTransylvania andBukovina fromAustria-Hungary was unsuccessful, and Romania found herself invaded by theCentral Powers. Supported by theRussian Empire, the Romanian authorities only held on to the easternmost area,Moldavia, and it was there that General Averescu helped organize a territorial defense. The death toll became massive: by 1919, perhaps one tenth of Romania's population had been lost to the war.[9]KingFerdinand I, the PNL government, and some of the opposition were in consensus about keeping up resistance. Visiting his peasant troops in April 1917, Ferdinand issued a formal promise of land reform, and hinted that some political reform was also being considered.[10]
However, theFebruary Revolution in Russia dealt a serious blow to military cooperation in Moldavia—Russia's Provisional Government was largely unable to control its military.[11] TheOctober Revolution, and then theTreaty of Brest-Litovsk, left Romania without allied support, a passive witness to theRussian Civil War. Faced with the prospect of an all-out Central Powers' offensive in Moldavia, Ferdinand made Averescu his prime minister. To the PNL, he was an enigma: some perceived him as a dangerouspacifist, a Conservative, or an "undertaker" of the historic parties; others believed him a convenient figurehead, who diverted attention from Brătianu's maneuvering.[4] He was expected to negotiate a dignified peace between Romania and her enemies, but was unable to obtain the necessary consensus, and handed in his resignation; a Conservative and "Germanophile" government was sworn in, and its leader Marghiloman sealed thePeace of Buftea-Bucharest, noted for its demeaning concessions to the Central Powers.[12][13][14]
Ruling over a vaguely defined Romanian territory, the Marghiloman cabinet took it upon itself to carry out the reforms. In a mood of general hostility toward the PNL, it focused on dismantling the National Liberal institutions, promising to build the country on new foundations.[15]
It was in this climate that Averescu created his People's League, on April 3, 1918. Its nucleus was a personal association between Averescu and the Conservative dissentersConstantin Argetoianu andMatei Cantacuzino.[13] The association was formed at Cantacuzino's townhouse inIași, and also counted among its founding members the ConservativesDuiliu Zamfirescu,Constantin C. Arion andGrigore Filipescu, soldiersGrigore C. Crăiniceanu,Sebastian S. Eustatziu andGheorghe Văleanu, and political philosopherP. P. Negulescu.[13][16] Through the affiliations of Negulescu andIon Petrovici, the League established a connection with the doctrines of Old Kingdomliberal conservatism, as codified in the 19th century by philosopherTitu Maiorescu.[17]
In occupied Bucharest, the People's League was supported by a parallel "League of Common Good", founded by physicistEnric Otetelișanu.[18] He later helped set up Averescan clubs in northernMuntenia.[19] On the left side, the early League incorporated a Moldavian radical-left wing, or "Labor Party", represented byGrigore Trancu-Iași and other activists.[13][20] From the very first moment, the Averescans were joined by a splinter group of theDemocratic Nationalist Party (PND), whose leader was a Moldavian academic,A. C. Cuza. The PND was a nationwideantisemitic movement founded by historianNicolae Iorga, and Cuza's men had always been itsracist wing, called "grotesque" and "obsessive" by Veiga.[21] Divided over this issue, but also over war-era policies, the two PND leaders were avoiding each other in 1918; Cuza,Ion Zelea Codreanu andCorneliu Șumuleanu effectively organized a PND schism by signing their adhesion to the League.[22]
The PNL's ruin offered a chance to other anti-systemic, radically reformist, political forces. One of them was thePeasants' Party (PȚ), led by schoolteacherIon Mihalache. Although the League and PȚ would eventually compete with one another, and divide between them the "Labor Party",[23] they were, according to political scientist Ionuț Ciobanu, created in the same mold.[24]
Eventually, the League adopted an anti-PNL platform promising full reforms, includinguniversal male suffrage. The more innovative point among these was a commitment to punishing those guilty of "abuse and mistakes", a barely disguised reference to Brătianu's policies.[25] It ran under this platform in the1918 election, without impressing the voters.[26] The suffrage was more of a personal triumph for Averescu, who joined theAssembly of Deputies as a progressive, watching over the government's fulfillment of reforms, and denouncing the peace agreements; he envisioned an alliance with the PNL, but asked for Brătianu to renounce the party presidency.[13] He also submitted the League to his personal authority: in October 1918, he forced Grigore Filipescu out of the party, accusing him of factionalism.[13] Two months later, Cuza and his men returned to the PND, but, to Iorga's irritation, continued to cooperate closely with the Averescan movement.[27]
The Marghiloman project came to an abrupt halt in November 1918, when theArmistice with Germany spelled out a world victory for the Entente forces, and opened new prospects for theunion with Transylvania. The PNL was swiftly returned to power by King Ferdinand, but the political turmoil required emergency apolitical rule, and GeneralArtur Văitoianu took over as prime minister.[28]
Văitoianu's favoritism of the PNL, and his fear of left-wing rebellion, sparked a conflict between government and the recently foundedSocialist Party of Romania (PS). For a while, the anti-PNL Averescans and Conservative-Democrats (the "United Opposition") even negotiated with the PS leaders for a common boycott of thecoming election.[13][29] These negotiations opened the door to other common projects: Argetoianu and Văleanu were especially close to the PS' republican platform, while the general favored acrowned republic.[30] Snubbed by the returning king and by Brătianu (though received with sympathy byQueen Marie), Averescu warned that a "revolution" was inevitable. He was bluffing, but the statements he issued managed to unnerve the PNL leadership.[13]
In fact, early 1919 marked the official end of Romania's two-party system. The unexpected confirmation of Greater Romania had pushed Marghiloman's Conservatives, vilified for their "Germanophilia" and ridiculed for their minuscule membership, into the electoral margin.[31] Marghiloman made one final attempt to recover the losses, relaunching the Conservative group as a "Conservative-Progressive Party". According to historian Francisco Veiga, this was a "phantasmagorical party with an impossible name", confirming the Conservatives' self-defeat rather than the PNL's restoration.[32] Powerful Conservative sections, such as the one inNeamț County, were already defecting to Averescu's League,[33] described by sociologistDimitrie Drăghicescu as a magnet for Conservative "wrecks and morsels".[34]
Averescu's group had a weak start in regular politics during the 1919 election, the first one to be carried out throughout Greater Romania, and the Romanians' first experience of universal male suffrage. Although popular, the League was undecided about whether to validate Văitoianu's handling of the vote, and only decided to boycott the election after its candidates had signed in. As a result, only some of the voters abstained, and likely winners, such as GeneralGheorghe Cantacuzino-Grănicerul inVâlcea, ended up in non-eligible third places.[35] Averescu believed that the moment to strike had not yet arrived, but, according to Marghiloman, he had missed out on a great opportunity.[13]
In the end, only 1.2% of the Greater Romania inhabitants opted for its Assembly of Deputies candidates,[36] when Marghiloman could still claim 3.8% of the totalParliament votes.[32] The League's best score was in the geographical south of the Old Kingdom, a three-county area which would endure as its electoral reservoir:Ialomița,Teleorman,Vlașca.[37] Nevertheless, although the League had never campaigned per se in the "new regions", it received an unexpected boost in Bukovina, where it placed itself ahead of the PNL.[38]
The electorate was puzzled by the general's fence-sitting, and never again regained full confidence in his political abilities.[13][39] The PȚ was most advantaged by the Averescan abstention, registering an unexpected growth throughout the enlarged country.[24][39] Zamfirescu was assigned to oversee the League's campaign in Bessarabia, and, like Averescu himself, promised significant regional autonomy.[40] The laurels were taken by theBessarabian Peasants' Party, but the Bessarabian People's League, arriving to the Assembly as a minor Conservative ally,[41] was soon absorbed into the Averescan movement.[13]
The resulting government was anagrarian coalition of anti-PNL parties: the TransylvanianRomanian National Party (PNR), those Democratic Nationalists who remained loyal to Nicolae Iorga, and Mihalache's PȚ. The coalition, headed byAlexandru Vaida-Voevod, brought together symbols of "new" politics, punishing the PNL but also hostile toward Romanian conservatism.[42] Although absent from Parliament, Averescu exercised his influence through the PNR'sOctavian Goga, and, to his colleagues' amazement, obtained for himself theInternal Affairs portfolio.[13][39] He resigned just days after, following a publicized row with Iorga.[13][43]
The coalition soon managed to upset the political establishment with its advocacy of total land reform. Inside and outside Parliament, the Averescans stood by the PNL and Conservative deputies in opposing Mihalache and Vaida-Voevod over how land should be divided.[24] Eventually, the Vaida-Voevod cabinet was toppled by the king, with Averescu's tactical support, in March 1920.[44]
These events propelled Averescu to the premiership. In his acceptance speech, the general outlined his mission: "to form a barrage against all attempts at leading souls astray, against all attempts to shake up, even in the least, the social and Stately institutions"; but also to "render effective the redistribution of plots among individuals".[39] With the spread of political awareness among the peasant voters, Averescu became the center of apersonality cult. The demobilized soldiers were persuaded that his organizational abilities would reflect on political life, and that he could bring order and stability to the enlarged state.[45]
Taking its revenge on the PNR, the Averescu administration organized a clampdown against the centrifugal local governments which still existed in the newly united provinces. On April 4, 1920, Averescu shut down Bukovina's administrative apparatus, although it had been recognized by his predecessors in office, and set up a monolingual educational system.[46] The general sought to absorb the entire PNR into his party, but PNR leaderIuliu Maniu successfully resisted his bid.[47][48]
The League's own Transylvanian section grew to include nationalist intellectuals, angered by PNR regionalism: Goga,Vasile Lucaci andOctavian Tăslăuanu.[25][47][49] Some members of the Transylvanian elite followed suit. They include an aristocrat (Anton Mocsonyi de Foeni), aGreek-Catholic community leader (Ioan Suciu), a left-leaning landowner (Petru Groza),[39] a banker (Teodor Mihali)[50] and an academic (Ioan Ursu).[51] Farther to the west, in the RomanianBanat, Averescu enlisted support from regional organizerAvram Imbroane and hisNational Union.[25][39]
The Averescans were in a position to attract additional votes from the other "new regions". Since theParis Conference had recognized Romania's right of territorial extension under Averescu's mandate, and since the government introduced the first stages of land reform, his party registered a significant rise in popularity, especially among Bessarabian Romanian community (to which Averescu belonged by virtue of birth).[52] The Bessarabian chapter, overseen by Old Kingdom immigrant, poetDumitru Iov,[53] had among its native politiciansTeodor Neaga,[54]Vladimir Bodescu[55] andVladimir Chiorescu.[56] They mounted a nationalist campaign against the Bessarabian Peasants' Party, who had sought to preserve regional autonomy.[57] The League attracted into its ranks several Bessarabian cadres, includingVladimir Cristi, woman activistElena Alistar, and, with his entire Bessarabian Peasants' Party dissidence,Sergiu Niță.[58]
At the height of its anti-autonomy campaign, the Averescu party turned on theethnic minorities. The general created controversy by stressing that the political parties representing minority groups needed to be dissolved.[59] Despite such rhetoric, the Averescans pursued a policy of practical alliances with the ethnic minority political clubs, against the centralizing and nationalist forces (PNL and theDemocratic Union Party). InDobruja, they courtedethnic Bulgarians, who had not formed their own political party.Dimo Dimitriev and a handful of conservative Bulgarians answered the call.[60] In Transylvania, the League had aJewish Romanian candidate,Henric Streitman. Running on anassimilationist platform, he failed to convince any of Transylvania's Jewish voters.[61]
Such ambiguities were especially noticeable in Bukovina. The region's PȚ section, headed byDorimedont "Dori" Popovici, defected to the League on March 22, 1920.[62] It joined up with an ethnically "purified" Averescan chapter, presided upon by sociologistTraian Brăileanu.[63] A third figure in that alliance was a pro-autonomyBukovinian German,Alfred Kohlruss.[64]
The League's magnetism meant that Averescan sections functioned everywhere in the country. Averescu, Flondor, Goga, Imbroane, Niță and Dori Popovici held congress on April 16, 1920, when the League was officially declared a "People's Party", the first political group to register members everywhere in Greater Romania.[39] In the Old Kingdom, the PP still relied on the influence of military men, including GeneralConstantin Coandă and MajorȘtefan Tătărescu,[65] and, after another PND schism, absorbed into its ranks the Cuza–Codreanu–Șumuleanu faction.[66] Also in the Old Kingdom, a section of the PP soon broke off, organizing itself as the "People's Party Dissidents".[67]
Thespring 1920 election was a comfortable victory for the PP. It received 42% of the national vote for the Assembly,[68] and 44.6% of the total.[69] This was the first appearance of an electoral phenomenon known as "government dowry", meaning that the party in government by the time of the election could expect to win it.[70] Moreover, the Premier pioneered the use of state channels for the distribution of party propaganda, and hisprefects acted as arbiters in the county-level electoral battles.[71] The national score was still unusually low for a Romanian party in government, and Averescu still found it very hard to stabilize his popularity.[72]
Like his PNL competitors and the king himself, Averescu was preoccupied with the menace ofBolshevism, and suspicious of the Socialist Party's radicalization. Hisanticommunism was voiced in Parliament by PP memberD. R. Ioanițescu, who spoke for the entire parliamentary right.[73] In contrast, another PP deputy, the Bessarabian journalist and formeranarchistZamfir Arbore, was noted for his sympathy towardRed Russia.[74]
The situation became explosive in October 1920, when the socialists attempted ageneral strike, and the PP organized the clampdown.[75] The government prolonged and generalized military censorship, and legislated that all conflicts between employers and workers to pass throughlabor courts (the "Trancu-Iași Law").[76] The next year, a part of Bessarabia, perceived as especially vulnerable to Bolshevik penetration, was placed undermartial law.[77]
Averescu's handling of the situation, fully supported by the PNL,[78] had its share of brutality. According to PS militants, his was a "class government", "terrified" by trade union growth,[79] or even a "White Terror" regime.[80] The PP, and especially Cuza's extremists, enjoyed support from a number of small paramilitary groups, including the Moldavian Guard of National Awareness. Headed byConstantin Pancu, it intimidated the PS sections and began organizing nationalist trade unions.[81]
The government expelled or relocated population groups perceived as disloyal,[82] ordering a mass arrest of the PS splinter group, an embryonicCommunist Party.[83] Averescu's subordinates also staged the unusually harsh trial of communistMihail Gheorghiu Bujor, and stood accused of murdering PS militantHerșcu Aroneanu.[84] Their actions were hotly debated by the mainstream opposition, not least of all because they risked destroying all chances of peace between Romania and Russia.[85]
In tandem, the Averescans extended a hand to the PS moderates, who were less likely to be influenced by the Bolshevik ideology.[86] As Veiga writes, Averescu's Romania was uniquely positioned in respect to leftist uprisings: the Romanian left as a whole was "very weak", and the country "traversed thegreat revolutionary wave without any sort of practical consequences."[87] For their part, many opposition deputies believed that Romanian communists needed to be scolded, not stamped out.[88] There was just one notable act of retribution: on December 9, 1920,Max Goldstein exploded a bomb inside Parliament, killing the Conservative Party'sDimitrie Greceanu, and injuring several others (including Argetoianu).[89] The PS later denounced Goldstein as a profiteer and a renegade.[90]
From the right, the PP was attacked by the PNL, who withdrew from Parliament in February 1921, prompting Averescu to renounce promises of moderation. In his public addresses, the general invoked his "responsibilities" of reforming the country.[39] Bidding for left-wing votes, the government drafted the much awaited land reform at its own convenience. Its law on land redistribution, not essentially different from the Peasantist project of 1920,[24][91][92] was conceived by a defecting PND parliamentarian,Vasile Kogălniceanu, who had been Averescu's adversary during the 1907 Revolt.[93] The PP was also pushing for an administrative reform that would increase the citizens' say in local government. It sought to legislate a measure ofwomen's suffrage, but this proposal was soundly defeated in Parliament.[94]
The Averescan ministers were unable to tackle thesevere economic recession, and Averescu even offered to renounce his premiership in favor of Take Ionescu.[95] Ionescu refused, and the cabinet was locked in place until late 1921. Revisiting his stance, Averescu informed his supporters that he could only accept a PNL succession. The arrival to power of any other party would have threatened the PP's main project, of monopolizing the anti-PNL vote.[91]
In July 1921, the "Reșița Affair", sparked when Argetoianu told his parliamentary critics to "kiss my ass",[96] offered an unexpected chance of affirmation to the PNL opposition.[24] At that junction, Ionescu withdrew his support and became friendly toward the PNL, leading to the government's resignation.[91][95] Between December 1921 and January 1922, Ionescu was Prime Minister of a minority cabinet. It also fell when the PP managed to pass itsmotion of no confidence, but was swiftly replaced by a PNL administration. Brătianu became Premier and Văitoianu headed Internal Affairs.[97]
The PNL made a victorious comeback in theMarch 1922 election. Its campaign focused on instigating hostility toward Averescu, but Brătianu's prefects also lifted censorship and allowed all parties to campaign freely.[98] The PP, neutral toward all other anti-PNL forces, attempted to form an alliance with the Marghiloman Conservatives, while Ionescu's faction went to the PND.[99] The Averescans dropped to 7.6% of the vote in the Assembly and 6.5% overall, although theirs was still the most important single opposition force.[100] The PP's downfall was glaring in Bessarabia, where it failed to win any parliamentary seats.[101] In Bukovina, the Averescan party was joined by one segment of the Jewish community, underMayer Ebner, but was still defeated at the ballot box.[102]
By 1922, as a result of theVersailles andTrianon treaties, the borders of "Greater Romania" had been secured, and the country, with its growing economy, officially went from 7.5 to 16.5 million inhabitants, which also seemed to compensate for her demographic losses.[103] The PNL leadership saw the electoral success as a confirmation of its pivotal role in Romanian society, and, despite protests from the right and the left, resumed itspaternalistic approach to politics.[104]
In this uneasy climate, the PNL finally passed the1923 Constitution, thereafter criticized as the beginning of a PNL-istguided democracy. As Florescu notes, "Brătianu was not inclined to renounce, even for a short while, his conductor's baton. [...] Because of this, the modernization of Romanian political life was subordinated to Ion I.C. Brătianu and the liberals, which proved to be a decisive obstacle in the natural evolution of political life, in its adjustment to the new epoch."[4] When the PNR-led opposition suggested a political boycott, Averescu sided with the PNL, announcing that his men were the "orderly opposition".[91]
In addition to the Constitution, the PNL finally agreed toemancipate Romania's Jewish minority. In March 1923, Cuza parted with the PP and set up his ownNational-Christian Defense League (LANC). Thisfar-right group, later joined by PP right-wingers Ion Zelea Codreanu, Șumuleanu and Brăileanu,[105] was dedicated to antisemitic violence, popularizing theProtocols of the Elders of Zion canard, and welcoming into its ranks thefascist youth.[106] Cuza still held Averescu's ideas of moral order as a source of inspiration, and the LANC tried to draw traditional PP voters into antisemitism.[107]
In their various statements, Averescu and Goga were still friendly toward Cuza, playing down LANC violence, and giving exposure to fascist propaganda.[108] However, at the other end, Argetoianu and many of the former Conservative-Democrats left the PP and sided with the PNR, a magnet of new conservatism.[109] Other figures of prewar conservatism made the opposite move: philosopherConstantin Rădulescu-Motru, diplomatIon Mitilineu, educationistConstantin Meissner, journalistAndrei Corteanu, social activistDem. I. Dobrescu,[91] and civil administratorIon Georgescu Obrocea[110] all signed up with the PP around 1922. The Averescans still negotiated with the PNR and other Transylvanian parties, but only managed to form an alliance with the minorityMagyar Party, personally negotiated by Goga.[91]
The street battles, but moreover the Transylvanian and Bukovinian objections to its centralizing policies, again left the PNL in an uncomfortable situation.[111] On June 3, 1924, the Averescans staged a "triumph of democracy" march in Bucharest, threatening with a coup, and demanding that Averescu be granted the premiership.[91] In the subsequent mayoral elections, Brătianu's administration effectively censored PP propaganda.[112]
The PP and the PNR agreed to form a "united front" against government, but Averescu made it clear that he had not lost his appetite for negotiating with Brătianu.[113] The National Liberal tacticians eventually pushed Averescu to the forefront, allowing him to take over as Prime Minister (March 1926), but in fact maneuvering in his shadow.[113][114] The Averescans were welcomed into the National Liberal high finance, with Averescu himself being appointed on the board ofCreditul Minier society.[115]
The PP government ordered for the new elections to be carried out under a single electoral law, equally valid in the Old Kingdom and the "new regions". More controversially, the cooperation between the PNL and the PP legalized the "government dowry" in an amendment toproportional representation, ensuring the majority of parliamentary seats to any party that could absorb at least 40% of the popular vote, and obliging all registered parties to open regional sections anywhere in the country.[116] The subsequent electoral campaign became a showdown: the PP, PNL and Peasantists each absorbed a number of smaller parties, centralizing the national vote.[117] The PP also formalized its cartel with the Magyar Party.[118]
The1926 election was an absolute peak for the PP, which received 52% of the total vote.[119] InRâmnicu Sărat County, the Averescan candidate managed an outstanding 96.6%.[120] However, the PP's electioneering was noted for its numerous and unsanctioned abuses, including the use of state funds for People's Party propaganda and the intimidation of opposition candidates (particularity those running for the PȚ and the Bessarabian Peasantists).[121] As the caretaker of Internal Affairs, Goga was a prime suspect.[47]
Under such circumstances, the PP benefited from a fresh influx of cadres, many of whom were literati. Among those elected into Parliament as PP men was formerPrahova Conservative, the award-winning writerI. A. Bassarabescu.[122] NovelistMihail Sadoveanu was elected inBihor County, Transylvania,[123] but, together with poetGeorge Topîrceanu, represented a new generation of Moldavian PP cadres.[113] Also active in PP politics, poetMateiu Caragiale tried but failed to receive a party nomination.[124]
The Bukovinian caucus co-optedAntin Lukasevych andIurii Lysan of theUkrainian Social Democrats, who also won parliamentary seats,[125] while the partnership with individual Jewish and German politicians was again revived. Ebner, Streitman, Kohlruss andKarl Klüger in Bukovina, andYehuda Leib Tsirelson in Bessarabia, were elected on the Averescan ticket.[126]
Ballot rigging only strengthened the opposition in the long run. Viewing the PP and the PNL as onepolitical machine, the other parties again coalesced into a single bloc. In October 1926, the PNR and PȚ created the most stable avatar of "new" politics, theNational Peasants' Party (PNȚ). It grouped together "Green International" agrarians and classical liberals, social conservatives and socialists, driven into a revolutionary mood.[127] After a while, the Peasantist sections were pushed into moderate positions, which allowed the PNȚ to absorb Iorga's old PND (known then as "People's Nationalist Party").[24]
Still, the PNȚ lost some of its more conservative Transylvanian leaders, who became PP leaders:Vasile Goldiș,Ion Lapedatu,Ioan Lupaș,Ion Agârbiceanu.[24][113] Joining them were old PCD cadres who had parted with the general in 1918, including rival G. Filipescu.[113] At the other end, the PP remained suspicious of left-wingers. Returning to its anticommunist agenda, it staged a repression againstLupta and other leftist newspapers.[128]
With new backing, Averescu attempted to break out of the unequal partnership with the PNL, implying that it was an "unhealthy" solution.[113]Mihail Manoilescu, hisMinister of the Economy, adopted radical fiscal policies for theredistribution of wealth,[129] and undermined the PNL's big finance with calls forcooperative banking.[130] At a time, a movement directed by the PP's own Teodor Neaga sought to bring back the old Bessarabianzemstvos; Averescu welcomed it with speeches about decentralization, describing zemstvos as a compromise between centralism and regional autonomy.[131] Moreover, the PP strayed from the traditional course of Romania's European policies, by obtaining a recognition of the Bessarabian union from the (nominally hostile)Kingdom of Italy, and turning Romania away from herLittle Entente alliance.[113][132]
Eventually, in June 1927, the king ordered Averescu to step down. According to some reports, the deposed prime minister was outraged enough to threaten with a coup, but was quickly neutralized by the PNL.[133] PP optimism was motivated by its victories in two partial elections,[134] but the National Liberals focused their energies on sabotaging the Averescan candidates.[135] Internecine disputes also undermined the PP: Lapedatu versus Manoilescu andConstantin Garoflid; Negulescu versus Petrovici.[113]
Just as the PP was announcing a new political offensive, the entire Bukovina chapter defected.[134] The party was in disarray, losing most of its support base in the Old Kingdom—except forDobruja, where, in the1927 race, it received 5.75% regionally, compared to 1.93% nationally.[136] In Bessarabia, it relied on 3.3% of the vote[137] and lost Neaga's backing.[54] In Transylvania, the Magyar Party unsealed its pact with Averescu, prompting the latter to turn more nationalistic.[113] From ca. 1930, the Averescan program included demands forracial quotas, so as to undermine the Hungarians' political and cultural representation.[138]
The PP's decline was less evident in the1928 election, carried out under a triumphant National Peasantist cabinet, which did not touch the electoral legislation.[139] The PP formed a cartel with its former rivals, the PND. They managed 2.48% nationally.[140]
The successive deaths of Brătianu and King Ferdinand announced a major political reshuffling. PP theoretician Manoilescu sensed this, and left the party to make his debut as acorporatist doctrinaire.[141] A conspiracy, facilitated by the PNȚ government and by former PP men (Argetoianu, Manoilescu), granted the throne to Ferdinand's disgraced son,Prince Carol, who would reign as Carol II.[142] Averescu spoke out against the PNȚ tactics, staging a (futile) parliamentary walkout in 1929,[134] but his party voted overwhelmingly in favor of Carol's reinstatement.[143] By then, most of the PP elite cadres, from Garoflid to Petrovici and Filipescu, were following Manoilescu's example and resigning from the party.[134]
From 1930, again citing the fear of social revolution, Averescu also began courting King Carol. As a reward, he was madeMarshal of Romania and considered for Carol's own ministerial "reserve team".[134] That promise failed to materialize: the king was more impressed by Iorga's loyalty, and, to Averescu's chagrin, set up a PND cabinet.[144] In the1931 election, the Averescan candidates received a minor boost, reemerging with 4.82% of the Assembly vote.[145] However, the PP had lost all footing in Romania's "new regions", where it had always been a minor presence. In Transylvanian counties, it received more than 10% of the vote only inNăsăud andFăgăraș.[146]
The fascist and corporatist models became even more fashionable as theGreat Depression set in. Half of the PP broke off in 1932, setting up theNational Agrarian Party (PNA), with Octavian Goga as its president. This split was allegedly prompted by the king: Goga fully supported his dictatorial projects, while Averescu was still ambivalent.[134] The PNA became more like the LANC, quoting fascist principles, and favoring strong antisemitic measures.[47][147] Goga made history in 1933, when he openly demanded the creation of specialconcentration camps for sorting out Romanian Jews.[47]
Fascism was more successfully represented by the former LANC paramilitary wing, theIron Guard, which Averescu denounced as an "anarchic" movement.[144] The Guard made steady electoral gains throughout the more disputed electoral circumscriptions, appealing to the social groups most affected by the economic crisis.[148] As Veiga notes, the Guard was also able to collect the PP's upper-class voters, including Cantacuzino-Grănicerul.[149]
The PNA defection was a debilitating coup against the Averescans, who lost not just Goga, but also Ghibu, Agârbiceanu, and several high-ranking cadres (Silviu Dragomir,Stan Ghițescu,Constantin Iancovescu).[144] Out of 76 PP chapters, 24 opted to join Goga.[144] In theJuly 1932 election, the PP only appealed to some 2.16% of the Romanian electorate; this was less than what Goga had received—together, the two parties accounted almost exactly for the PP's electoral base in the 1931 election.[150] The PP was again able to benefit from the customary allocation of seats (called "downright absurd" by analyst Marcel Ivan): in Transylvania, where it obtained less than 2%, Averescu's men still received two Assembly seats, whereas the PNL, with 8% of the regional vote, only managed one seat.[151]
PP men witnessed the PNȚ's return to power on an anti-Carlist platform, and, although numerically irrelevant, announced that they were preparing their own comeback. Despite arousing public indignation, the PP began negotiating with both Carol and the Iron Guard, probably hoping to play one against the other.[144] Averescu's optimism was stoked by the government crisis of 1932, when Carol's dictatorial project clashed badly with the PNȚ's commitment to democratic action.[144] The Marshal's stated objective was to tear down "the barrier that exists between the People's Party and the Sovereign".[152]
Theelections of 1933 were called by a new PNL cabinet, headed byIon G. Duca. The PP mobilized itself, forming a tiny cartel withFilipescu's Conservative revivalists and the right-wing"Georgist" Liberals.[152] It was also joined byNicolae Rădescu, an anti-Carlist officer. He was involved with an Averescan veterans' association,Cultul Patriei ("Cult of the Motherland").[153] The Averescans were again interested in the German votes, and attempted to set up a satellite German Farmers' Union in Transylvania.[154] The PP's Constitutional-and-Conservative list registered a dismal result, of less than 2% nationally.[155]
Seeing the Iron Guard and other growing parties as direct threats to the political system, Premier Duca reestablished censorship and repressive mechanisms, even before the actual voting.[156] The Guard assassinated him that December. Its leadership was promptly jailed, the Guard was publicly defended by Averescu.[157] It also found itself courted by King Carol, who had come to resent PNL politics. In that context, the ambitious monarch planned to create a puppet government, headed by Averescu, managed by Argetoianu, and supported by the Iron Guard.[152][158] His attempt failed, returning the PP into obscurity. Instead, Carol was able to form an obedient cabinet from the PNL youth ofGheorghe Tătărescu, with Manoilescu as adviser.[159]
In July 1935, the PP's fascist breakaway groups, PNA and LANC, merged to form theNational Christian Party (PNC), a direct competitor of the Iron Guard.[160] As far as traditional Averescans were concerned, the new party was nothing more than "agitatorial".[152] The PP and the "Georgists", meanwhile, were closer than ever. In September 1935, they formed a Constitutional Front, soon joined by the para-fascistCrusade of Romanianism and by Carol's outstandingly vocal critic,Grigore Forțu, who led a marginalCitizens' Bloc of National Salvation.[152][161]
In March 1937, attempting to deescalate the crisis, Tătărescu banned all political uniforms, primarily targeting the Guard and the PNC, but also outlawing the PP's yellow shirts and cockades.[162] Theelection of 1937 created two conjectural camps: the National Peasantists sealed a non-aggression pact with the Iron Guard, aiming to restrict Carol's intervention in party politics; Tătărescu's National Liberals managed to obtain conditional support from both the PP and the PNC, forming a loose alliance of Carlist interest groups.[152][163] Averescu was isolated on the political scene. The "Georgists" dissolved the Constitutional Front and crossed the floor, sealing pacts with the Guard and the PNȚ. In response, the PP made vague efforts to form another cartel, with either the PNL or the PNC.[152]
Even with the application of 1926 laws, the election result was a deadlock. Since no party totaled 40%, it became impossible to form government.[164] For Carol II, this was an opportunity. Using his prerogative, the monarch handed power to the PNC minority (9.15% of the votes), which had promised to enact his dictatorial and corporatist program.[47][165] Goga initiated discussions with the Averescans, trying to talk them into a fusion, but the two sides could not agree on how to share mandates between them.[166]
The PNC's partnership with the king broke down when Goga also began negotiating with the Guard,[47][167] leading Carol to test a new political solution. In February 1938, the PNC administration was deposed. All the parties were officially banned and replaced with theNational Renaissance Front, with high offices reserved for old-regime politicians, Averescu included.[152][166][168] In early March 1938, the Marshal officially resigned from the PP, and the party presidency was assigned by default to Negulescu.[152] The PP's dissolution was perhaps voluntary, and in any case welcomed by several of Averescu's former colleagues.[122][152][169] Others, however, were taken by surprise: as a distraught Trancu-Iași noted, the PP simply "fizzled out", without any official acceptance from its elected corps.[170]
After he agreed to this final compromise with King Carol, Averescu largely withdrew from public life. He maintained only some informal contacts with former PP dignitaries, such as Argetoianu, Meissner, Trancu-Iași andPetre Papacostea.[166][170] He bemoaned the passing of Romania'srepressive constitution, and refused to countersign it, but he also rejected offers to join up with a public show of protest by the PNȚ and PNL.[166] Just as some advanced proposals to restore Averescu to the premiership, the ailing Marshal went on an extended trip abroad. He died of heart disease shortly after returning to Romania, and was granted astate funeral.[170]
Averescu's politics were part of a European-wide reorientation, a pragmatic conservative answer to thepostwar leftist riots, but also a manifestation of the soldiers' particular resentment toward classicalliberal democracy. As a military opponent of the civilian elite, looking for a way out of thetwo-party system, Averescu was compared (by both contemporaries and historians) toGeneral Boulanger[13] andMustafa Kemal.[166] Veiga also suggests that Averescu was a local "Primo de Rivera", and that his demobilized supporters were Romania's "khaki rioters".[171]
According to Gheorghe I. Florescu, the general was forcefully propelled into politics by his soldiers' ambitions: "With the glowing aura of an ever-increasing, tide-like, popularity, General Averescu found himself riding the wave of innovation, but also of danger, given that there was no clear direction to its menacing advance, to its mysterious and incomprehensible character."[4] Also according to Florescu: "In 1920–1921, Romanian political life traversed a very complex interval [...] evolving from obsolete conservative tendencies to an increased radicalism, aiming to keep in tune with the new age. The People's Party itself, having first presented itself as the purveyor of democratic principles, fell back on conservatism during its two-year interval in government."[91] In his own words, the general was "a prudent liberal" ushering in the "rule of law".[172]
The PP's anti-systemic bias was universally perceived as incoherent,demagogic, even self-contradictory, a textbook example of "non-ideological" populism.[173] In 1918, Argetoianu explained that the League was indeed a political party, but a pluralistic one, playing host to several "strong currents of the masses."[13] Witnessing the Averescan phenomenon from the side, Nicolae Iorga argued that the PP was even flimsier than that: "the [PP's] program was Averescu, the guarantee that it would be effected was Averescu, the party prestige was Averescu, the fight for an ideal was Averescu. Everything led back to Averescu."[86] The establishment regarded Averescu as entirely unfit for his political duties, a "fascinating" but "permanently indecisive" character.[4] Others simply believed that Averescu was incompetent. The PNȚ'sIoan Hudiță claimed to see right through Averescu's charisma, to his "spineless" and "servile" core.[170] Drăghicescu also writes that the Averescan myth appealed to "the turncoats, disguised as they may be into new men, virginal men."[174]
From inception, the People's League courted both the self-reliant middle class and the disenfranchised, crediting itself as aclass collaboration party.[25][175] Its propaganda declared it "a protector of The Artisans, of The Villagers, and of all the maligned people",[176] fueled "not by bonds of interest, but by the overwhelming love of the peasants and the soldiers."[177] Some party members tried to connect this inter-class positioning with a more concrete political terminology. Before his defection to corporatism, Manoilescu depicted the PP, with itstax reform policies andlabor courts, as a prime example of "neoliberal doctrine" (that is to say,social liberalism).[178] For a short while, the PP counted among its intellectual elite the other voice of youthful liberalism: Manoilescu's rival,Ștefan Zeletin.[91][179]
In Manoilescu's definition, the Averescu program did not rely "on any single social class, but on all of them", mixing "quite sentimental liberalism" into "quite timid socialism."[180] Meanwhile, through Goga's inner faction, the PP was tied to various political social experiments promoted by the intelligentsia.Vasile Goldiș andIoan Lupaș, for instance, directed government funds intoeugenic research (1927).[181] Goga's own rapid ascent embodied the political aspirations of his fellow writers, who believed in an intellectualmeritocracy:Mihail Sadoveanu motivated his decision to join the PP as a need to strengthen the intellectuals' direct presence in politics;[123] from the outside,Camil Petrescu pressured Goga (unsuccessfully so) to legislate the "dictatorship of intellectual labor".[182]
Despite its pragmatic trans-ethnic alliances and its multiculturalism, the PP maintained political links with the far right, most notably through Cuza's followers. As a minor partner during the 1920 strike, the National Awareness Guard, which had among its junior members the future Iron Guard organizerCorneliu Zelea Codreanu, seems to have been inspired by both theAustrian Christian Social Party and theGerman Nazi Party.[183] The National Awareness Guard was called a "fascist organization" by historian Lucian Butaru, and was fondly remembered by Codreanu for its antisemitic doctrines.[184] Other extremist clubs on the right were courted by the PP over the remainder of its existence: as historian of fascismStanley G. Payne notes, the post-1920 PP was "an ever-diminishing, increasingly right-wing organization."[185] Thenational syndicalist doctrinaireNae Ionescu saw the Averescan League as a "federalist" group resembling the "syndicalist ethos", but noted with regret that it had evolved into a more rigid and "abstracting" structure.[186] From the left, the PP was perceived as duplicitous when it came to fascist rioting. An angry Jewish commentator,Isac Ludo, accused his coreligionists of naivete, since their endorsement of the PP did not prevent Averescu from tolerating antisemitic hooliganism, nor Goga from stoking it.[187]
The PP was also noted for its privileged relationship withItalian fascism, its own hopes of success rekindled by theMarch on Rome.[91][188] Although inspired by and advantageous to the PNL, the 1926 electoral legislation was supposedly modeled on the Italian "Acerbo Law".[189] Moreover, in a 1930s project, Averescu, Iorga, Manoilescu and Goga were all considered as overseers of theAction Committees for the Universality of Rome, that is to say the Italian bureau of theFascist International.[190]
The fascist connections were explicitly contradicted by the public attitudes of some PP leaders. HistorianH. James Burgwyn writes that Averescu may have indeed been perceived as "a Fascist sympathizer", but actually "had no interest inthe Duce as an ideological mentor".[191] While fascism was taking its first steps in Romania, this "most serious candidate for the role of dictator"[192] was earning high praise for preserving "the middle line".[113] After the Goga defection, Averescu issued several disclaimers against suspicions that the PP was secretly fascist.[144] Later on, Averescu also distanced himself from Carol II's authoritarian projects, but (as Butaru writes) this mainly showed that he was not one of the king's favorites.[193]
Some other PP members were ever more vocal in rejecting fascism. People's League ideologistP. P. Negulescu, who deplored Averescu's attack on socialism,[194] endures in Romanian political history as a supporter of moderation. He wrote an outspoken critique of racist discourse, denouncing Romanian fascism as a tool for German spies,[195] and actively supported ethnic pluralism.[196] The PP's conservative core repeatedly censured Averescu's tactical alliances with fascist politicians, including in 1935, when the PP was allied by proxy with theCrusade of Romanianism.[152]
Many revolutionaries on the right were exasperated, their press calling Averescu a leader of an "old men's insurrection".[197] After converting to authoritarianism, Manoilescu expressed his frustration that Negulescu and other "intellectual politicians" had prevented Averescu from fulfilling his historical mission.[166] Manoilescu also contended that, owing to such affiliations, the PP could never appeal to the mainstay voters of either fascism or communism: the educated youth.[192] This verdict is consistent with statistical data. In 1938, the PP had 14 university professors as registered members, including Negulescu,Ilie Bărbulescu andN. I. Herescu; the Iron Guard meanwhile only had 8.[198]
The Averescan party's preference for the color yellow was official until 1937,[199] after which it became informal. It was notably used in floral arrangements at official functions.[170] Unlike the other parties, which frequently changed symbols, the PP was committed to using the "six-pointed star, filled", as its electoral logo.[200] First appearing in 1918 as the League's badge, the star was said to represent Averescu's political newness and for the hopes invested in him.[201] References to the party symbol featured prominently in propaganda rhymes. These called the PNL elite "rats", and the star itself "the rats' scourge".[202] In 1926, however, the PP switched to a "broken" trigram (☷), used for identification in the election bulletins.[203]
The party slogan wasMuncă, cinste, legalitate ("Labor, honesty, legality"), which in itself alluded to the meeting of workers' rights, social liberalism, and "evolved" conservatism.[25] The phrase became known (and ridiculed) as "the general's primer", and as a timid alternative to the PNL'sPrin noi înșine ("By ourselves").[204] As much as it diversified it support base, the PP always used personalized politics as an asset. According to historian Svetlana Suveică, its electoral manifestos for 1926 "focused entirely on Averescu's merits, their content hardly ever mentioned the name of the party headed by the general."[205]
The PP's central tribune wasÎndreptarea, whose editors includedConstantin Gongopol and (in 1923)Ștefan Tătărescu.[206] The PP also controlled many regional newspapers. In early 1919, it won official support from two provincial weeklies:Adevăr și Dreptate, put out inGalați bySebastian S. Eustatziu, andGeorge Lungulescu'sAlarma Mehedințiului, ofTurnu Severin.[207] In the Bessarabian center ofChișinău, the PP was represented byVasile Cijevschi'sNashe Slovo and, later, byDumitru Iov'sCuvântul Nou.[208] AtTimișoara, the PP press was mainly represented byPetru Nemoianu'sGazeta Banatului.[209]
Many other such tribunes existed, during the PP's heyday, in:Baia Mare (Renașterea),Bârlad (Apărarea Națională,Steagul Biruinței,Tribuna Tutovei),Bazargic (Deliormanul,Dobrogea Nouă,Înfrățirea,Ecoul Caliacrei,Steaua Caliacrei),Brăila (Îndreptarea Brăilei), Bucharest (Banatul,Cinstea,Muncitorul,Olteanul,Realitatea),Buzău (Drapelul,Steaua Poporului),Cahul (Cahulul),Cernăuți (Dreptatea,Țărănimea),Cluj (România),Constanța (Refacerea,Steaua),Craiova (Cuvântul Olteniei,Doljul,Ordinea),Dorohoi (Biruința,Steaua Poporului),Iași (Liga Poporului),Râmnicu Vâlcea (Glasul Poporului,Steaua),Roman (Opinca Română),Slatina (Gazeta Oltului,Liga Oltului),Soroca (Basarabia de Sus),Târgu Jiu (Gazeta Poporului din Gorj) etc.[210]
During their alliance with Iorga's party, the Averescans inherited former PND-ist gazettes, starting with Iorga's ownNeamul Românesc andTraian Brăileanu'sPoporul of Cernăuți.[211] Others wereCoasa of Constanța,Brazda Nouă of Bârlad,Cuvântul Naționalist ofBacău,Îndemnul ofPitești,Răvașul Nostru ofSuceava,Vremea Nouă andVremea Ordinei of Craiova,Biruința of Turnu Severin etc.[212] By the early 1930s, the PP's official press includedÎndreptarea,Cuvântul Olteniei, and the newerConstituția ofRâmnicu Sărat.[213]Îndreptarea survived the PP's official disestablishment, and was in print until summer 1938.[170]
The PP's agony and disestablishment preceded the end ofGreater Romania and the shock ofWorld War II (seeRomania in World War II). In 1940, after ceding Bessarabia to the Soviets andNorthern Transylvania to theHungarian Regency, Carol II was pushed into exile, and the Iron Guard took over. This bloody interregnum, known asNational Legionary State, was ended from within byIon Antonescu, the appointedConducător. Antonescu's Romania was also aligned with international fascism, and joined Nazi Germany in carrying outOperation Barbarossa.
In late August 1944, with the turn of tides, theKing Michael Coup finally deposed Antonescu and broke off Romania's alliance with theAxis Powers. It was the unwitting start ofcommunization. Once a minor group persecuted by PP governments, theRomanian Communist Party swelled up in numbers and, with Soviet assistance, advanced steadily toward imposing aRomanian People's Republic. The process required support from some key members of the old political class, most notoriously so from two former PP dignitaries,Petru Groza andMihail Sadoveanu, who held some of the top positions in the new state.[5][214] In this context, Groza took over as Prime Minister of a communist-dominated cabinet, after ousting the former PP manNicolae Rădescu; Rădescu fled the country to escape imprisonment.[215]
Other PP cadres, particularly those who had fraternized with fascism, were also prosecuted. The more notorious such cases are those of Argetoianu,[216] Manoilescu, Petrovici, Lapedatu and Brăileanu.[217] Agârbiceanu's position was more unusual. He and his literary work were well regarded by the communists, but still he would not relinquish his priesthood in the outlawedCatholic Church.[218]
Meanwhile, communist propaganda made deliberate efforts to minimize the PP's role in political history. It cautioned that the Averescans were "the bourgeoisie and the landowners", not the people, and noted that they spearheaded "reactionary" persecutions.[5] This verdict was nuanced by Groza's memoirs, published in the same interval. According to Groza's ambiguous account, Averescu was "honest" and "talented", but "impotent" when it came to challenging the royalty.[5] Groza's book is a questionable source of information, noted for the unsubstantiated allegations against various former PP colleagues.[196]
| Election | Votes | % | Assembly | Senate | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1918 | 4 / 174 | 2 / 121 | 2nd | ||
| 1919 | 7 / 568 | 0 / 216 | 11th | ||
| 1920 | 206 / 366 | 124 / 166 | 1st | ||
| 1922 | 13 / 372 | 2 / 148 | 6th | ||
| 1926 | 1,366,160 | 52.2 | 292 / 387 | 107 / 115 | 1st |
| 1927 | 53,371 | 2.0 | 0 / 387 | 0 / 113 | 4th |
| 1928 | part of PP-PND alliance | 3 / 387 | 0 / 110 | 4th | |
| 1931 | 141,141 | 5.0 | 10 / 387 | 0 / 113 | 4th |
| 1932 | 64,525 | 2.2 | 4 / 387 | 0 / 113 | 12th |
| 1933 | 47,114 | 1.6 | 0 / 387 | 0 / 108 | 10th |
| 1937 | 25,567 | 0.8 | 0 / 387 | 0 / 113 | 12th |
