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Title: Anarchism in Romania Author: Erin K. Biebuyck Date: 2009 Language: en Topics: Romania, history Source: Retrieved on 22nd November 2021 from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781405198073.wbierp1661 Notes: Published in The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest.
Dwarfed by nationalist and fascist movements on the right and communism
and socialism on the left in a country caught between European and Asian
empires, anarchism has not played a significant role in Romanian
history. Indeed, it appears not to have been a native growth, instead
imported to the country by Russian and Bulgarian political refugees in
the late nineteenth century (Muñoz 1981: 1–2). One of the latter, the
exiled Bulgarian nationalist Hristo Botev (1847–1876), founded what may
have been the first anarchist group in the Romanian port city of Galatz
in 1871, issuing a proclamation of solidarity for the Paris Commune of
that year (Relgis 1959: 66). Errico Malatesta, too, made a sojourn in
Romania in 1879, as did Elisée Reclus in 1884. Shortly thereafter,
anarchist works began to appear in Romanian translation, for example,
Mikhail Bakunin’s God and the State (Dumnezeu ̧si Statul, 1884), Peter
Kropotkin’s Appeal to the Young (Catra tineri, 1886), Jean Grave’s
Society on the Day After the Revolution (Societa dupa revolutie, 1887),
Reclus’s Evolution and Revolution (Evolutie si revolutie, 1885), and
Malatesta’s Among Peasants (Intre arani, 1891) (Nettlau 1897
[1968/1968]: 47, 70–1, 74, 90, 94, 125–6). In Bucovina, a multi-ethnic
province claimed by the Austro-Hungarian empire until 1919, works by
German anarchists such as Erich MĂĽhsam, Gustav Landauer, Pierre Ramus,
and Rudolf Rocker circulated (Relgis 1959: 67).
Although Romania claims few prominent anarchist theorists or activists,
a number of intellectuals and students were attracted to anarchism
toward the end of the nineteenth century (Relgis 1959: 66). Thus, in the
1870s, the aristocratic Zemfir C. Ralli-Arbore (a.k.a. Z. K. Ralli,
1848–1933), befriended by Bakunin, Reclus, and Malatesta, joined the
Russian anarchists in Geneva, Switzerland. Panait Mu ̧soiu (1865–1944),
editor of the Revista Ideei (Review of Ideas), and psychiatrist Panait
Zosîn (1873–1942) were among the more eminent representatives of
anarchism in Romania, and Paraskiev Stoianov (a.k.a. Parachkef Stoyanov,
1871–1941) was to become a significant figure in the Bulgarian anarchist
movement. A number of notable Romanian anarchists before World War II
were Jews, driven from the country by anti-Semitism and political
persecution. Thus, Joseph Ishill (a.k.a. Iosef Ishileanu 1888–1966),
introduced to anarchist ideas by Mu ̧soiu, immigrated to the United
States in 1909, becoming a famous printer of radical works; Marcus
Graham (a.k.a. Shmuel Marcus, 1893–1985), editor of the anarchist
journal Man! (1933–40), made his way to Canada and California; pacifist
philosopher Eugen Relgis (a.k.a. Eugen Sigler, 1895–1987) immigrated to
Uruguay in 1947; and Yiddish-language journalist David Stetner
(1914–2002) immigrated to France in 1937. Others attracted to anarchism
were bohemians such as poet Alexandru Bogdan-Pite ̧sti (a.k.a. Ion
Duican, 1870–1922), who encountered the idea through the Parisian
Symbolist avant-garde, and apparently, after his disillusionment in the
USSR, the left-wing writer Panait Istrati (1884–1935).
Attempts at the dissemination of propaganda were persistent but
sporadic: thus, a mere four issues of another anarchist journal, R ̆azvr
̆atirea (Sedition), were published in Focsani in 1891; other short-lived
publications included the more eclectic Carmen Sylva, which published
translations of Marx and Engels as well as anarchists (1895). Mi ̧sc
̆area social ̆a (Social Movement), co-edited by Mu ̧soiu and Zosîn,
appeared in Bucharest from 1895 to 1897 (Nettlau 1897 [1968/1968]: 70,
202–3). Anarchopacifists, often of a “naturist” tendency, published
journals such as Cugetul Liber (Free Thought, 1927–8) and Vegetarismul
(Vegetarianism, 1932–3). While the Romanian peasantry, resentful toward
both the Austro-Hungarian governors and their native aristocracy,
harbored some rebellious tendencies, few attempts were made to
propagandize among them (Relgis 1959: 65, 67, 70, 73).
The establishment of a communist dictatorship in Romania in 1949 brought
with it intolerance for divergent political opinions and a secret police
force, the Securitate, renowned for its power. These conditions not only
made it impossible for anarchists to organize or profess their beliefs
openly, but also restricted access to anarchist writings and severely
limited international communication (Tismaneanu 2003).
In the renewed political freedom that followed the fall of communism in
1989, anarchist groups have begun to emerge in Romania, notably in the
southwestern cities of Timi ̧soara and Craiova. As in other national
contexts, anarchism in Romania today is often tied to youth subcultures,
especially punk music. The most visible anarchist groups currently
operating in Romania include the Craiova Anarcho-Front, the Aactiv-ist
Collective based in Timi ̧soara, and the Subteran Collective based in Ia
̧ si in eastern Romania. Romanian anarchism also has ties to other
grassroots political movements including environmentalism, collectivism,
and anti-fascism.
Access to the Internet has allowed these groups to reach a broader
audience through online publications such as URA: Ura ̧si R ̆azboiul ̧si
Anarhia (Hate & War & Anarchy), an anarcho-punk zine circulated by
Craiova Anarcho-Front, Dragostea Uchide (Love Kills) by the women of
Craiova Anarcho-Front, and the Aactiv-ist Collective Newsletter, which
is posted online in several languages. Many Romanian anarchist groups
have ties to anarchists in nearby countries, such as Hungary, Serbia,
and Poland, and groups such as the Aactiv-ist Collective have also
appropriated tactics created by United States anarchists, such as Food
Not Bombs and Critical Mass. In a report entitled “Anarchism – Past and
Present,” which members of the Aactiv-ist Collective mocked as
“combin[ing] the style of an official report with that of a literary
composition” (Tarziu et al. 2002), the Romanian Intelligence Service
(SRI), successor to the Securitate, declared that anarchism is not
native to Romania but has been imported by foreigners involved in drug
trafficking and the dissemination of hard pornography (Goarna.go.ro and
Serviciului Român de Informaii 2001). All of this speaks to the
continuing transnational character of anarchism in Romania.
---
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS
Goarna.go.ro and Serviciului Român de Informaii (2001) Anarhism ̧si
Anarhisi în România – FAQ. Goarna 5. Available online at
www.goarna.go.ro/articole%20nr%205/anarhism.htm.
Gusti, D. (1920) Comunism, Socialism, Anarhism, Sindicalism, ̧si Bol
̧sevism: Clasificarea sistemelor privitoare la societatea viitoare.
Bucharest: Editura ̧Stiinific ̆a.
Melian, A. (2003) Cercet ̆ari ̧si fi ̧se de istorie literar ̆a în
registru minor: o revist ̆a cu titlu-masc ̆a: “Carmen Sylva” (1895). In
Polemici Implicite. Available online at
.
Muñoz, V. (1981) Joseph Ishill: A Chronology. In Anarchists: A
Biographical Encyclopedia (Series I). New York: Gordon Press.
Mu ̧soiu, P. (1900) Cum se explicˇa anarhi ̧sti ̆i. Ravachol – Vaillant
– Emile Henry – Caserio – Declaratiile lu ̆i etievant: Dreptul de-a
judeca. Dreptul la viea ̧t ̆a. Bucharest: “Mi ̧sc ̆are ̆i Sociale.”.
Nettlau, M. (1897) [1968] Bibliographie de l’anarchie. New York: B.
Franklin.
Ralli-Arbore, Z. C. (1910) [1927] Elisée Reclus Reminiscences. In J.
Ishill (Ed.), Élisée and Élie Reclus: In Memoriam. Berkeley Heights:
Oriole Press.
Relgis, E. (1959) Los libertarios de Rumania. In Albores de libertad.
Buenos Aires: Editorial Reconstruir.
Tarziu, C. et al. (2002) Romanian Aactiv-ist Newsletter 2. Available
online at
.
Tismaneanu, V. (2003) Stalinism for All Seasons: A Political History of
Romanian Communism. Berkeley: University of California Press.