Romanian revolutionary prisoner Max Goldstein refuses to be tortured anymore and dies after 50 days on hunger strike. Max Goldstein, Presente!

‘Max Goldstein’ by A. Dobrogeanu-Gherda from International Press Correspondence. Vol. 5 No. 75. October 22, 1925.

A few days ago there died in the prison of Doftana, Max Goldstein, as a result of a hunger strike which he carried on for 50 days.

I met Max Goldstein at the first great Communist trial in Roumania, the so-called “Deabul Spira” trial. A day before the commencement of the trial we accused from Jilave and Bucharest were transferred to a barracks in the centre of Bucharest.

The majority had been arrested during the first half of 1920 in various localities in Roumania. The overwhelming majority of the participants at the socialist Congress, which took place in May 1920 and which pronounced in favour of affiliation to the Communist International, were arrested. Already at that time the bourgeoisie saw in Communism its real and most dangerous enemy. Apart from this hatred against the Communist Party which had just appeared in the political arena of Roumania, the authorities could not bring forward any concrete accusations. The proceedings were adjourned from month to month.

Finally, something unexpected occurred: Max Goldstein, who was already known as the one guilty for the explosion in the Senate, was arrested after having illegally crossed the frontier. In spite of the fact that the investigation of our case had already been concluded, the military Prosecutor connected our case with the explosion in the Senate. There existed not the least legal connection between these affairs, but the government and the military command found therein a way out of the difficult situation.

There began therefore at the end of January the trial of 275 accused, which then dragged on for over six months.

In the early dawn Max Goldstein was conveyed to the washroom. He indicated to us by signs which he made through the window that he had been ill-treated during the night. When the trial began he was transferred to our department, to the “dangerous criminals” department.

In order to cow us, among other things, prison cells were employed in which one could not make a single movement. They were nothing else than standing coffins. Among them there was a special one, known as the “Max” prison cell, which had been especially constructed for Max Goldstein and was even smaller than the others, although Max Goldstein was tall and stout. In this prison cell one could not even turn round. The first time I sat in this cell I began after half an hour to suffer from the lack of air and was seized with uninterrupted fits of nervous yawning.

The prison warders never waited for any pretext in order to impose disciplinary punishment. Every evening the names of those were called who, in accordance with a list prepared by the Military Prosecutor, were to undergo punishment. As a rule the prisoners were placed in these punishment cells for some days. Comrade Max Goldstein was kept in such a cell for ten days, ten days and nights of terrible torture. When the court proceedings took place he was brought out, and at the conclusion of the proceedings he was again brought back to his solitary cell. Behind the doors of these punishment cells (which were called “coffin lids”) officers used to lay in wait for Max Goldstein. As soon as he came out they flung themselves upon him, struck and beat him, flung him to the ground and kicked him. When he protested he was beaten in the face, on the teeth, etc. with sticks. As soon as his ten days punishment expired he was sentenced to another ten days.

Comrade Max Goldstein, tortured and loaded with chains, with his pale face and incredibly swollen limbs, was dragged each day to the proceedings of the military court. But no tortures could terrify him. He boldly exposed the Ministers who appeared as witnesses for the Prosecution as the ones who were really responsible for the acts of revenge of the working class, whose patience had been tried beyond endurance; he regarded himself as an instrument of this revenge.

And in fact he was nothing else. The man whom the bourgeoisie described as blood-thirsty anarchist was of a kind and gentle nature, full of concern and sympathy for the sufferings of other comrades. Against all the attempts of the secret police to represent the Communist Party as having participated in the explosion in the Senate, he courageously and steadfastly maintained the truth, the innocence of the Communist Party of this act of individual terror. He enthusiastically took part in our struggle, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that we persuaded him not to take part in our hunger strike after all the sufferings he had endured in the “coffin”.

But the jailers were not satisfied with inflicting physical suffering on Max Goldstein. They endeavoured to subject him to moral suffering. Thus, for instance, they tried to prevent me from playing chess with him, in order not to give him the possibility of forgetting his sufferings, even for a short time.

Not infrequently, when all the others in the cell were asleep, I heard how deeply he sighed and groaned. Suffering himself, he was full of anxiety for his loved ones and all who were near and dear to him. Many a time he said to me: “It is bad here, but how will it be in the Doftana prison!”

His gloomy forebodings have proved to be true. The cruelties in Doftana were such that he went on hunger strike, and died of starvation, in order by this sacrifice to awaken the fighting spirit of the Roumanian proletariat to whom he had devoted his whole life.

International Press Correspondence, widely known as”Inprecor” was published by the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI) regularly in German and English, occasionally in many other languages, beginning in 1921 and lasting in English until 1938. Inprecor’s role was to supply translated articles to the English-speaking press of the International from the Comintern’s different sections, as well as news and statements from the ECCI. Many ‘Daily Worker’ and ‘Communist’ articles originated in Inprecor, and it also published articles by American comrades for use in other countries. It was published at least weekly, and often thrice weekly. A major contributor to the Communist press in the U.S., Inprecor is an invaluable English-language source on the history of the Communist International and its sections.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/inprecor/1925/v05n75-oct-22-1925-inprecor.pdf