A look at the early difficulties of the Romanian Communist Party.

‘The Communist Party of Roumania’ by Al Badulescu from International Press Correspondence. Vol. 3 No. 28. July 5, 1923.

The flames of the Russian October revolution have thrown their gleams upon the path trodden by the working people of Roumania. But the difficulties have been enormous, the resistance of the social democratic leaders almost invincible. It was not until May 11. 1921, that the congress of the socialist party resolved on affiliation with the Communist international, and on the alteration of the name of the party into “sozialist communist party”, after the “pure” social democrats had left the ranks of the party. The “centrists” decided to remain in the party. On the second day of the congress the bourgeoisie found itself compelled to take over the role which it had entrusted to the social democrats for more than two years Prison and  machine guns began to play their part. The bourgeoisie arrested all those participators in the congress who had voted without reservation for affiliation with the Comintern. It held up the political movement in the whole country, in this manner preventing the advance of the Roumanian proletariat, and thus influencing its actual attitude towards the Comintern.

The struggle of the Roumanian workers for their revolutionary organization has been a painful and arduous one. Betrayed at the first moment of its existence, the proletarian movement in Roumania had to suffer suppression and persecution during the peasants revolution in the year 1907, and the tragedy of the war of 1916. Within less than one year, war and disease reduced the population of Roumania by more than 800,000. Among these there were many of our leaders: Marinescu (secretary of the Party), who fell in the trenches; Dr. Ottoi-Caliu (member of the CC), who died of spotted fever, Max Vexler (Party theoretician), who was shot on the orders of the Bratianu government; and many others.

The Party, thus deprived of its best forces, was not only unable to ward off the constant hail of blows dealt by the Roumanian bourgeoisie, but was not even able to repair with sufficient rapidity the damage done by these blows. The struggle was rendered even more difficult by the partially illegal communist propaganda, carried on at a time when it was not yet necessary (1919-1920), as this provided the government with the opportunity for carrying on repressions. This activity at the wrong time had the effect that we lost other excellent comrades, as for instance, Al. Constantinescu, who succeeded, after being condemned to decades of penal servitude, in escaping from prison and taking refuse in Soviet Russia. The great error of this activity did not become apparent until later on, after the general strike of October 1920, when all possibility of public activity was at an end and there was an almost total lack of suitable forces for carrying on illegal activity.

But it was found possible to overcome even these difficulties. After the prisons were filled with thousands of workers, the bourgeoisie suddenly found a new adversary in the youthful workers, who determined to advance along the same path marked with the sufferings of whole generations. At the conference held at Ploesti on October 3 and 4, there came into existence the Communist Party, the Party of the working class; many comrades had meanwhile been released from the prisons, the shameful proceedings instituted against them having completely collapsed.

At that time the “centrists” were no longer in the Party. Beneath the sheltering wings of the government, and with the aid of the police apparatus, they considered themselves in a position to draw over to their side the workers devoted to the ideal of proletarian emancipation. But from the very beginning they had to admit that they were but voices crying in the wilderness and they succeeded in gaining no following among the workers whatever. Today our “centrists”, as is the case almost everywhere else, are united to the, social democrats, and, full of self-delusions, took part in the wedding tour to Hamburg!

The Communist Party is going ahead! Today it is more powerful than ever, although the activity permitted it is scarcely more than semi-legal–and even then extremely limited–and although it is severely persecuted by the lawlessness and hate of the bourgeoisie. The Communist Party of Roumania is prohibited from any public activity. It is not even allowed to hold meetings among its members. The communist press and literature are only free in certain parts of the country. But despite all this, its influence is spreading further and deeper into the working masses; the workers organized in the trade unions listen eagerly to the slogans issued by the Party, and the enthusiasm and faith in the Communist International, as the sole leader of the world revolution, is growing from day to day.

The Communist Party of Roumania is not yet firmly consolidated. It is not yet so well established as its sister parties in the West and in the Balkans. The young Communist Party of Roumania has still many tasks to fulfil–in organization, in agitation, and in propaganda–and it will fulfil them to the amazement of all its enemies!

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/1923/v03n48[28]-jul-05-Inprecor-loc.pdf