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Rumanian Socialists and the Nationality Problem in Hungary, 1903-18

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Keith Hitchins
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Extract

The history of the Rumanian socialists of Hungary in the decade before the outbreak of the First World War and during the final crisis of the Dual Monarchy in 1918 offers a striking illustration of the importance of national feeling in socialist and working-class movements of peoples who had not yet achieved their national-political emancipation and who were still overwhelmingly agrarian. In seeking support, Rumanian socialists had to compete with the middle-class Rumanian National Party, which was well established as a staunch defender of Rumanian rights against the aggressive nationality policies of the Hungarian government, and the church, which maintained a strong hold over a devout and traditional peasantry. They were hampered also by having only a modest constituency of their own. Not only was the Rumanian working class small, but in those places where Rumanian factory workers had congregated in significant numbers—Budapest, Arad, Timisoara—they were swallowed up in the greater masses of Magyar and German workers.and were in danger of losing their national identity. They provided only a fragile base for an independent socialist party. Until the First World War, Rumanian socialists developed their activities under the aegis of the Social Democratic Party of Hungary (MSZDP). In time, they found ideological and financial subordination to the MSZDP to be a serious handicap in efforts to recruit new members. At a time of growing national tension, they were hard put to explain how a party dominated by Magyars, even socialists, could benefit Rumanians. Yet, in spite of their protestations of socialist internationalism and their open disdain for nationalistic impulses, they could not ignore nationality. Indeed, the idea of nationality lent their movement a distinctiveness that set it apart from the other socialist movements of Hungary and, in the end, gave it its reason for being.

Type
Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 35 , Issue 1 , March 1976 , pp. 69 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1976

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References

1. During its existence Adevărul was published weekly, semi-weekly, and monthly, depending upon the financial condition of the section and the generosity of the parent party. Between 1907 and 1912 Adevărul and Glasul Poporului were published in alternate weeks to avoid the legal requirements for a substantial cash deposit guaranteeing observance of the press laws. Adevărul and Glasul Poporului were, in fact, the same newspaper appearing weekly under two different titles. Newspapers are the most important source of information about the activities and ideas of Rumanian socialists. The archive of the Rumanian section, if it ever existed, has not been discovered; nor have the personal papers of its leaders come to light. There are scattered pieces in the Archive of the Institute for the History of the Party in Budapest, but, to my knowledge, similar materials are not to be found in the Institute for Social and Political .Studies in Bucharest.

2. Magyar Szociálista Munkáspárt (henceforth, MSZMP), Párttörténeti Intézet Archivuma (henceforth, PI Archivuma), Budapest. Röpiratgyűjtemeny, 1.1/1903/4205: “Fölhivás Budapest román ajku munkásaihoz.

3. Adevănd, November 8, 1903.

4. Kende, János, A Magyarországi Szociáldcmokrata Párt nemzetiségi politikája 1903-1919 (Budapest, 1973), pp. 15–31 Google Scholar.

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7. Ibid., August 15, 1910.

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9. MSZMP, PI Archivuma: 658 fond. 6/78 ö.e. MSZDP Erdélyrészi Titkársága to central party headquarters, Kolozsvár, October 30, 1911.

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11. MSZMP, PI Archivuma: Microfilm Collection, F 716/1.

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13. Ibid., January 1, 1906.

14. Ibid., January 16, 1909; MSZMP, PI Archivuma, F 716/1.

15. Adevărul, March 15, 1912.

16. MSZMP, PI Archivuma, Microfilm Collection, F 716/2: Report of a detective, April 1, 1907.

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18. Ibid., April 19, 1914.

19. Ibid., October 25, 1903; March 10, 1907.

20. loan Creţu, “Lumea muncitoare,” Adevărul, March 1, 1906.

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22. Adevărul, November 28, 1913.

23. Ibid., June 21, 1914.

24. Ibid., August 8, 1913.

25. MSZMP, PI Archivuma, Microfilm Collection, F 716/1.

26. Adevărul, March 15, 1912.

27. Ibid., August 30, 1903; February 1, 1905.

28. MSZMP, PI Archivuma: 659 fond. 1913/2 ö.e. Letter to József Eszterfi, June 17, 1913.

29. Adevărul, June 3, 1906.

30. Ibid., January 24, 1913.

31. Ibid., March 22 and April 19, 1914.

32. Ibid., August 29, 1913.

33. Ibid., April 17, June 5, and June 12, 1904.

34. Ibid., September 18, 1909.

35. Ibid., January 7, 1914.

36. Ibid., June 21, 1914.

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38. Farkas, Dezső, A Magyarországi Szociáldcmokrata Párt és az agrárkérdés 1900 és 1914 között (Budapest, 1973), pp. 135–41 Google Scholar.

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40. MMTVD, vol. 3, p. 199.

41. For general accounts of the party's nationality policy during this period see: Erényi, Tibor, “A Magyarországi Szociáldemokrata Párt nemzetiségi politikája (1890- 1917),” in Magyar Történész Kongrcsszus (Budapest, 1954), pp. 308–17 Google Scholar; Tibor Erényi, “Az 1918 elötti magyarországi munkásmozgalom és a nemzeti kérdés,” in A magyar nacionalismus kialakuldsa és történetc (Budapest, 1964), pp. 194-208; Kende, , MSZDP nemsetisćgi politikája, pp. 40–74 Google Scholar.

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46. MMTVD, vol. 3, p. 520.

47. MSZMP, PI Archivuma, Microfilm Collection, F 716/1: Report of a police official, January 9, 1908.

48. MSZMM as 1910. évben (Budapest, 1911), p. 280.

49. MSZMM as 1911. évben (Budapest, 1912), pp. 161, 173.

50. A Magyarországi Szociál-demokrata Part 1912. évi április 7., 8. es 9. napjain Budapesten megtartott XIX pártgyűlésének jcgysökönyve (Budapest [1912]), p. 82.

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53. Documcnte din istoria mişcării muncitorcşti din România 1910-1915 (Bucharest, 1968), pp. 146-50: România Muncitoare, May 30, 1910.

54. Adevărul, September 20, 1907; Glasul Poporului, November 1, 1910.

55. Adevărul, January 17, 1904; December 20, 1907.

56. Suciu, I. D., “Aspecte ale colaborării Partidului National Român din Transilvania cu mişcarea socialistă,” Studii. Rcvistä de Istoric, 21, no. 1 (1968): 95 Google Scholar. The author emphasizes cooperation and passes over the fundamental issues that divided the two parties.

57. Glasul Poporului, December 4, 1909.

58. Ibid, July 1, 1911.

59. Adcvărul, January 31, February 7, October 17, and December 12, 1913.

60. Ibid., March 15, 1914.

61. Ibid., November 22, 1903; June 19, 1904.

62. Ibid., September 20, 1907.

63. Glasul Poporului, July 4, 1908.

64. MSZMP, PI Archivuma, Pamphlet Collection, 1/1/1911/5251.

65. MMTVD, vol. 4/B (Budapest, 1969), p. 340.

66. I have dealt with these questions in: “The Rumanian Socialists and the Hungarian Soviet Republic,” in Revolution in Perspective. Essays on the Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919, ed. Andrew C. Janos and William B. Slottman (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1971), pp. 109-44.

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70. Adevărul, November 17 and 24, 1918.

71. Ibid., November 17 and 24 and December 1, 1918; Albani, Douăscci dc ani, pp. 165, 172-73.