fbpx
Wikipedia

Ploughmen's Front

January 01, 1970

The Ploughmen's Front (Romanian: Frontul Plugarilor) was a Romanian left-wing agrarian-inspired political organisation of ploughmen, founded at Deva in 1933 and led by Petru Groza. At its peak in 1946, the Front had over 1 million members.[1]

Ploughmen's Front
Frontul Plugarilor
LeaderPetru Groza
Founded1933
Dissolved1953
Split fromPeople's Party
Merged intoRomanian Workers' Party
IdeologyRepublicanism
Agrarian socialism
Left-wing populism
Political positionLeft-wing
Colours  Red
Party flag
June 1945 rally at Stadionul Republicii. From left to right: Romulus Zăroni (at microphone), Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (speaking), Petru Groza (wearing hat), Mihai Ralea

History edit

Begun in Hunedoara County, it quickly spread into the Banat, and then into the other regions of Romania. Groza, who had been a minister in Alexandru Averescu's People's Party cabinet (1926),[2] aimed to improve the situation of the peasantry (which he believed had been betrayed by the main agrarian group, the National Peasants' Party),[3] calling for a social security program in the countryside and tax reform favourable to small holdings.[4] The group was also republican in ambitions, probably from the moment it was created (before 1940, Groza was recorded to have said "my last king was Decebalus, after whose death I became a republican").[5]

In 1935, the organisation aligned itself with the outlawed Romanian Communist Party (PCR), an agreement inspired by the Stalinist Popular Front doctrine and signed in Țebea (after negotiations overseen by Scarlat Callimachi).[6]

During this period, the Ploughmen's Front never obtained more than 0.30% of the vote.[7] Outlawed together with all parties in 1938, through a law passed by the authoritarian regime of King Carol II, it remained active in clandestinity during the dictatorial rule of Ion Antonescu (when Groza was detained in 1943–1944),[8] and surfaced after its fall in 1944 and the start of Soviet ascendancy and influence (see Romania during World War II).[9]

In October of that year, it joined other the PCR-led National Democratic Front (FND), alongside the Union of Patriots, the Union of Hungarian Workers, the Socialist Peasants' Party, and the Romanian Social Democratic Party (the Ploughmen's Front absorbed the Socialist Peasants' Party one month later).[10]

In February 1945, although represented inside the Nicolae Rădescu cabinet (as it had been in the Constantin Sănătescu one) it took part in violent incidents that led to its fall.[11] Groza, who was first considered for high political office in late 1944,[12] led the third cabinet after the fall of Antonescu (formed on March 6, 1945); while the government was maneuvered by the PCR, the Ploughmen's Front did hold the Ministry of Agriculture and Royal Domains, which was assigned to Romulus Zăroni,[13] and that of Culture and Arts, which was assigned to Mihai Ralea.[14] In late 1947, Stanciu Stoian became another one of the party's leading members to be presiding over a ministry — that of Religious Affairs;[15] additionally, Octav Liveazeanu became head on the Information Ministry.

The party ran on a single platform with the PCR during the 1946 general election, which the Groza cabinet won through large-scale electoral fraud,[16] and had PCR activists such as Constantin Agiu[17] among its nominal members. It thus played an active part in the proceedings leading to the creation of Communist Romania.

At the time, PCR leaders began using Antonescu's 1943 crackdown on the Front as an instrument in intra-party fights: after General Secretary Gheorghiu-Dej had ordered his predecessor Ștefan Foriș to be abducted and held in secrecy, it was alleged that Foriș' collaborator Remus Koffler had functioned as an agent for the former secret service (Siguranța Statului), and that he had engineered Groza's arrest.[18]

Nevertheless, relations between the Front and Communists were tested at times: after its first congress (July 1945), Groza's party called for the preservation of small, privately owned, agricultural plots and voluntary cooperative farming instead of the collectivization advocated by the PCR;[19] in the period known as the "Royal strike" (beginning in the autumn of 1945 and marked by King Mihai I's refusal to sign his name to legislation advocated by the government), Groza, urged on by Zăroni and Mihail Ghelmegeanu, objected to Soviet pressures on the monarch and even threatened Vasile Luca that he would withdraw support for the PCR.[20] Eventually, the Front gave in to Communist demands[21] (as a politician whose career survived the group's demise, Groza continued to sporadically clash with the PCR).[22]

In July 1947, the Front was joined by Nicolae D. Cornățeanu and other members of the defunct National Union for Work and Reconstruction (a small political grouping formed by Constantin Argetoianu),[23] and, in 1948, it absorbed the National Peasants' Party–Alexandrescu (a splinter group of the National Peasants' Party).[24]

The Ploughmen's Front ceased to exist when it dissolved itself in 1953. According to the 1991 testimony of former PCR leader Gheorghe Apostol, the latter action was instigated by the main party; he also indicated that, in retrospect, Gheorghiu-Dej had found such measures taken against pluralism to be regrettable ("Dej himself said: «What a stupid thing we have done! We could at least have allowed the Ploughmen's Front to exist!»).[25]

Electoral history edit

Legislative elections edit

Election Votes % Seats +/– Position
1933 7,970 0.3%
0 / 387
 — 14th
1946 4,773,689 69.8%
70 / 414
   70   1st1
1948 6,959,936 93.2%
126 / 414
   56   1st2
1952 10,187,833 100%
428 / 428
   302   1st3

Notes:

1 BDP members: PSDR (81 deputies), PNL-Tătărescu (75 deputies), Ploughmen's Front, Romanian Communist Party (68 deputies), National Popular Party (26 deputies), PNȚ-Alexandrescu (20 deputies), and 8 independents.

2 FDP members in 1948: Romanian Workers Party and affiliates (190 deputies and 11 independent deputies affiliated to PMR group), Ploughmen's Front, National Popular Party (43 deputies), Hungarian People's Union (30 deputies), and Jewish Democratic Committee (5 deputies).

3 FDP members in 1952: Romanian Workers Party and independent affiliates, Ploughmen's Front, Hungarian People's Union, and Jewish Democratic Committee. The distribution of mandates is unclear.

Notes edit

  1. ^ Ştefan, p.10
  2. ^ Cioroianu, p.150, 151
  3. ^ Cioroianu, p.150, 151; Hitchins, p.390
  4. ^ Hitchins, p.390-391
  5. ^ Groza, in Cioroianu, p.165
  6. ^ Frunză, p.115
  7. ^ Hitchins, p.391
  8. ^ Betea, "În umbra..."
  9. ^ Betea, "În umbra..."
  10. ^ Cioroianu, p.154
  11. ^ Cioroianu, p.159-162; Hitchins, p.507-508
  12. ^ Cioroianu, p.152-153
  13. ^ Cioroianu, p.161; Frunză, p.116, 187
  14. ^ Cioroianu, p.154, 161
  15. ^ Cioroianu, p.159
  16. ^ Frunză, p.287-292; Hitchins, p.517; Ştefan, p.9-10; Tismăneanu, p.288
  17. ^ Cioroianu, p.159; Frunză, p.117
  18. ^ Betea, "În umbra..."
  19. ^ Cioroianu, p.162; Hitchins, p.511
  20. ^ Cioroianu, p.161-162
  21. ^ Cioroianu, p.162
  22. ^ Cioroianu, p.165-166
  23. ^ Otu
  24. ^ Videnie, p.46
  25. ^ Apostol, in Betea, "Engima..."

References edit

  • Lavinia Betea,
    • (in Romanian) , in Jurnalul Național, January 30, 2007
    • (in Romanian) , in Jurnalul Național, January 31, 2006
  • Adrian Cioroianu, Pe umerii lui Marx. O introducere în istoria comunismului românesc ("On the Shoulders of Marx. An Incursion into the History of Romanian Communism"), Editura Curtea Veche, Bucharest, 2005
  • Victor Frunză, Istoria stalinismului în România ("The History of Stalinism in Romania"), Humanitas, Bucharest, 1990
  • Keith Hitchins, România, 1866–1947, Humanitas, Bucharest, 1998 (translation of the English-language edition Rumania, 1866–1947, Oxford University Press, USA, 1994)
  • (in Romanian) , in Magazin Istoric, May 2000
  • M. Ștefan, "În umbra Cortinei de Fier" ("In the Shadow of the Iron Curtain"), in Magazin Istoric, November 1995
  • Vladimir Tismăneanu, Stalinism for All Seasons: A Political History of Romanian Communism, University of California Press, 2003, ISBN 0-520-23747-1
  • Nicolae Videnie, "«Alegerile» din martie 1948: epilogul listelor electorale alternative. Obsesia unanimității — primii pași" ("The «Elections» of March 1948: an Epilogue to Alternative Electoral Lists. Unanimity Obsession — The First Steps Taken"), in Dosarele Istoriei, 11/V, 2000

January 01, 1970
ploughmen, front, romanian, frontul, plugarilor, romanian, left, wing, agrarian, inspired, political, organisation, ploughmen, founded, deva, 1933, petru, groza, peak, 1946, front, over, million, members, frontul, plugarilorleaderpetru, grozafounded1933dissolv. The Ploughmen s Front Romanian Frontul Plugarilor was a Romanian left wing agrarian inspired political organisation of ploughmen founded at Deva in 1933 and led by Petru Groza At its peak in 1946 the Front had over 1 million members 1 Ploughmen s Front Frontul PlugarilorLeaderPetru GrozaFounded1933Dissolved1953Split fromPeople s PartyMerged intoRomanian Workers PartyIdeologyRepublicanismAgrarian socialismLeft wing populismPolitical positionLeft wingColours RedParty flagPolitics of RomaniaPolitical partiesElections June 1945 rally at Stadionul Republicii From left to right Romulus Zăroni at microphone Gheorghe Gheorghiu Dej speaking Petru Groza wearing hat Mihai Ralea Contents 1 History 2 Electoral history 2 1 Legislative elections 3 Notes 4 ReferencesHistory editBegun in Hunedoara County it quickly spread into the Banat and then into the other regions of Romania Groza who had been a minister in Alexandru Averescu s People s Party cabinet 1926 2 aimed to improve the situation of the peasantry which he believed had been betrayed by the main agrarian group the National Peasants Party 3 calling for a social security program in the countryside and tax reform favourable to small holdings 4 The group was also republican in ambitions probably from the moment it was created before 1940 Groza was recorded to have said my last king was Decebalus after whose death I became a republican 5 In 1935 the organisation aligned itself with the outlawed Romanian Communist Party PCR an agreement inspired by the Stalinist Popular Front doctrine and signed in Țebea after negotiations overseen by Scarlat Callimachi 6 During this period the Ploughmen s Front never obtained more than 0 30 of the vote 7 Outlawed together with all parties in 1938 through a law passed by the authoritarian regime of King Carol II it remained active in clandestinity during the dictatorial rule of Ion Antonescu when Groza was detained in 1943 1944 8 and surfaced after its fall in 1944 and the start of Soviet ascendancy and influence see Romania during World War II 9 In October of that year it joined other the PCR led National Democratic Front FND alongside the Union of Patriots the Union of Hungarian Workers the Socialist Peasants Party and the Romanian Social Democratic Party the Ploughmen s Front absorbed the Socialist Peasants Party one month later 10 In February 1945 although represented inside the Nicolae Rădescu cabinet as it had been in the Constantin Sănătescu one it took part in violent incidents that led to its fall 11 Groza who was first considered for high political office in late 1944 12 led the third cabinet after the fall of Antonescu formed on March 6 1945 while the government was maneuvered by the PCR the Ploughmen s Front did hold the Ministry of Agriculture and Royal Domains which was assigned to Romulus Zăroni 13 and that of Culture and Arts which was assigned to Mihai Ralea 14 In late 1947 Stanciu Stoian became another one of the party s leading members to be presiding over a ministry that of Religious Affairs 15 additionally Octav Liveazeanu became head on the Information Ministry The party ran on a single platform with the PCR during the 1946 general election which the Groza cabinet won through large scale electoral fraud 16 and had PCR activists such as Constantin Agiu 17 among its nominal members It thus played an active part in the proceedings leading to the creation of Communist Romania At the time PCR leaders began using Antonescu s 1943 crackdown on the Front as an instrument in intra party fights after General Secretary Gheorghiu Dej had ordered his predecessor Ștefan Foriș to be abducted and held in secrecy it was alleged that Foriș collaborator Remus Koffler had functioned as an agent for the former secret service Siguranța Statului and that he had engineered Groza s arrest 18 Nevertheless relations between the Front and Communists were tested at times after its first congress July 1945 Groza s party called for the preservation of small privately owned agricultural plots and voluntary cooperative farming instead of the collectivization advocated by the PCR 19 in the period known as the Royal strike beginning in the autumn of 1945 and marked by King Mihai I s refusal to sign his name to legislation advocated by the government Groza urged on by Zăroni and Mihail Ghelmegeanu objected to Soviet pressures on the monarch and even threatened Vasile Luca that he would withdraw support for the PCR 20 Eventually the Front gave in to Communist demands 21 as a politician whose career survived the group s demise Groza continued to sporadically clash with the PCR 22 In July 1947 the Front was joined by Nicolae D Cornățeanu and other members of the defunct National Union for Work and Reconstruction a small political grouping formed by Constantin Argetoianu 23 and in 1948 it absorbed the National Peasants Party Alexandrescu a splinter group of the National Peasants Party 24 The Ploughmen s Front ceased to exist when it dissolved itself in 1953 According to the 1991 testimony of former PCR leader Gheorghe Apostol the latter action was instigated by the main party he also indicated that in retrospect Gheorghiu Dej had found such measures taken against pluralism to be regrettable Dej himself said What a stupid thing we have done We could at least have allowed the Ploughmen s Front to exist 25 Electoral history editLegislative elections edit Election Votes Seats Position 1933 7 970 0 3 0 387 14th 1946 4 773 689 69 8 70 414 nbsp 70 nbsp 1st1 1948 6 959 936 93 2 126 414 nbsp 56 nbsp 1st2 1952 10 187 833 100 428 428 nbsp 302 nbsp 1st3 Notes 1 BDP members PSDR 81 deputies PNL Tătărescu 75 deputies Ploughmen s Front Romanian Communist Party 68 deputies National Popular Party 26 deputies PNȚ Alexandrescu 20 deputies and 8 independents 2 FDP members in 1948 Romanian Workers Party and affiliates 190 deputies and 11 independent deputies affiliated to PMR group Ploughmen s Front National Popular Party 43 deputies Hungarian People s Union 30 deputies and Jewish Democratic Committee 5 deputies 3 FDP members in 1952 Romanian Workers Party and independent affiliates Ploughmen s Front Hungarian People s Union and Jewish Democratic Committee The distribution of mandates is unclear Notes edit Stefan p 10 Cioroianu p 150 151 Cioroianu p 150 151 Hitchins p 390 Hitchins p 390 391 Groza in Cioroianu p 165 Frunză p 115 Hitchins p 391 Betea In umbra Betea In umbra Cioroianu p 154 Cioroianu p 159 162 Hitchins p 507 508 Cioroianu p 152 153 Cioroianu p 161 Frunză p 116 187 Cioroianu p 154 161 Cioroianu p 159 Frunză p 287 292 Hitchins p 517 Stefan p 9 10 Tismăneanu p 288 Cioroianu p 159 Frunză p 117 Betea In umbra Cioroianu p 162 Hitchins p 511 Cioroianu p 161 162 Cioroianu p 162 Cioroianu p 165 166 Otu Videnie p 46 Apostol in Betea Engima References editLavinia Betea in Romanian Engima partidului unic The Riddle of the Single Party in Jurnalul Național January 30 2007 in Romanian In umbra celulei In the Cell s Shadow in Jurnalul Național January 31 2006 Adrian Cioroianu Pe umerii lui Marx O introducere in istoria comunismului romanesc On the Shoulders of Marx An Incursion into the History of Romanian Communism Editura Curtea Veche Bucharest 2005 Victor Frunză Istoria stalinismului in Romania The History of Stalinism in Romania Humanitas Bucharest 1990 Keith Hitchins Romania 1866 1947 Humanitas Bucharest 1998 translation of the English language edition Rumania 1866 1947 Oxford University Press USA 1994 in Romanian Petre Otu 1946 1947 Se pregătește guvernul Argetoianu 1946 1948 An Argetoianu Government Is Under Preparation in Magazin Istoric May 2000 M Ștefan In umbra Cortinei de Fier In the Shadow of the Iron Curtain in Magazin Istoric November 1995 Vladimir Tismăneanu Stalinism for All Seasons A Political History of Romanian Communism University of California Press 2003 ISBN 0 520 23747 1 Nicolae Videnie Alegerile din martie 1948 epilogul listelor electorale alternative Obsesia unanimității primii pași The Elections of March 1948 an Epilogue to Alternative Electoral Lists Unanimity Obsession The First Steps Taken in Dosarele Istoriei 11 V 2000 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ploughmen 27s Front amp oldid 1181219963, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.